Translation of 2 Cor 13:4

2 Cor 13:4 (NA27 Greek Edition)

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.

Translation matters. What about "eks astheneias" in 2 Cor 13:4? "In weakness" or "by or because of weakness"? In 2 Cor 13:4, usually, you would see the translation with "Jesus's crucifixion in weakness." For example, NIB and NRSVue have the following:

NIV
"4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you."

NRSVue
"4 For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God."

But the plain sense of the Greek phrase "eks astheneias" must be "out of weakness" or "because of weakness." The preposition en, which means "in," was not used there. So CEB translates the phrase as "because of weakness."

CEB
"4 Certainly he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. Certainly we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power that is directed toward you."

While CEB makes explicit that Jesus could not defeat the cross because he was weak, the NIV and NRSVue imply that Jesus suffered the cross as if he were weak. The traditional translation prefers "in weakness," which hints at his voluntary posture of taking the cross---the idea of redemptive sacrifice. He was capable of defeating the cross with his power but he took the form of weakness. Which translation do you think is close to Paul's meaning in context? 

But the CEB emphasizes Jesus's humanity. In fact, we must see the parallels in the verse between "because of weakness" and "because of God's power," as the NASB translates. Both phrases contain the Greek preposition ek or eks, which means "out of, by, because of." So, we can say that Paul juxtaposes Jesus's weakness with God's power. Paul's theology is God-centered. God vindicates Jesus. For Paul, the good news (gospel) is "God-centered, Christ-exemplified, and Christian-proclaimed," as I argued in my book How to Read Paul. We see here the threefold aspects of the gospel. This idea of the threefold gospel is the hallmark of my scholarship. 

NASB

4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we too are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

Some of my books deal with this issue.

• Messiah in Weakness: A Portrait of Jesus from the Perspective of the Dispossessed
• Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology
• How to Read Paul: A Brief Introduction to His Theology, Writings, and World