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In a previous post we saw how the influence of Confucianism on Chinese culture predisposes Chinese readers towards an optimistic view of human nature. Confucianism denies original sin, and so paves the way for Pelagianism and Arminianism in the Chinese church. However Mark Strand’s article "Explaining Sin in a Chinese Context" also raised the issue of how the translators of the Chinese Bible chose to render the Greek word for ‘sin’ (hamartia)…

By far the most commonly used Chinese translation of the Bible today is the Union Version. That translation was first completed by a group of Protestant scholars in 1919 and is now the most widely used Chinese translation both inside and outside China today.

However translators of the Union Version chose to use the Chinese word ‘zui‘ to translate ‘sin’. This was an unfortunate choice becasue ‘zui‘ has the meaning of a crime committed against the laws of the government. And to further cement the misunderstanding, ‘zui‘ is also used to translate the word ‘crime’ in the Union Version. And so instead of sin having its full biblical weight of meaning, sin is narrowed down to only include the relatively small area of crime.

This has the effect of making Chinese readers of the Union Version think they are only sinners if they are criminals. And those sins which the government doesn’t have laws against – such as pride or greed or even adultery – aren’t really considered ‘zui‘. And so a Chinese reader could mistakenly believe that they aren’t really a sinner at all – instead that category is reserved for those desparate thugs who are pursued by police and get locked up in the government’s jails. And those sins which Christians are called to put off, aren’t considered to be serious at all.

Mark Strand even cites the example of a prominent church leader who was involved in adultery, yet who continued in her role of church leadership and would not give it up – because it wasn’t really ‘zui‘. If it really was ‘zui‘, the government would have created laws against it.

However the widespread use of the Union Version also means that the use of words in that translation also influences the understanding of that word in the wider culture. In a similar way the King James Version injected a slew of idioms into the English language – and even today influence the language of completely unchurched people. In the case of the Union Version’s use of ‘zui‘, this makes the work of evangelism harder because in the wider society sin is thought of as ‘crime’.

Why then do people become Christians if they aren’t convinced of their own sinfulness? What is it that they think Jesus is doing on the cross for them? Is he merely divine insurance in the remote case that they are found guilty of a crime? Are there two categories of Christians, and they fall into the second less serious category of respectable people who only need Jesus as a moral example? Is Jesus the answer, not so much to their massive sin problem, but their aspirations and dreams in life?

It’s hard work to argue against a dearly-loved Bible translation – people become emotionally attached to a translation they have grown up with and memorised. And it’s particularly hard work if doing so also places the favourite sins of people back under scrutiny and requires them to turn away from those sins. However we must teach that sin is more than crime – but also includes those things there are no laws about (such as selfishness), and even those things which only exist in our heads (such as envy), and most of all which do not give God the glory and honour he is due (such as a good life lived ignoring God).

[ PS: have a go yourself using online Chinese dictionaries such as this ]