Sunday, July 30, 2023

A brief analysis of Gal 2:20 translations

According to the Bible Gateway, there are sixty-two English translations of Gal 2:20, and 49 out of them show the objective genitive translation of the Pistis phrase: "by faith in the Son of God." Only 13 of them, as in the table below, have the subjective genitive translation: "by the faith of the Son of God." Among these 13, two of them (see "red" color below in the table) translate the preposition "en" as "in or within." The other noticeable thing is the NEB translates the preposition as "because of." Some translations emphasize the adjectival form of the noun "faithfulness" in place of the simple noun "faith." What do you think is the best translation?

Version

Translation

KJ21 (21st Century King James)

I live by the faith of the Son of God, 

BRG (Blue Red and Gold Letter)

I live by the faith of the Son of God, 

CEB (Common English Bible):

I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son,

CJB (Complete Jewish Bible):

I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had,

ISV (International Standard Version):

I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God

JUB (Jubilee Bible):

I live by the faith of the Son of God,

KJV (King James Version):

I live by the faith of the Son of God

NET (New English Translation): 

I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God

NMB (New Matthew Bible):

I live by the faith of the Son of God

NRSVue (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition):

I live by the faith of the Son of God

NTE (New Testament for Everyone):

I live within the faithfulness of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

VOICE (The Voice Bible):

I live by the faithfulness of God’s Son,

WYC (Wycliffe Bible):

I live in the faith of God's Son


For more about translation matters in the New Testament, see Chapter 8 in Toward Decentering the New Testament.