Did you know that in ancient times ShangDi was the God of the Chinese? God revealed Himself to the ancient Chinese and made many Chinese characters to depict people and events of the Bible.
Chinese writing was invented more than four thousand years ago. Its invention took place several hundred years before God directed a Jewish prophet (Moses) to write the first five chapters of the Bible. The first Chinese characters were written on oracle bones and bronzeware. Because Chinese language has changed, modern Chinese has become significantly different from the ancient characters. But modern Chinese still possesses some of the old characteristics. As we journey through Bible stories, we will discuss modern Chinese, something we are more familiar with.
In the beginning…
God (ShangDi) was the One who created the heavens and the earth. He created a man named Adam, and placed him in a beautiful garden called Eden. In Eden, Adam communicated and had a friendship with God. Because Adam, who was one mouth (or one person) 一 口, lived in the garden 田, having fellowship with God (God radical 礻), he was truly rich 福.
God made a woman out of Adam’s ribs. The Chinese word for flesh illustrates how ShangDi opened the frame of man to create new flesh 肉 that became another human being. Adam spoke of the woman, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23). Interestingly, Chinese people still use the expression “my inside person” 我的内人 to describe “wife”. This expression came about because the first wife (Eve) was made from materials inside Adam.
There were two special trees in the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded the couple: “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Because a decree came out of God’s mouth 口 concerning the tree 木 (of the knowledge of good and evil), Adam and Eve must restrain or control themselves 束.
God is good and righteous, and Adam and Eve were created without sin. They enjoyed perfect relationship with God. But the devil who dwelt in the body of a serpent tempted Eve to do wrong — to covet the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The word covet 婪 has a woman 女 beneath two trees 林, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The oracle bone character for covet has the woman facing one of the trees with her back to the other tree, showing her desire for the forbidden fruit and not for the fruit that gives life. The modern word covet, although not so detailed a portrayal, still gets the main idea across. So Eve coveted and ate. She then gave some of the fruit to Adam. Immediately, the couple saw that they who were once good have practiced evil because they have disobeyed God. They felt shame, and felt the urge to hide and cover their bodies.
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Genesis 3:7).
The Chinese word for naked 裸 has a clothes radical 衤next to the word fruit 果, which is formed from the words garden 田 and tree 木. So by eating the fruit of the tree that was located in the garden, the first man and woman needed clothes to cover their shame.
Because of disobeying God, Adam and Eve suffered serious consequences. The two humans were driven out of Eden and would eventually experience death (Genesis 3:16-24). Because Adam and Eve sinned, all of their descendants (all of humanity) would gain capacity to sin and live out this sin nature during their lifetimes. Because God is pure, humans who are impure cannot see God face to face and cannot have an intimate relationship with God. All humans are not good enough to go to heaven, because all have sinned from Adam and Eve onward. So one tree 木 in the garden enclosure 囗 caused much trouble 困.
But God still loved the couple despite what they had done. So God gave the couple hope as He told the serpent: “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15). Thus, God promised something good 好 from the seed 子 of a woman 女. This seed or descendant of Eve would solve the problem of sin and save Adam, Eve, and their descendants by striking a fatal blow to the devil who was in the body of the serpent.
But humanity’s Savior must suffer too. When “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), God slew an innocent animal. Similarly, the Savior-to-come must die for humanity. God’s slaying of an innocent animal marked the beginning of His plan for salvation. The word beginning 初 unites the clothes radical 衤with the word knife 刀. The beginning of God’s plan for salvation involved a demonstration showing that someone innocent must be killed in order to clothe humanity with righteousness.
After the fall
After being driven out of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve must ask for God’s provisions outside the gate of Eden (Genesis 3:24). The Chinese word for ask 问, composed of a mouth 口 and a gate or door 门, depicts the new situation.
Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. One day, they both gave offerings to God. ShangDi favored Abel’s offerings over Cain’s (because Cain had a wrong attitude). Cain became very angry with God and grew jealous of his brother. When he had the chance, Cain murdered his brother. God confronted Cain and sentenced him to be a wanderer on earth. However, He put a mark on Cain to prevent him from being killed by potential avengers. “Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him” (Genesis 4:15). The mark X on elder brother 兄 forms the word cruel 兇 because the mark identifies Cain who was cruel to his brother.
Eve had other children besides Cain and Abel. As many years progressed, most of Adam and Eve’s descendants became extremely evil. “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Genesis 6:5-6).
