Verses Lost in Translation 3: John 3:16

I planned avoiding Jesus’s best-loved versus in this series, but I was pointed toward John 3:16. It doesn’t show any of Jesus’s characteristic humor, which is my favorite topic, but its English translations demonstrate many common mistakes that hurt how we hear Jesus’s words.

The Verse

Most Christians are familiar with this verse. Below is the original English translation of the KJV and, with it, the modern NIV translation. The boldfaced words in them indicate what is lost in translation.

KJV: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
NIV: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

These translations offer a wonderful sentiment, one I like. A more accurate translation is not as poetic but more surprising, especially for Jesus’s listeners. We can’t see it in the word order of the English, but three of the boldfaced words are punchline or payoffs at the end of their clauses. Two of the others are part of the setup for those surprises.

Loved the World

“Love” in the New Testament is always a problem because there are two different Greek words mistranslated as the English word, “love” (see this article), They mean very different things. One means “cares for.” It indicates a responsibility in a relationship, most often from family ties. The other means “enjoy,” as enjoying someone’s company, more like our English word, “like.”

The word here means “cares for.” This carrying is quantified by “so much.” Both words are the setup for the final word in the clause. What does the Divine care for? Not for the “world” but not in the sense of “all people.” The Greek word means the “world order,” “society,” and “civilization.” It is often applied to the world’s powers. This is the social and political world (see this article).

This “world” is not something that Jesus usually speaks about in a positive way. Jesus uses the Greek word mostly as a negative description of our society. This is the world he is not part of, the world he took his followers out of, the world that hates him because he is not of this world. The idea that God cares about this society would surprise anyone who knew Jesus’s opinions about it.

His Only Begotten Son

There is no possessive pronoun, “his,” here. The fact that we believe that Jesus was the son of God, doesn’t change what he said. We should respect Jesus enough that we do not substitute our beliefs for his what he said.

The word translated as “only begotten” and “one and only” is interesting. This word is only used by Jesus in two verses, this one and John 3:18, two verses later. However, it is an easy Greek word to understand even in English. Its prefix is mono, which means “only” or “alone,” and its root word is genea which means "race," "offspring," and "type." This Greek word is the source of our word “genus.” It is usually mistranslated in the Bible as "generation” (see this article). The compound word means “the only member of a family” or “the only one of a certain type.” It is sometimes translated simply as “unique.” Though it is an adjective, it doesn’t modify “son.” It is preceded by a definite article, which makes it work like a noun. It therefore means “this unique type” or “the only family member.”

The “son” is also preceded by an article so the whole phrase is “this unique type, this son” or “this unique family member, this son.” But whose family did Jesus belong to? Whose son was he? His listeners would have known how Jesus usually described himself, as “the son of the man” (see this article).

Believed In

I have already written extensively about this phrase. The translation of the verb as “believe” is confusing, as I have written about here. Then sense of the word is more “trust,” especially trusting someone’s words.

The Greek preposition translated as “in” doesn’t mean that with the Greek “believe.” There are a number of reasons why (see this article). The preposition does, however, mean “as much as” which works with “believe.” His listeners would likely have heard this phrase as “trusting as much as himself” (see this article). The “himself” is Jesus referring to the Son. But what does and doesn’t happen to those who trust as much as Jesus? It isn’t what we think.

The Verb is not “Perish.”

“Perish” is a passive idea, something that happens to someone. The Greek verb here is the opposite of passive. It means to “demolish” or “destroy.” Its form is the middle voice, which in Greek, is used to express someone acting on themselves (see this article). This voice means someone does something to themselves. In this case, the trusting one does not destroy himself.

However, this verb is not a statement of what will definitely happen. It is about what “should” or “might” happen. This is the Greek mood of possibility. The point is that those trusting this much might or “should” not destroy themselves. The KJV gets this right, but the modern NIV changes this “should” to “shall” making it sound like the future tense, a prophecy.