The participle knowing links verse 14 to the preceding verse by expressing the reason that Paul acts as he does. It may be best rendered as beginning a new sentence, as in Good News Translation, Barclay, and several other modern versions.

Good News Translation (also Bible en français courant) makes explicit that “God” is he who raised the Lord Jesus. Good News Bible also makes explicit that God raised Jesus from death “to life.”

Lord Jesus: some manuscripts omit the word Lord. Though the UBS Greek New Testament includes this word, the editors were divided over whether Paul wrote “Lord Jesus” or whether a later scribe added the word “Lord.” Nueva Biblia Española and Knox omit the word “Lord,” but most versions include it.

Will raise: is Paul referring to an event in the near future or in the more distant future? Since he apparently expected to be alive at the time of Christ’s second coming (1 Thes 4.17; 1 Cor 7.29), the near future seems more likely. Raise does not necessarily mean “from death,” but in some cases it may mean only “raise up to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thes 4.17), referring to people who will still be alive at the second coming of Christ.

With Jesus: since Jesus had already been raised from the dead when Paul wrote, the words with Jesus do not mean “at the same time as Jesus.” The sense is either “will raise us in the same way that Jesus was raised,” or “will raise us to be with Jesus,” or “will raise us in virtue of our union with Jesus.” The last one mentioned is more probable. The more probable meaning may have to be rendered in some languages as “will raise us up because we are united with Jesus.” The King James Version rendering “by Jesus” seems to refer to Jesus as the means by which they will be raised. This, however, is not what is intended.

The verb translated bring in Revised Standard Version means “to present [someone]” or “to make [someone] stand.” Since Paul was not with Jesus at the time he was writing, the English word “take” (Good News Translation) correctly expresses the movement involved. Some other possibilities are “present” (Anchor Bible and New International Version) or “summon” (Knox).

The pronouns us are exclusive, since the readers (you) are mentioned separately.

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 .