1 Corinthians 1:8

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Who.—The use of the words “day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” instead of “His day,” has been regarded by some as a sufficient evidence that “who” does not refer to Christ. This by itself would scarcely be so, for there are examples elsewhere of St. Paul using our Lord’s name where the possessive pronoun would have seemed more natural (Ephesians 4:12; Colossians 2:11). The general sense of the passage, however, and especially of the following verse, shows that the antecedent to “who” is not “Christ,” in 1Corinthians 1:7, but “God,” in 1Corinthians 1:4.

Three distinct periods are referred to in these verses—(1) the time when the grace of God was given them (1Corinthians 1:4); (2) the present time while they wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus, endowed as they are with the qualities described in 1Corinthians 1:5-7; and (3) the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is still future—if preserved blameless until that, then they are finally and for ever safe; and that they will be so preserved by God the Apostle has no doubt, for the reason stated in the next verse. (See 1Corinthians 4:3.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-9 All Christians are by baptism dedicated and devoted to Christ, and are under strict obligations to be holy. But in the true church of God are all who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, and who call upon him as God manifest in the flesh, for all the blessings of salvation; who acknowledge and obey him as their Lord, and as Lord of all; it includes no other persons. Christians are distinguished from the profane and atheists, that they dare not live without prayer; and they are distinguished from Jews and pagans, that they call on the name of Christ. Observe how often in these verses the apostle repeats the words, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He feared not to make too frequent or too honourable mention of him. To all who called upon Christ, the apostle gave his usual salutation, desiring, in their behalf, the pardoning mercy, sanctifying grace, and comforting peace of God, through Jesus Christ. Sinners can have no peace with God, nor any from him, but through Christ. He gives thanks for their conversion to the faith of Christ; that grace was given them by Jesus Christ. They had been enriched by him with all spiritual gifts. He speaks of utterance and knowledge. And where God has given these two gifts, he has given great power for usefulness. These were gifts of the Holy Ghost, by which God bore witness to the apostles. Those that wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, will be kept by him to the end; and those that are so, will be blameless in the day of Christ, made so by rich and free grace. How glorious are the hopes of such a privilege; to be kept by the power of Christ, from the power of our corruptions and Satan's temptations!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who shall also confirm you - Who shall establish you in the hopes of the gospel. He shall make you "firm" (βεβαιώσει bebaiōsei) amidst all your trials, and all the efforts which may be made to shake your faith, and to remove you from that firm foundation on which you now rest.

Unto the end - That is, to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He would keep them to the end of life in the path of holiness, so that at the coming of the Lord Jesus they might be found blameless; compare John 13:1. The sense is, that they should be kept, and should not be suffered to fall away and perish - and this is one of the many places which express the strong confidence of Paul that those who are true Christians shall be preserved unto everlasting life; compare Philippians 1:6.

That ye may be blameless - The word rendered "blameless" ἀνεγκλήτου anegklētou does not mean perfect, but properly denotes those against whom there is no charge of crime; who are unaccused, and against whom there is no ground of accusation. Here it does not mean that they were personally perfect, but that God would so keep them, and enable them to evince a Christian character, as to give evidence that they were his friends, and completely escape condemnation in the last Day; see the notes at Romans 8:33-34. There is no man who has not his faults; no Christian who is not conscious of imperfection; but it is the design of God so to keep his people, and so to justify and sanctify them through the Lord Jesus, that the church may be presented "a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle" Ephesians 5:27 on the Day of Judgment.

In the day ... - On the Day when the Lord Jesus shall come to judge the world; and which will be called his Day, because it will be the Day in which he will be the great and conspicuous object, and which is especially appointed to glorify him; see 2 Thessalonians 1:10, "Who shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. Who—God, 1Co 1:4 (not Jesus Christ, 1Co 1:7, in which case it would be "in His day").

unto the end—namely, "the coming of Christ."

blameless in the day of … Christ—(1Th 5:23). After that day there is no danger (Eph 4:30; Php 1:6). Now is our day to work, and the day of our enemies to try us: then will be the day of Christ, and of His glory in the saints [Bengel].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which Lord Jesus Christ, ( mentioned immediately before), or which God who is faithful, ( mentioned immediately after, 1 Corinthians 1:9), shall confirm your habits of grace unto the end, approving himself the finisher of your faith, (you being not wanting in your duty and endeavour): so as either you shall not fall, or at least not totally and finally, but so as you shall rise again, and appear in the day of our Lord Jesus without blame, so as he will accept you as if you had never sinned against him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Who shall also confirm you unto the end,.... The author of this blessing of confirmation is not the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is mentioned in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 1:7; and seems to be the antecedent to the relative "who" in this, but is not, for this confirmation is made in him; see 2 Corinthians 1:21; and besides, it is in order that the saints might be blameless in the day of Christ, and so must design some other person distinct from him, which is God the Father, 1 Corinthians 1:4, to whom the apostle gives thanks, and continues to do so unto this verse; in which he assures the saints of confirmation in grace by God, the author and giver of all grace: and which may be understood of their confirmation in the love and favour of God, from which there can be no separation; and of their establishment in the person of Christ, and in the doctrines of grace; and of the permanency of the grace of the Spirit in them, and of their perseverance in faith and holiness unto the end: that is, of their days; even until the day of Christ, when the good work begun in them shall be performed and finished; that is, "for ever", as the Ethiopic version reads it; for the love of God to his people always continues; their interest in Christ can never be lost; grace in them is an immortal seed; nor shall they be ever finally and totally moved away from the hope of the Gospel:

