Revised Standard Version preserves the order of the Greek sentence, which has the word God at the end of the sentence rather than as the subject of the sentence. The Greek sentence structure gives emphasis to the word God. But in some languages this will be done more naturally by beginning the sentence with the word God, followed by an emphatic pronoun, “God himself….”

This very thing: this refers to the change of which Paul writes in the previous verse. Revised Standard Version reflects the emphasis of the Greek construction, as do New Revised Standard Version and New International Version. The Greek means “just this [and nothing else].” Other translations such as Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy drop the emphasis and say simply “this” rather than “this very.”

Who has given us the Spirit: the Spirit is God’s Spirit (see Good News Translation), or the Holy Spirit. It may be more natural in some cases to make this a separate sentence: “He [God] has given us his Spirit….”

On a guarantee, see 1.22.

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 .