2 Corinthians 13
This third time — by the mouth of two witnesses and three every word stands. If I come again I will not spare — you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. He was crucified out of weakness but lives out of the power of God — we too are weak in him, but shall live with him out of God’s power. Test and prove yourselves — is Jesus Christ not in you, unless you are unapproved? We pray that you do what is good, though we seem unapproved. We can do nothing against the truth. I write while absent so as not to use severity when present — the authority was given for building up. Rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, think the same thing, be at peace. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Why this rendering
2Cor.13.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων καὶ τριῶν σταθήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα. προείρηκα καὶ προλέγω ὡς παρὼν τὸ δεύτερον καὶ ἀπὼν νῦν, τοῖς προημαρτηκόσιν καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς πᾶσιν, ὅτι ἐὰν ἔλθω εἰς τὸ πάλιν οὐ φείσομαι — This third time I am coming to you. ‘By the mouth of two witnesses and three every word shall stand.’ I have said beforehand and I say beforehand — as when present the second time, and now absent — … that if I come again I will not spare. The words of Deuteronomy 19 also stand in Matt 18:16, but there δύο … ἢ τριῶν (two or three), here δύο … καὶ τριῶν (two and three) — the conjunction differs. προείρηκα (perfect) · προλέγω (present) are one verb in two tenses — ‘I have said beforehand … I say beforehand’. παρών ↔ ἀπών is the pair of chapter 10. προαμαρτάνω is the word of 12:21. After ⸀νῦν the Received Text adds ‘I write’ (γράφω).
Rendering options · 3
Basis Matt 18:16 has ἤ (‘or’); the two books quote the same verse with different conjunctions, and that is kept.
Basis Harmonising with Matt 18:16.
Rejected It turns the text’s καί into ἤ.
Basis One verb in two tenses, not folded.
Lost in translation
δύο … καὶ τριῶν ↔ Matt 18:16 δύο … ἢ τριῶν — ‘and / or’ keep the two conjunctions apart.
προείρηκα / προλέγω — one verb ‘say beforehand’ in two tenses.
The future σταθήσεται — ‘shall stand’ against the subjunctive ‘may stand’ of Matt 18:16.
Why this rendering
2Cor.13.4 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἐπεὶ δοκιμὴν ζητεῖτε τοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλοῦντος Χριστοῦ· ὃς εἰς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀσθενεῖ ἀλλὰ δυνατεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν, καὶ γὰρ ἐσταυρώθη ἐξ ἀσθενείας, ἀλλὰ ζῇ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἀσθενοῦμεν ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀλλὰ ζήσομεν σὺν αὐτῷ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς — … who toward you is not weak but is powerful among you; for indeed he was crucified out of weakness, but he lives out of the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him out of the power of God toward you. Weakness and power face each other four times — ἀσθενεῖ / δυνατεῖ · ἐξ ἀσθενείας / ἐκ δυνάμεως · ἀσθενοῦμεν / ζήσομεν ἐκ δυνάμεως. ἐξ and ἐκ name a source — ‘out of’, not ‘in’. ⸀γάρ (the Received Text reads εἰ γάρ, ‘for though’) · ⸀ζήσομεν (the other reading is middle). ζῇ (present) ↔ ζήσομεν (future) divide Christ’s life and ours by tense.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The preposition names a source; ‘in weakness’ would read as manner.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected Two ἐκ become ‘in’ and ‘by’; source becomes manner.
Basis At Rom 14:4 and 2 Cor 9:8 the verb takes an infinitive (‘is able to’); here it stands alone against ‘is weak’, so ‘is powerful’ — recorded as a rendering that differs by place.
Lost in translation
Four pairs of weakness and power — ‘weak / power’ carry all four.
ζῇ / ζήσομεν — present and future kept as ‘lives / shall live’.
δυνατεῖ ↔ δυνατεῖ (9:8) — one verb rendered ‘is powerful / is able’.
