2 Corinthians 13:3

ἐπεὶ δοκιμὴν ζητεῖτε. This is the reason why he cannot spare; they themselves have rendered that impossible, seeing that ye seek a proof (2 Corinthians 2:9; 2 Corinthians 8:2; 2 Corinthians 9:13) of the Christ that speaketh in me. They had virtually challenged the Christ that St Paul preached, to give a proof of His power. It is a very clumsy arrangement to take ἐπεὶ δοκιμὴν κ.τ.λ. as the protasis to ἑαυτοὺς πειράζετε, and make the whole of 2 Corinthians 13:4 a parenthesis. For ἐπεί both Origen and Theodoret read sometimes εἰ and sometimes ἤ: hence the an quaeritis? of the Vulgate and some other Latin texts.

δς εἰς ὑμᾶς … ἐν ὑμῖν. Note the chiasmus; Who to youward is not weak, but is powerful in you. Comp. 2 Corinthians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 4:3; 2 Corinthians 6:8; 2 Corinthians 9:6; 2 Corinthians 10:11. Although ἀδυνατεῖν is common, δυνατεῖν is used by no one but S. Paul: in 2 Corinthians 9:8 and Romans 13:4 the rarity of the word has produced variants; but here the reading is unquestioned. It makes a specially good contrast to ἀσθενεῖν. By ἐν ὑμῖν is meant ‘among you, in the Church’ (comp. 2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 11:12), not ‘in your hearts.’ Whether in δυνατεῖ S. Paul is thinking of σημεῖα, τέρατα, and δυνάμεις (2 Corinthians 12:10), it is impossible to say: perhaps he is rather thinking of judgments (comp. 1 Corinthians 11:30). With ἀσθενεῖ comp. Romans 8:3 of the powerlessness of the Law. Place at most a semicolon at the end of 2 Corinthians 13:3; what follows is an answer to the supposed objection that a Christ who could not save himself from crucifixion must be a powerless Christ.