The words Examine yourselves and Test yourselves mean essentially the same thing. Some languages have translated these two terms “look [carefully] at yourselves” and “ask yourselves.” The pronouns yourselves are both in emphatic position. This leads Anchor Bible to translate “it is yourselves that you must test … it is yourselves that you must put to the proof.” Though they demand proof from Paul that he is speaking for Christ (13.3), he exhorts them to examine themselves rather than to examine him.
Holding to your faith: literally “in the faith” (Anchor Bible). This is translated as “living the life of faith” in Revised English Bible. Though Paul does not use the word “Christians,” the meaning is that they are to find out whether they are living as Christians should live. The idea of faith will have to be translated by a verbal expression in some languages, and this may require that the object of the faith be expressed. Some languages may say “whether you are really true to what you believe.”
Do you not realize: here, as frequently in his letters, Paul writes “Do you not know” (see Rom 6.3, 16; 1 Cor 3.16; 5.6; 6.2-3). This is a rhetorical question that introduces a well-known or obvious fact. Revised English Bible, like Good News Translation, changes the form of this question in a way that emphasizes the implied answer: “Surely you recognize that Jesus Christ is among you?”
Jesus Christ is in you: the word you is plural in Greek. The Greek word translated as in may also be translated as “among” (so Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Nueva Biblia Española; and see comment on 13.3). If the Revised Standard Version interpretation is followed, the focus is more on the indwelling of Christ in the individual. If Revised English Bible is followed, the focus is on the presence of Christ within the Corinthian community. New Jerusalem Bible seems to focus more on the community than the individual, by translating “do you not recognize yourselves as a people in whom Jesus Christ is present?” Either interpretation is possible, and both make sense in the context. Perhaps the fact that each person is to test himself or herself favors the translation in you.
It will be noted that Revised Standard Version has Jesus Christ, while Good News Translation, New International Version, New American Bible, and Moffatt have these names in reverse order. Some Greek manuscripts have the order Jesus Christ, and others have the order “Christ Jesus.” The editors of the UBS Greek New Testament have here followed the reading Jesus Christ, considering it to be the original reading. On the order of these two names, see comment on 1.1.
The comparable vocabulary in Test yourselves and meet the test in this verse reflects a similar correspondence in the Greek. It may be possible to show this relationship in the receptor language by using related words. But the translation should not be forced to the point of unnaturalness in order to do this.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .