Romans 12
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice — rational worship. Do not be conformed to this age; be transformed by the renewal of the mind. One body, many members; gifts of grace that differ — prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, sharing, presiding, mercy. Love without hypocrisy, twelve participles of exhortation — brotherly love, preferring one another in honour, fervent in spirit, hospitality. Bless those who persecute. Repay no one evil for evil; justice is the Lord’s — feed the hungry enemy, overcome evil with the good.
Why this rendering
Rom.12.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς … διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν — I exhort you through the compassions of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God — your rational worship. Three things hang on this verse. ① οἰκτιρμῶν is plural — the shape of Hebrew רַחֲמִים (bowels, compassions), and the noun of the verb οἰκτίρω of 9:15 (have compassion). ② παραστῆσαι is the verb that in 6:13, 16, 19 presented one’s self and one’s members — the picture is of setting an offering before the altar. θυσία splits by site between the act (Matt 9:13 sacrifice) and the thing offered (Acts 7:41); here bodies are the thing offered. ③ λογικός is the adjective of λόγος (only here and 1 Pet 2:2 in the New Testament). Both ‘according to reason’ and ‘of the word’ lie inside λόγος.
Rendering options · 3
Basis λογικός is read through its root λόγος as reason; English rational carries Latin ratio, the word that translated λόγος.
Basis The reading that the offering of bodies is itself the worship of the spirit.
Rejected There is no πνεῦμα in the text; ‘spirit’ is πνεῦμα’s word in this edition.
Basis The KJV’s rendering.
Rejected ‘Worthy/fitting’ is the word of ἄξιος; and λατρεία is fixed as worship (9:4), while service is διακονία’s word.
Lost in translation
The plural of οἰκτιρμῶν — kept as ‘compassions’.
λογικός ↔ λόγος (word) — ‘rational’ carries reason but not word.
Why this rendering
Rom.12.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός — do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of the mind. The two verbs come from different nouns — συσχηματίζομαι from the noun for outward shape (1 Cor 7:31 ‘the shape of this world’), μεταμορφόομαι from μορφή (form; Mark 16:12 ‘in another form’). The ‘he was transfigured’ of Matt 17:2 and Mark 9:2 is this second verb. The text says: do not take the shape of the outside, let the form within be changed. English conform/transform both end in -form and lose the split; the Korean of this edition keeps it (꼴/모습). αἰών ‘this age’ follows Matt 12:32 and Luke 20:34.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Two nouns behind two verbs; English has only -form for both, so the pair is carried by con-/trans- alone.
Basis The familiar Korean rendering ‘do not imitate’.
Rejected ‘Imitate’ is another verb’s word (2 Thess 3:7); the shape vanishes.
Lost in translation
shape ↔ μορφή (form) — English conform/transform share one -form.
μεταμορφόομαι — one verb in Matt 17:2, Mark 9:2 (transfigured) and here (transformed); English inherits the Latin split of μορφή into figura there and forma here.
Why this rendering
Rom.12.3 Observation
Syntactic observation
μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ’ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν, ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν — not to think too highly beyond what one ought to think, but to think so as to be of a right mind. The root of φρονέω three times — ὑπερφρονεῖν (only here in the New Testament: to over-think), φρονεῖν, σωφρονεῖν (the verb of the man ‘in his right mind’ in Mark 5:15). The text binds excess, measure and sanity in one sound. Korean keeps 생각 for all three and only the third becomes 제정신; English breaks at the same place (think / think / right mind). μέτρον of ‘a measure of faith’ is the ‘measure’ (vessel) of Matt 7:2 and Luke 6:38; here it is the amount measured out, so Korean renders 분량 — a site-bound word.
Rendering options · 2
Basis the root of φρονέω kept as think throughout; σωφρονέω follows Mark 5:15.
Basis Reading the prefix as an attitude.
Rejected No word for pride in the text; the prefix was rendered ‘more’ in 5:20 ὑπερπερισσεύω and 8:37 ὑπερνικάω — here ‘too highly, beyond’.
Lost in translation
ὑπερφρονεῖν / φρονεῖν / σωφρονεῖν — three words on one root, one sound.
Why this rendering
Rom.12.9 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος. ἀποστυγοῦντες τὸ πονηρόν, κολλώμενοι τῷ ἀγαθῷ — Love, without hypocrisy. Abhorring the evil, clinging to the good. The first clause of v.9 has no verb — ‘love — unhypocritical’. ἀνυπόκριτος negates ὑπόκρισις (hypocrisy, Luke 12:1), so ‘without hypocrisy’ keeps the root. Verses 9-13 run twelve participles without a main verb (ἀποστυγοῦντες … διώκοντες) — participles read as commands; English keeps them as participles, Korean must raise them to imperatives. διώκοντες in v.13 (pursuing hospitality) and διώκοντας in v.14 (those persecuting) are one verb — the text lets the pursuers bless those who pursue them; both languages lose the sound (pursue/persecute share Latin sequi, but the eye sees two words).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Follows hypocrisy (Luke 12:1) and hypocrite (Matt 6:2).
Basis The familiar phrase.
Rejected ‘Falsehood’ is ψεῦδος’s word; the actor’s mask in ὑποκριτής disappears.
Lost in translation
διώκοντες v.13 (pursue) ↔ διώκοντας v.14 (persecute) — one verb.
φιλαδελφία · φιλόστοργος · φιλοξενία — three φιλ- words in vv.10 and 13; ‘love’ survives in only one (brotherly love).
Why this rendering
Rom.12.19 Observation
Syntactic observation
μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικοῦντες … δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ, γέγραπται γάρ· Ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω — not working justice for yourselves … give place to the wrath … ‘Justice is mine, I will repay’. ἐκδικέω / ἐκδίκησις are the words that gave the widow her justice in Luke 18:3, 7 — what she begged of the judge and what God claims as his own are one word, so this edition does not split them into ‘avenge/vengeance’. τῇ ὀργῇ names no owner — usually read as God’s wrath (the word of 1:18), but the text has only the article, so ‘the wrath’ stands. Verse 20 quotes Prov 25:21-22 and shifts to the second person singular (σου). ἄνθρακας πυρός is not the ἀνθρακιά (charcoal fire) of John 18:18 and 21:9 — hence ‘coals of fire’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis One word, one rendering; the widow’s plea and God’s claim are visibly the same word.
Basis The KJV’s and the Korean tradition’s phrase.
Rejected ‘Enemy’ is ἐχθρός’s word, and the link to the widow of Luke 18 is cut.
Basis Filling in the owner of the wrath.
Rejected No θεοῦ in the text; and δότε τόπον is ‘give place’, not ‘leave to’.
Lost in translation
τῇ ὀργῇ names no owner — ‘the wrath’ keeps it open.