2 Corinthians 5:17a: Who gets to be a new creation?
2 Corinthians 5:17a is fun to translate because it is very, very Greek. It uses both grammar and vocabulary that are characteristic and even elegant in Greek, but awkward in English.
There are just seven words, roughly transliterated: hoste ei tis en christoi, kaine ktisis. Literally, word for word:
Therefore if anyone in Christ, new creation
Obviously, some work needs to be done. NRSVue does that work and ends up with:
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation...”
Simple, not very creative, but it gets the job done. Would that all translations were at least this competent.
| Translation/Language: | Date: | Phrase: | Approach: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Greek text | tis; (no pronouns) | ||
| Popular translations: | |||
| King James Version (KJV) | 1611 | any man; he | Male |
| American Standard Version (ASV) | 1901 | any man; he | Male |
| The Living Bible (TLB) | 1971 | someone; he | Male |
| New King James Version (NKJV) | 1982 | anyone; he | Male |
| New International Version – 1984* | 1984 | anyone; he | Male |
| New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) | 1989 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| Good News Translation (GNT/GNB/TEV) | 1992 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| Contemporary English Version (CEV) | 1995 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| New Living Translation (NLT) | 1996 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| New International Version (NIV) | 2011 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| Common English Bible (CEB) | 2011 | anyone; that person | Inclusive |
| English Standard Version (ESV) | 2016 | anyone; he | Male |
| Christian Standard Bible (CSB) | 2017 | anyone; he | Male |
| The Message (MSG) | 2018 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| New American Standard Bible (NASB) | 2020 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
| NRSV Updated Edition (NRSVUE) | 2021 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| Specialty translations: | |||
| God’s Word (GW) | 1995 | whoever; - | Inclusive |
| New Century Version (NCV) | 2005 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| The Inclusive Bible (TIB) | 2009 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| Expanded Bible (EXB) | 2011 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| Names of God (NOG) | 2011 | whoever; - | Inclusive |
| New Testament for Everyone (NTE) | 2011 | anyone; there | Inclusive |
| The Passion Translation (TPT) | 2017 | anyone; he | Male |
| New English Translation (NET) | 2017 | anyone; he | Male |
| First Nations Version (FNV) | 2021 | anyone; - | Inclusive |
When I searched for “detective”, there were several whole stock images that did not feature men, which is better than what I get when I search for any words that have to do with church.
The Case of the Missing Verbs
First, [there are] no verbs. Unexpected in English, but possible. In Greek, perfectly proper. In Greek, if the verbs [are] obvious based on the context, you can omit them.
English does not like to do this, so to translate, you usually need to supply some verbs. Fortunately, in this case, you only need to apply the first step in the help-there-are-no-verbs decision tree: 1. Does “is” work?
Therefore if anyone [is] in Christ, [is] new creation
Yes, “is” works! It’s still a bit awkward, but it works.
All of the translations on The Chart understand this part, but that doesn’t win them any point deductions, it just explains what on earth is going on.
The Case of the Indefinite Pronoun
Second, the indefinite pronoun tis does not have a single direct equivalent in English. It refers to a non-specific person or thing: someone, something, anyone, anything, a person, a thing, etc.
That’s not even how you use a magnifying glass.
Tis does have grammatical gender. Here is how it works:
Tis – masculine
Tis – feminine
Ti – neuter
We’ve discussed previously how grammatical gender doesn’t necessarily correspond to social gender, but that doesn’t matter here, because the masculine and feminine forms are identical. So, in practice, you can’t distinguish between male and female references with tis. You can distinguish between someone (tis) and something (ti), but not between some man (tis) and some woman (tis).
In other words, the Greek cannot support any translation that specifies the gender of the person who is in Christ. (Not just does not. Cannot.)
Nonetheless, both the King James Version and the American Standard Version use “any man”. Is anyone surprised?
The rest of the translations on The Chart seem to understand this one, possibly? It’s hard to tell, because…
The Curious Incident of the Pronoun in the Second Phrase
Have I been reading too much Arthur Conan Doyle lately? No. I have been reading too much Laurie R. King.
What pronoun in the second phrase? There is no pronoun in the second phrase!
Exactly.
The whole second phrase contains no verb and also no pronouns. It’s just a noun and the adjective that describes it. Adding a verb will only get you so far:
[is] new creation
Like I said, it works, but it’s awkward. When this happens in Greek, sometimes you can avoid having to add a pronoun in English, and sometimes you need to supply a subject for clarity.
Here, the idea is that if anyone is in Christ, new creation exists. In Greek, because of the punch of those two solitary words, new creation emphatically exists. You could communicate this simply, as NRSVue does, by saying [there is a] new creation, where there is appropriately indefinite, to correspond to tis.
You can also have some fun with it.
Drumroll, please! Ta-da! Jazz hands! Like, OMG!!! NEW CREATION!!! Break out the Oprah GIF!
You get a new creation, and you get a new creation… everybody gets [to be] a new creation!
Other translators, however, have apparently decided that although they correctly translated “anyone” without reference to gender, they’re now going to insert a male pronoun into this part of the verse for some reason. According to them, only male people get to be a new creation. This is not fun at all.
It would be curious, except I’m not.