that ye may be blameless; not in themselves, for no man is without his faults; none of God's children are without their failings and infirmities; they have whereof to blame themselves, and may be blamed by God too in a providential way; but they are so in Christ their head, being justified by his righteousness, and washed in his blood; and so in the sight of God, as considered in Christ; and will appear such

in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he shall descend from heaven, and take his saints to him, and present them to himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Geneva Study Bible

{11} Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be {g} blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(11) He testifies that he hopes that things go well with them from now on, that they may more patiently abide his reprehension afterward. And yet together in addition shows, that the beginning as well as the accomplishing of our salvation is only the work of God.

(g) He calls them blameless, not whom man never found fault with, but with whom no man can justly find fault, that is to say, those who are in Christ Jesus, in whom there is no condemnation. See Lu 1:6.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 1:8. Ὅς] refers to Ἰησοῦ Χ., not, as Flatt, Pott, Billroth, Schrader, Olshausen, de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, Hofmann, with the majority of interpreters, assume, to the far-distant Θεός 1 Corinthians 1:4,—a view to which we are not compelled either by the Ἰησ. Χριστοῦ which follows (see below), or by 1 Corinthians 1:9, seeing that the working of the exalted Christ is in fact subordinated to the will of God (1 Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 11:3; Romans 8:34, al[131]). Comp Winer, p. 149 [E.T. 196]. The apostle, however, is so full of Christ, as he addresses himself to his Epistle, that throughout the preamble he names Him in almost every verse, sometimes even twice. Comp Romans 1:1-7.

καί] also, denotes that which corresponds to the ἀπεκδέχεσθαι κ.τ.λ[134], what Christ will do.

ΒΕΒΑΙΏΣΕΙ] ΣΤΗΡΊΞΕΙ Romans 16:25; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 1:21. The future stands here not optatively (Pott), but as expressive of a confident hope in the gracious working of Christ.[135]

ἝΩς ΤΈΛΟΥς] applies not to the end of life (Calovius, Flatt, and others), but, as the foregoing τ. ἀποκάλ. Κ.Τ.Λ[136] and the following ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ κ.τ.λ[137] clearly show, to the end of the pre-Messianic period of the world’s history (the αἰὼν οὗτος, see on Matthew 13:32), which is to be ushered in by the now nearly approaching (1 Corinthians 7:29, 1 Corinthians 15:51) Parousia. Comp 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Corinthians 1:13. It is the ΣΥΝΤΈΛΕΙΑ ΤΟῖ ΑἸῶΝΟς, Matthew 13:39 f., Matthew 24:3, Matthew 28:20; comp Hebrews 9:26.

ἈΝΕΓΚΛΉΤΟΥς Κ.Τ.Λ[140]] result of the strengthening: so that ye shall be free from reproach in the day, etc. Comp 1 Thessalonians 3:13. See respecting this proleptic usage generally, on Matthew 12:13; Php 3:21, and Jacob, Quaest. epic. ii. 4, p. 136 ff. Stallb. a[142] Plat. Rep. p. 560 D.

τοῦ Κυρίον κ.τ.λ[143]] The repetition of the noun instead of the mere pronoun is common in the classics also (Ellendt, a[144] Arrian. Exp. Al. i. 55; Kühner, a[145] Xen. Mem. i. 6. 1), and elsewhere in the N. T. (Winer, l.c[146] and p. 136 [E. T. 180]). Here (as at 2 Corinthians 1:5; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:13 f., al[147]) it has solemn emphasis. Comp 1 Corinthians 1:21.

It is to be noted, moreover, that the blamelessness in the day of Christ (comp Romans 8:33) is conditioned (2 Timothy 4:7) by perseverance in the faith (through which justification is appropriated), and consequently rests on the imputation of faith (Romans 4:4 f.); but is nevertheless, in virtue of the moral character and power of faith, as also in virtue of sanctification through the Spirit, of a thoroughly moral nature (Romans 6:1 ff; Romans 8:1 ff.), so that the ἈΝΈΓΚΛΗΤΟς at the Parousia appears not, indeed, as ἈΝΑΜΆΡΤΗΤΟς, but as ΚΑΙΝῊ ΚΤΊΣΙς ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ (2 Corinthians 5:17), who, being divinely restored (Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 3:10) and progressively sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23), has worked out his own salvation (Php 2:12) in the consecration of the moral power of the new spiritual life (Romans 8:2 f.; Php 1:10 f.), and now receives the ΒΡΑΒΕῖΟΝ of his calling (Php 3:14), the ΣΤΈΦΑΝΟς of the ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗ (2 Timothy 4:8), in the ΔΌΞΑ of everlasting life.