Why this rendering
2Cor.13.5 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἑαυτοὺς πειράζετε εἰ ἐστὲ ἐν τῇ πίστει, ἑαυτοὺς δοκιμάζετε· ἢ οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκετε ἑαυτοὺς ὅτι Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν; εἰ μήτι ἀδόκιμοί ἐστε. ἐλπίζω δὲ ὅτι γνώσεσθε ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐσμὲν ἀδόκιμοι … οὐχ ἵνα ἡμεῖς δόκιμοι φανῶμεν … ἡμεῖς δὲ ὡς ἀδόκιμοι ὦμεν — Test yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Or do you not recognise yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you are unapproved … that we are not unapproved … not that we may appear approved … we be as unapproved. Two verbs of testing — πειράζω (1 Cor 10:9) and δοκιμάζω (1 Cor 11:28 ‘test himself’). Verses 3-7 are a chain of δοκ- — δοκιμή (v.3 proof) · δοκιμάζω (v.5) · ἀδόκιμος (vv.5, 6, 7) · δόκιμος (v.7). ἑαυτούς stands first three times in v.5. ⸂Ἰησοῦς Χριστός⸃ is a variant of order; ⸀ὑμῖν is one form for ‘in you / among you’. In v.9 κατάρτισις (once in the New Testament) shares its root with καταρτίζεσθε in v.11.
Rendering options · 3
Basis πειράζω is fixed as ‘test’, so δοκιμάζω here takes ‘prove’ on the ‘proof’ of v.3 — differing by place from 1 Cor 11:28.
Basis Keeping ‘test’ for δοκιμάζω as at 1 Cor 11:28.
Rejected Two verbs become one and the δοκ- chain of vv.3-7 breaks.
Basis Not ‘failed’ or ‘counterfeit’; it stands against δόκιμος, ‘approved’, in v.7.
Lost in translation
δοκιμή · δοκιμάζω · δόκιμος · ἀδόκιμος — ‘proof · prove · approved · unapproved’: two roots in English for one Greek root.
πειράζω / δοκιμάζω — ‘test / prove’ keep the two verbs apart.
ἐν ὑμῖν — ‘in you’ and ‘among you’; ‘in you’ closes it.
Why this rendering
2Cor.13.11 Observation
Syntactic observation
Λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί, χαίρετε, καταρτίζεσθε, παρακαλεῖσθε, τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖτε, εἰρηνεύετε, καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ εἰρήνης ἔσται μεθ’ ὑμῶν … ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν — For the rest, brothers, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, think the same thing, be at peace … The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Five imperatives — χαίρετε is ‘rejoice’ and also a letter’s ‘farewell’, and παρακαλεῖσθε is ‘be comforted’ and also ‘be exhorted’ — each one form. τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖτε is the phrase of Rom 12:16. εἰρηνεύετε (Rom 12:18) ↔ εἰρήνης, verb and noun in one verse. Verse 13 is a verbless blessing — grace · love · fellowship attached one each to the Lord · God · the Holy Spirit; the genitive of κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος leaves open whether the Spirit gives the fellowship or is shared. After ⸀ὑμῶν the Received Text adds ‘Amen’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis One word, one rendering; the ‘farewell’ reading is recorded as a loss (as with χαῖρε at Luke 1:28).
Basis Reading it as the closing formula.
Rejected It cuts the word from χαίρομεν in v.9 and closes the openness the other way.
Basis κοινωνία as fixed at Acts 2:42; neither ‘fellowship in the Spirit’ nor ‘fellowship given by the Spirit’.
Lost in translation
χαίρετε — ‘rejoice / farewell’; ‘rejoice’ closes it.
παρακαλεῖσθε — ‘be comforted / be exhorted’; ‘be comforted’ closes it.
εἰρηνεύετε ↔ εἰρήνης — ‘be at peace / peace’ keep the root.
The verbless blessing of v.13 — ‘be with you’ supplies a verb.