The Deep Things of God (Translations & Editions)

The first edition of The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything was published in September 2010. The original was slightly smaller (8.25 inches tall compared to the 9-inch second edition), had endnotes instead of footnotes, and did not have a study guide or discussion questions. I made very few changes to the main text of the second edition, and those changes were mostly editorial smoothing out of awkward phrasing. The chapter divisions are different, though: the first edition had a few very long chapters, each of which I chopped in half for the second edition. So first edition is an eight-chapter book, second edition is a thirteen-chapter book, but it’s the same material, sliced thinner (a few more details here). If you’ve read the first edition, fear not: you’ve read the book. One bonus for anybody holding the first edition is that it has a secret word hidden away in it, which I didn’t tell anybody about for several years.

A UK edition of the book was published by IVP-UK, with a different title and cover. Embracing the Trinity: Life with God in the Gospel is exactly the same book as Deep Things, first edition, right down to the American spelling inside. I’m not a big fan of the cover art, or the main title for that matter. But I love the subtitle (probably an improvement on the U.S. subtitle, really), and I greatly appreciated the UK endorsements the publishers rounded up for the back cover. Again, if you’ve read this version, you’ve read my book. Or, to answer the question I sometimes get from readers: If you’ve got Deep Things of God, you don’t need to get Embracing the Trinity as if it’s a different Sanders book on the subject. ‘Tisn’t.

The Korean translation came out in 2016. The metaphor of “depth” apparently doesn’t sound right for a book title in the Korean market, so the translator suggested 삼위일체 하나님이 복음이다, which apparently means “God the Trinity is the Gospel.”

Publicaciones Kerigma brought out the Spanish edition, Las Profundidades de Dios: Cómo la Trinidad cambia todo in 2021. It’s a translation of the second edition, complete with the study guide materials.

A Farsi/Persian translation appeared in 2022 from Pars Theological Centre in the UK. حقایق ژرف خدا, the deep truths of God.