[131] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[134] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[135] Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, and others, find in this expression an indirect censure; as a hint that they were σαλενόμενοι and ἐγκλήμασι νῦν ὑποκείμενοι. A view the more inappropriate, when we consider how natural and familiar to the apostle was the thought expressed with respect to all his churches.

[136] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[137] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[140] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[142] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Corinthians 1:8. ὃς καὶ βεβαιώσει ὑμᾶς echoes ἐβεβαιώθη (1 Corinthians 1:6); cf. the thanksgiving of Php 1:6. ἕως τέλους (see parls.) points to a consummation, not a mere termination of the present order; cf. Romans 6:21 f. ἀνεγκλήτους, “unimpeached,” synonymous with ἀμέμπτους (unblamed), but judicial in significance,—in view of the ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου: “free from charge when the day of the Lord shall come”; cf. Romans 8:33, τίς ἐγκαλέσει;—ὅς refers to the foregoing κύριος Ἰ. Χ., not to the distant Θεὸς of 1 Corinthians 1:4; the Saviour “who will make sure” the innocence of the Cor[106] on that day is the Judge who will pronounce upon it (cf. Colossians 1:22, Ephesians 5:27, where Christ is to “present” the Church “unblemished and unimpeached” before Himself): He will then confirm them and vindicate their character, as they have confirmed the testimony about Him (cf. Luke 9:26). P. does not say the Cor[107] are ἀνέγκλητοι now; he hopes that they will prove so then. “The day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. note on 1 Corinthians 3:13) is the O.T. “day of Jehovah” (LXX, τ. Κυρίου), translated into the “day of Christ,” since God has revealed His purpose to “judge through Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16, Acts 17:31).—ἐν τ. ἡμέρᾳ = ἐν τ. παρουσίᾳ τ. κυρ. Ἰ. Χ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, etc.), with the added connotation of judgment, to which the ἀποκάλυψις of 1 Corinthians 1:7 leads up: for this connexion of thought, see Romans 2:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:7 ff. P. does not say “His day,” though ὅς recalls ὁ κύρ. Ἰ. Χ.: Christ’s name is repeated ten times in the first ten vv.—six times, as here, in full style—with sustained solemnity of emphasis (cf. the repetition of “God” in 20–29); “P. thus prepares for his exhortations these Cor[108], who were disposed to treat Christianity as a matter of human choice and personal liking, under the sense that in a Christian Church Christ is the one thing and everything” (Hf[109]).

[106] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[107] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[108] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[109] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. blameless] is the exact equivalent of the Greek, which signifies free from reproach. It is worthy of remark that “blame,” though the Saxon termination “less” has been appended to it, is itself a word of Greek origin. It is identical with “blaspheme,” the original meaning of which is, “to speak ill of,” and has reached us in an abbreviated form through the French.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 1:8. Ὅς, who) God, 1 Corinthians 1:4 [not Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 1:7]: comp. 1 Corinthians 1:9.—ἕως τέλους, even to the end) an antithesis to the beginning implied in the phrase; which was given, 1 Corinthians 1:4. This end is immediately described in this verse, comp. ch. 1 Corinthians 15:24.—ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, in the day) construed with unblamed [blameless], 1 Thessalonians 5:23. After that day, there is no danger, Ephesians 4:30; Php 1:6. Now, there are our own days, in which we work, as also the days of our enemies, by whom we are tried; then there will be the day of Christ and of His glory in the saints.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Who; clearly Christ, though his Name is again repeated in the next clause. Shall also confirm you. This natural expression of the apostle's yearning hope for them must not be overpressed into any such doctrine as "the indefectibility of grace." All honest and earnest students must resist the tendency to strain the meaning of Scripture texts into endless logical inferences which were never intended to be deduced from them. Unto the end; namely, to the end of "this age," and to the coming of Christ (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 3:6, 13; Hebrews 6:11). That ye be unreprovable; rather, unimpeached (anenkletous), as in Colossians 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:18; Titus 1:6. It is not the word rendered "blameless" (amemptos) in Philippianws 2:15 or in 2 Peter 3:14. A Christian can only be "blameless," not as being sinless, but as having been forgiven, renewed, sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11; Romans 8:30). In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the same as the apokalypsis or parousia. It is sometimes called simply "the day" (comp. 1 Corinthians 3:13; Acts 1:20; Joel 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 6:17). 1 Corinthians 1:8

Vincent's Word Studies

Confirm

Compare 1 Corinthians 1:6.

Unto the end

Of the present aeon or period. See on end of the world, Matthew 28:20.

Blameless (ἀνεγκλήτους)

Used by Paul only. In apposition with you. Rev., unreprovable. The kindred verb ἐγκαλέω occurs only in Acts and Romans. See on Romans 8:33. It means to accuse publicly, but not necessarily before a tribunal. See Acts 23:28, Acts 23:29; Acts 26:2, Acts 26:7. Hence the word here points to appearance at God's bar.