Why …: this Revised Standard Version rendering may be misleading, and Good News Translation has no overt transition marker at all, but in Greek this verse begins with a word that expresses a contrast with the preceding verse. The sense is “Instead of feeling that we had hope, on the contrary we felt that we had received the death sentence.” New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible begin verse 9 with the word “Indeed,” while New Jerusalem Bible and Contemporary English Version have “In fact,” both of which underscore the sense of despair mentioned in verse 8.
We felt that we had received: literally “but we have [or, had] the sentence of death in ourselves.” If Paul was referring to a physical illness, then the verb “we have” may indicate that the results of the illness continued to bother him. If so, a better translation will be “we ourselves have received within ourselves” (so Barrett). But the tense of the verb may refer to an action already completed (as in 2.13), in which case the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation translations are correct.
The sentence of death is, as Good News Translation makes clear, “the death sentence.” Probably this is figurative language. Paul had not actually received a legal sentence of death from a judge; rather his affliction was so great that he felt the way he would have felt if he had in fact received a legal sentence of death. Another way of saying this may be “we really thought that the time had come for us to die.”
But that was: these three words in Revised Standard Version translate one word in Greek that expresses purpose. The second half of this verse expresses the purpose for which they had “received the death sentence.” The word that refers to the belief that they had received the death sentence. Both Good News Translation and New International Version attempt to supply this information by saying “But this happened so that…,” and Revised English Bible has “This was meant to teach us….”
Rely … on: the verb so translated may also be rendered “put [our] trust in” (Barclay) or “place [our] confidence in” (God’s New Covenant). The verb “trust” is also used by Contemporary English Version, Knox, and New Century Version.
Who raises the dead: Judaism praised God’s power as being able to raise the dead to life in this world (see 1 Sam 2.6; 1 Kgs 17.17-22; 2 Kgs 4.32-37). Since God is able to bring dead people back to life, surely he is able to protect those who suffer or are in serious danger. Some translations insert the word “can,” that is, “who can even raise the dead” (An American Translation; so also Phillips). However, such an insertion may suggest that, though God is able to raise the dead, he does not do so. But Paul is affirming that God does raise the dead.
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 .