Many translations begin a new sentence at this point. Good News Bible has “also” (as does New Revised Standard Version) but this is omitted in Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, and New International Version. “Also” may sound awkward because this is the first time Christ is mentioned as agent rather than instrument (see comments on 1 Cor. 1.3). The word translated “also” may mark this change, in which case it may be rendered “It is he who will keep you firm….” Alternatively it may mark continuity between what God has done through Christ in the past, and what Christ will do in the future: “(Christ) will continue to give you strength…” (New Jerusalem Bible). Who in Revised Standard Version and “he” in Good News Bible refer to Jesus Christ in verse 7. This fact needs to be made clear in languages where the translator has rendered the latter part of verse 7 as “for God to reveal Jesus Christ”; for example, “Jesus will keep you firm….”

The Greek verb that is translated will sustain you is the same as that which is translated “confirmed” or “firmly established” in verse 6. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this as “he will help you to remain firm on this ground to the end.” In some languages it will be necessary to explain the “ground” on which the Corinthian Christians will “remain firm.” The meaning is that Christians must not lose their faith in Christ no matter what tests or temptations they meet. One can say “He will also keep you from losing your faith” or “Jesus will help you to keep on believing in him.”

Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible are certainly correct in using the expression to the end in this verse. The context speaks clearly about the final “Day” (Good News Bible), or the Day when Jesus Christ will return.

The central idea of the word guiltless is not that the Corinthians will be prevented from doing anything wrong until Christ comes again, but that Christ will “keep them firm” in their trust in him. He will keep them from renouncing their faith or denying him even under persecution, so that in the final judgment he may pronounce them innocent. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch expresses this same idea in a negative way: “so that no one can accuse you (successfully).”

Day: for Paul, “the Day of the Lord” has become, not just God’s judgment day, but the day when Christ comes to glory. Translators should use a phrase similar to this, to avoid readers raising the objection: “Why should one day more than another belong to God?” Translators should also avoid any expression that might be understood as meaning “Sunday.”

Most manuscripts and most translations have our Lord Jesus Christ as in verse 7 (New English Bible is an exception, but not Revised English Bible). Two important manuscripts omit Christ in verse 8, perhaps because the scribes wished to make the sentence less heavy or repetitious. There is no reason why Christ should not be omitted here, since there is no loss in meaning (the UBS Greek text puts Christ in square brackets). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, having used the full phrase “our Lord Jesus Christ” in verse 7, speaks simply of “his judgment day” in verse 8. One could also say here, “on the day when he returns.” For comments on the translation of Lord, see 1 Cor. 1.2.

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 .