看聖經 > 學英文 John 1:16-18

#2024-0119

The Gospel of John, Chapter 1, Verses 16-18

Reading from the New Living Translation (NLT):

16From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Reading from the Good News Translation (GNT):

16Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. 17God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Learning English from both translations:

1. Verse 16
   (a) [from NLT] "From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another."
   (b) [from GNT] "Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another."
   
   Comparing the two translations above reveals several interesting points:
   
   (1) "From..." in NLT corresponds to "Out of..." in GNT.
   
   (2) "From his abundance" in NLT is equivalent to "Out of the fullness of his grace" in GNT.
   
   (3) When examining "we have all received one gracious blessing after another" in NLT and "he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another" in GNT, a notable distinction emerges. In the NLT version, "we" (human beings) serves as the subject of the sentence, while in GNT, it is "he" (God) who has blessed us all. In GNT, "he" is the subject or the "doer" of the action.
   
   (4) The phrase "one [gracious] blessing after another" functions as the object of the sentence in NLT, depicting what we have all received. In contrast, it becomes the direct object in the participle phrase "giving us one blessing after another" in GNT, illustrating God's action of "giving."
   
   
2. Verse 17.
   (a) [from NLT] "For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ."
   (b) [from GNT] "God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
   
   Both the NLT and GNT versions consist merely of a compound sentence with two clauses. In NLT the first clause is in the passive voice, saying, "For the law was given through Moses..." In contrast, GNT uses the active voice, stating, "God gave the Law through Moses..." In GNT, "God" is explicitly identified as the giver of the law, though through Moses. In NLT, the subject is "the law," emphasizing that it was given through Moses. Although the phrase "by God" is absent in NLT, the understanding is that the law was indeed given by God through Moses.
   
   This nuanced meaning is also reflected in the second part of the GNT version: "but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The question arises: Whose grace and truth? A comparison with the NLT version clarifies this, where the second clause reads, "but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ." The absence of the word "God's" in GNT is compensated by the explicit mention of "God," which is absent in NLT.
   
   
3. Verse 18
   (a) [from NLT] "No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us."
   (b) [from GNT] "No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known."
   
   In NLT, we see three sentences; but in GNT, we see only two. The two diagrams below will show the differences between the two versions.
   
   
   John 1:18, NLT
   

   

   
   
   In the above diagram, the second sentence is a complex one, consisting of an independent main clause followed by a dependent subordinate clause. Notice that the pronoun "himself" in the subordinate clause ("who is himself God") is used to emphasize the subject, signifying "the unique One." Now, a question arises: Where should we place the word "himself" in the diagram? From my perspective, this pronoun functions more like an adverbial component modifying the verb "is" than an adjective modifying either the subject "who" or the complement "God." Moreover, if you regard it as the appositive of "who" or "God," the word form "himself" (with "him," in the objective case, included) may seem rather awkward.
   
   

   John 1:18, GNT
   
   
   
   In the above diagram, the subject is "The only Son," and immediately following it is the pronoun "he," which functions as an appositive referring to "The only Son." It's worth noting that English does not typically use pronouns in conjunction with the subject in the same way as some other languages, such as Chinese. For instance, while "伯朗先生 他 是一位好老師" is a natural, grammatical sentence in Chinese, the English sentence "Mr. Brown he is a good teacher" is not only grammatically incorrect but also sounds unnatural in English. Typically, we would say either "Mr. Brown is a good teacher" or "He is a good teacher."
   
   In the sentence "The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:18b), the addition of the pronoun "he" appears redundant in a simple sentence structure. However, given the presence of a long adjective clause following the subject, the use of "he" serves the purpose of aiding clarity. It helps readers easily discern the subject of the sentence amid the complexity introduced by the adjective clause."
   

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