The first sentence in this verse is literally “no test has taken you except a human one.” Revised Standard Version‘s translation is too literal and obscures the meaning. Good News Bible has tried to clear up the meaning by expanding the text somewhat. “Test” is a better translation than temptation, since the rest of the verse, like verse 9, refers to the activity of God. Another possible restructuring of this first sentence is as follows: “Whenever you are tested, you should remember that other people have been tested like this too.” In languages that do not use the passive voice, translators will often employ a verb meaning “receive” or “experience”; for example, “Whenever you receive (or, experience) testing, you should remember that other people have experienced testing like this too.”
God is faithful is the phrase that occurred in 1.9. There it was translated by Good News Bible as “God keeps his promises.” The same phrase is used in 2 Cor 1.18. Good News Bible‘s “God keeps his promise” seems appropriate in this context. In languages in which the passive is unnatural, the clause he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength may be rendered as “God will not allow anyone to test you beyond what you can bear.” This probably refers to not only inner moral temptations, but the pressure of persecution from outside also.
The final two clauses are ordered differently in Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible. Revised Standard Version considers that there is a means and purpose relationship between the clauses. However, this involves what seems to be a logical inconsistency, unless it means that a believer is able to endure the test (temptation) because he is sure that God will bring the test to an end. Good News Bible understands “the final genitive phrase ‘be able to endure’ as a genitive of definition and not of result, which means that ‘the way out’ is the ability to endure the test.” New English Bible supports this view, “but when the test comes he will at the same time provide a way out, by enabling you to sustain it,” but Revised English Bible has “… and so enable you to endure.” The translator will need to weigh all the evidence and make a choice between the two possibilities.
The way of escape probably means “the appropriate way out” or “the appropriate way to endure the test.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .