Answers to Questions about the Translation of “God” in the Bible
Q1: In the Bible, should “God” be translated as “神” or “上帝”?
Answer: This Bible chooses to translate “God” as “神”. This decision is not based on denominational preference, but on a comprehensive consideration of historical translation practices, Chinese semantics, and the need for consistency throughout the entire translation.
Q2: How was “God” historically translated in Chinese?
Answer: Different historical periods and church traditions have used different translations for “God”: • In Tang Dynasty Nestorian documents, “God” was called “天尊” (Heavenly Venerable). • The Roman Catholic Church ultimately adopted “天主” (Lord of Heaven). In the Studium Biblicum Version, a complete terminological system was formed: God = 天主, the Lord = 上主, Holy Spirit = 圣神. • In the early 19th century, the earliest systematic Protestant Chinese Bible translations (such as the Marshman Version and Morrison Version) consistently used “神” to translate “God”. Therefore, “神” is not a modern rendering, but one of the earliest and most stable traditions in Protestant Chinese Bible translation.
Q3: Why did the rendering “上帝” later appear?
Answer: In the mid-19th century, the Delegates’ Version, promoted by the British and Foreign Bible Society, adopted the term “上帝”, mainly due to considerations of elevated Chinese literary style and a sense of “solemnity” at the time. Meanwhile, translators who emphasized literal translation and formal equivalence (such as Bridgman and Culbertson) continued to insist on using “神”. Since then, Chinese Bibles have entered a stage where both “神” and “上帝” coexist.
Q4: What is the essential difference between “神” and “上帝” in Chinese?
Answer: “神” is a noun with greater semantic flexibility. It can refer to the one Creator as well as generically to non-human spiritual beings. It corresponds closely to the Hebrew Elohim, which is plural in form.
“上帝” already carries clear meanings in ancient Chinese literature. It refers to the supreme ruler of heaven, emperors, or the highest deity in specific religious systems. It is not a neutral “blank” word. Precisely because “上帝” has long carried historical and religious connotations in Chinese culture, it easily leads to conceptual confusion.
Q5: Is the ancient Chinese “上帝” the same concept as “God” in the Bible?
Answer: Not entirely the same. In Chinese tradition, “上帝” is often understood as the supreme being who governs the order of heaven and earth, but not necessarily as the One who “is self-existent and creates heaven and earth from Himself.” When Matteo Ricci and others in the late Ming Dynasty attempted to use “上帝” to refer to the God of Christianity, they faced strong opposition from Confucian scholars, who argued that the two concepts were fundamentally different. In 1715, Pope Clement XI explicitly prohibited the use of “上帝”.
Q6: Since both translations have historical precedent, why make a choice?
Answer: Because a single translation must maintain internal consistency. If the same English word (“God”) is repeatedly translated with different levels and different cultural implications within the same Bible, it weakens readers’ understanding of the original concept and causes the translators themselves to lose a clear standard.
Q7: Why not use both “神” and “上帝” at the same time?
Answer: In some publishing practices, both are indeed used in parallel. However, this directly leads to: • Reader confusion • Increased publishing costs • Translation principles being interpreted emotionally or denominationally This Bible chooses to use “神” uniformly to reduce interference and allow readers to focus on the text itself.
Q8: Does this translation ignore cultural differences?
Answer: On the contrary, this choice is made out of respect for Chinese culture. Since “上帝” in Chinese tradition does not specifically refer to “the one self-existent true God,” continuing to use that term can easily cause misunderstanding. “神”, being a more semantically open word, is better suited as a starting point for translation, with its true meaning then defined by the text itself.
Q9: Does this approach have any biblical precedent?
Answer: Yes. In Acts 17:23, the apostle Paul did not avoid the Gentiles’ existing concept of “god,” but instead used their term to clearly point to the One they “ignorantly worshiped.”
The key lies not in the word itself, but in the true object it refers to.
Q10: What is the ultimate translation principle of this Bible?
Answer: This Bible follows the following principles in translation:
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Accuracy takes priority over custom
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Overall consistency takes priority over local preference
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Dynamic equivalence is primary, formal equivalence is secondary
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Avoid introducing additional cultural misunderstandings as much as possible
Based on these principles, we choose to translate “God” as “神”.
Translator’s Note Regardless of whether “神” or any other linguistic symbol is used, what truly matters is not the word itself, but whether readers come to know the one self-existent, unique true God through the text.