Lest any one should say: this rendering by Revised Standard Version is too literal; New Revised Standard Version “so that no one can say.” The Greek may also mean “with the result that”; in other words, something did not happen. This seems a better meaning here. Paul is glad that he baptized so few people at Corinth, because the result now is that no one can say that Paul baptized on his own authority or in order to found a party of his own in the church. Good News Bible‘s “then” means “consequently” and helps to make the meaning clear. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the whole statement positive: “Otherwise you would say afterwards that I had become your Lord through baptism!”

Instead of you were baptized many Greek manuscripts have “I baptized.” Paul probably didn’t write it this way, but many translations will need to make clear the doer of the action “baptize” in this verse. It was most likely Paul. However, it would be just as correct to render this as “they baptized you to become my disciples” or “that you received the rite of baptism in order to become my disciples.”

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 .