This verse is a comment on verse 55a; but more than that it is also a brief thanksgiving that brings the argument of the whole chapter to its climax.

But here marks a return to the triumph song of verses 54b-55.

Thanks be to God may be expressed as “we should thank God” or “we thank God.”

Victory is the keyword of the quotations in verses 54-55 and should be translated in the same way here if possible. The clause who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ can be restructured as follows: “who lets us have the victory through what our Lord Jesus Christ has done.”

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 .