When the Bible refers to men, mankind, brothers, etc., does it include women? 當聖經提到男人、人類、兄弟等時，也包括女人嗎？

The Bible is by no means gender-neutral. It presents from beginning to end a thoroughly masculine perspective, and it often leaves it to the reader to decide what application to females or what inclusion of females is implied. Sometimes, a reference to men or brothers should be understood to include women; other times, men just means “men.” The context will provide the clues.

聖經絕不是性別中立的。 它從頭到尾都呈現出一種徹底的男性視角，並且常常讓讀者自行決定對女性有何應用或暗示對女性的包容性。 有時，提及男性或兄弟時應理解為包括女性； 其他時候，“男人”只是指“男人”。 上下文將提供線索。

Determining whether the word man or brothers includes women comes down to rightly translating the passage and then properly interpreting its meaning. Good hermeneutics leads to accurate interpretations and the ability to know when a passage about “men” is exclusive (referring to strictly males) or inclusive (referring to both genders).

確定“男人”或“兄弟”一詞是否包括女人，歸根結底是正確翻譯該段落，然後正確解釋其含義。 良好的解經學可以帶來準確的解釋，並能夠知道有關“男人”的段落何時是排他性的（指嚴格意義上的男性）或包容性的（指兩種性別）。

Some words are masculine in form, and it is clear from the context that they should be understood as referring to males only. For example, in Acts 7:2, when Stephen addresses his audience as “brothers and fathers,” he is not using those terms generically. The Sanhedrin body to whom he spoke was comprised of men, with no women.

有些詞在形式上是陽性的，從上下文中可以清楚地看出，它們應該被理解為僅指男性。 例如，在使徒行傳 7 章 2 節中，當司提反稱呼他的聽眾為“弟兄、父親”時，他並沒有籠統地使用這些術語。 與他交談的公會成員都是男性，沒有女性。

Other words, although masculine in form, can be used as generic terms for both sexes. For example, man and sons are sometimes used to refer to “mankind” and “children” in general. In Ephesians 4:8 we read, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (ESV). Men here is a reference to all mankind—the Lord did not limit the spiritual gifts to the male population in the church. In Mathew 13:38, Jesus speaks of “the sons of the kingdom” and “the sons of the evil one” (ESV). The word sons is masculine, of course, yet in this context it simply means “people” or “offspring.” These examples demonstrate an important point about language. Most words in any language do not have a single, all-encompassing meaning, but context plays a part in determining definition.

換句話說，雖然形式上是男性，但可以用作兩性的通用術語。 例如，man和sons有時用來泛指“人類”和“孩子”。 在以弗所書 4 章 8 節中，我們讀到：“他升上高天的時候，擄掠了許多俘虜，又將恩賜賜給人”（ESV）。 這裡的男人是指全人類——主並沒有將屬靈恩賜限制在教會中的男性群體中。 在馬太福音 13 章 38 節中，耶穌談到“王國之子”和“惡人之子”（ESV）。 當然，兒子這個詞是陽性的，但在這種情況下，它僅僅意味著“人”或“後代”。 這些例子展示了關於語言的一個重要觀點。 任何語言中的大多數單詞都不具有單一的、包羅萬象的含義，但上下文在確定定義方面發揮著一定作用。

 

Sometimes, the translation of a text makes subtle changes in gender-related words. For example, the King James Version of John 1:12 says, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” However, the English word sons, a masculine word, replaces a neuter word in the Greek; a better translation is “children of God,” which is how the King James 2000 has it.

有時，文本的翻譯會對與性別相關的詞語進行微妙的改變。例如，欽定版約翰福音 1 章 12 節說：“凡接待他的，他就賜給他們權柄，成為神的兒子。”然而，英語單詞 sons（一個陽性詞）取代了希臘語中的中性詞； 更好的翻譯是“上帝的孩子”，《英皇欽定本 2000》就是這樣翻譯的。

A related question is why does the Bible use only masculine generic terms? Why can children be referred to as “sons,” but they are never called (generically) “daughters”? It is apparent that, in the culture of the biblical writers, it was standard practice to use the generic masculine. It was just how people thought and how they talked. For centuries in modern English, we also used the generic masculine—he was an acceptable substitute for he or she when referring to an unknown person. In contemporary language, people in the West have grown sensitive to gender-specific language: calling a firefighter a “fireman” is frowned upon as sexist, even if he is obviously male. English students are taught to say “he or she” or, more commonly, “they” (even when referring to a single individual), since the plural is gender-neutral.

一個相關的問題是為什麼聖經只使用男性通用術語？ 為什麼孩子可以被稱為“兒子”，但他們從來不被稱為（一般）“女兒”？ 顯然，在聖經作者的文化中，使用通用男性一詞是標準做法。 這就是人們的想法和說話方式。 幾個世紀以來，在現代英語中，我們也使用通用的陽性詞——當指代一個不知名的人時，他是他或她的可接受的替代品。在當代語言中，西方人對特定性別的語言變得敏感：稱消防員為“消防員”會被視為性別歧視，即使他明顯是男性。英語學生被教導說“他或她”，或者更常見的是“他們”（即使指的是單個人），因為複數是不分性別的。

 

Many Bible translations in recent years have adopted a more gender-neutral wording. For example, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 is translated as “brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God” (NIV), even though the word for “sisters” is not in the Greek text. The translators added “and sisters” in the interest of gender neutrality. Does the insertion of and sisters result in a less exact rendering of the Greek text? Yes, it does. But, since Paul was obviously writing to the entire church (which included sisters in Christ), the inclusion of and sisters does no damage to the intent of this particular passage. God’s Word is not distorted by such a modification. Using more generic words such as people, parents, and descendants instead of man, father, and sons may help eliminate confusion, avoid misunderstandings, and avert unnecessary offense in modern times.

近年來，許多聖經翻譯都採用了更加中性的措辭。例如，《帖撒羅尼迦前書》4:1 被翻譯為“弟兄們，我們教導你們怎樣生活，才能討神喜悅”（新國際版），儘管希臘文中並沒有“姐妹”這個詞。為了性別中立，譯者添加了“和姐妹”。 插入和姐妹是否會導致希臘文本的翻譯不太準確？ 是的，它確實。 但是，由於保羅顯然是寫給整個教會（其中包括基督裡的姐妹），因此將和姐妹包括在內並不會損害這段特定經文的意圖。 神的話語並沒有因這樣的修改而被歪曲。 在現代，使用諸如“人”、“父母”和“後代”等更通用的詞來代替“人”、“父親”和“兒子”可能有助於消除混亂、避免誤解並避免不必要的冒犯。

 

Reference: When the Bible refers to men, mankind, brothers, etc., does it include women? | GotQuestions.org