Seeing the situation on earth, God chose a man named Noah to build an ark and to take into the ark a male and female of every kind of animal on earth. Noah also took with him his wife, his three sons, and their wives — totaling eight people in all. After Noah, his family, and all the animals boarded the ark, God flooded the earth forty days and forty nights, destroying all human and most animal life outside the ark. All humanity was destroyed except for the eight people in the boat (Genesis 7). Hence, the word for boat 船 has a vessel 舟 with eight mouths 八口. (In older etymological form, the right side is rendered 八. In newer Chinese, this has been changed to either 儿 or 几.)
Sin got out of control in the time of Noah. God destroyed most of His creation because it was extremely evil. Yet He left a remnant of humanity. The descendants of Noah repopulated the earth. We are all descendants of Noah.
Before the Savior came, Jewish people looked to God for some time. The Chinese also sought God for a while. Their language and yearly Border Sacrifice (which resembles the sacrificial ceremonies of ancient Hebrews) testify of their knowledge of God. However before long, both groups became less faithful in their pursuit of God. The Chinese eventually forgot about Him.
The Savior comes
But God remembered His promise. About two thousand years ago, God sent His Son. Jesus (the Son of God) came to earth and took on human flesh. He was perfect and without sin. During His life on earth, Jesus performed many miracles and taught God’s word in Israel. He won many followers. But many priests and teachers of religion became jealous of Him. When Jesus rightly claimed divinity, they did not believe Him and prompted a Roman governor to sentence Him to death. Jesus was insulted, beaten, and crucified. Because He came to earth in human form, He suffered like a human being would under these persecutions.
But Jesus suffered more than the physical pain of the cross. While He was on the cross, Jesus took our place and bore the punishment for all our sins. He bore the punishment of sin for people of the past, present, and future, and suffered for humanity. He did this so that we can be right with God and forgiven of our sins.
Jesus died physically and was buried. On the third day, however, He resurrected bodily, and after appearing to His disciples, He ascended to heaven. Jesus promised to come again to judge all people, and to punish the wicked and reward those who follow God.
Jesus paid for our sins and invites us to come 來. The horizontal stroke 一 in the word come demonstrates our separation from God because of our sins. The vertical stroke丨, which forms a bridge across the line of separation, shows that we can approach God because Jesus died for us on the cross 十. The man 人 on the cross is Jesus. He becomes our new tree of life 木.
Romans 3:23 says: “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. But “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
When Jesus was crucified, two criminals were crucified with him, one on His left and one on His right. One of the two mocked the Lord, saying “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39). But the other criminal said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). The two people, one person 人 on either side of the cross in the word come 來 represent all humanity divided into two groups. One group, like the first criminal, will reject ShangDi’s offer of forgiveness and mercy. The other group that accepts God will join Jesus in paradise.
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
He calls us to repent
ShangDi loves us and paid for all of our sins. It is up to us to accept or reject Him. If we reject Him, we will pay for our sins ourselves and will be in a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13) when we die. If we accept Him, Jesus paid for us so that we don’t have to. God calls all people now to believe in Jesus.
“From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find him, though He is not far from each one of us…. We should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone–an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17: 26-28).
Here is what repentance means.
- We acknowledge that we are sinners.
- We ask God’s forgiveness.
- We believe that Jesus is Lord and He paid for our sins on the cross.
- We invite Jesus into our lives and follow Him from now on.
When we sincerely pray to ShangDi, asking for His forgiveness and inviting Jesus into our lives, we will be righteous in His eyes. From Adam and Eve onward, humanity has been sinful. But God the Son made us righteous again because He passed His righteousness to us and took our punishment for us.
The word righteous 義 has a lamb 羊 over the word me 我. Jesus Christ is the innocent lamb slaughtered for our sake: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). With the Lamb over me, I have become righteous.
Once we believe, we can begin to develop the same sweet, personal relationship with God that Adam and Eve once had. God will guide us to live lives pleasing to Him. Once we believe, we can begin to experience God’s very best for us.
Reference
These are just some of the examples of how the Chinese language reflects the events of the Bible. For a more in-depth study, read God’s Promise to the Chinese by Ethel Nelson, Richard Broadberry, and Ginger Tong Chock. God’s Promise to the Chinese explores oracle bone characters and depicts the modern version of each word. The Discovery of Genesis by C.H. Kang and Ethel Nelson is a book that examines modern Chinese. Chinese words and their explanations on this page were taken from these books.
See more at Chinese characters and the Bible.
Learn more about what is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.