8<\/strong>. blameless<\/em> ] is the exact equivalent of the Greek, which signifies free from reproach<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n Who shall also confirm you – <\/B>Who shall establish you in the hopes of the gospel. He shall make you firm (<\/SPAN><\/span> bebaiosei) 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.<\/P> Unto the end – <\/B>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 Joh 13:1<\/span>. 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 Phi 1:6<\/span>.<\/P> That ye may be blameless – <\/B>The word rendered blameless <\/SPAN><\/span> anegkletou 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 Rom 8:33-34<\/span>. 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 Eph 5:27<\/span> on the Day of Judgment.<\/P> In the day … – <\/B>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 2Th 1:10<\/span>, Who shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 8<\/span>. Who shall – confirm you<\/B><\/I>] As the testimony of Christ was confirmed<\/I> among you, so, in conscientiously believing and obeying, God will confirm<\/I> you through that testimony. See 1Co 1:6<\/span>.<\/P> <\/P> In the day of our Lord Jesus<\/B><\/I>] In the day that he comes to judge the world, according to some; but, in the day in which he comes to destroy the Jewish polity, according to others. While God destroys them who are disobedient, he can save you who believe.<\/P> <\/p>\n Which Lord Jesus Christ, <\/I>( mentioned immediately before), or which God<\/I> who is faithful, <\/I>( mentioned immediately after, 1Co 1:9<\/span>), shall confirm<\/I> your habits of grace unto the end, <\/I>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. <\/P> <\/p>\n 8. Who<\/B>God, 1Co1:4<\/span> (not Jesus Christ, 1Co 1:7<\/span>,in which case it would be “in His<\/I> day”). <\/P> unto the end<\/B>namely,”the coming of Christ.” <\/P> blameless in the day of . . .Christ<\/B> (1Th 5:23<\/span>). Afterthat day there is no danger (Eph 4:30<\/span>;Phi 1:6<\/span>). 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].<\/P><\/p>\n Who shall also confirm you unto the end<\/strong>,…. The author of this blessing of confirmation is not the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is mentioned in the latter part of 1Co 1:7<\/span>; and seems to be the antecedent to the relative “who” in this, but is not, for this confirmation is made in him; see 2Co 1:21<\/span>; 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, 1Co 1:4<\/span>, 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:<\/p>\n that ye may be blameless<\/strong>; 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<\/p>\n in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n Shall confirm <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Direct reference to the same word in verse 6<\/span>. The relative <\/SPAN><\/span> (who) points to Christ.<\/P> Unto the end <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). End of the age till Jesus comes, final preservation of the saints.<\/P> That ye be unreproveable <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Alpha privative and <\/SPAN><\/span>, to accuse, old verbal, only in Paul in N.T. Proleptic adjective in the predicate accusative agreeing with <\/SPAN><\/span> (you) without <\/SPAN><\/span> and the infinitive as in 1Thess 3:13<\/span>; 1Thess 5:23<\/span>; Phil 3:21<\/span>. “Unimpeachable, for none will have the right to impeach” (Robertson and Plummer) as Paul shows in Rom 8:33<\/span>; Col 1:22<\/span>; Col 1:28<\/span>. <\/P> <\/p>\n Confirm. Compare ver. 6. <\/P> Unto the end. Of the present aeon or period. See on end of the world, Mt 28:20<\/span>. <\/P> Blameless [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. Used by Paul only. In apposition with you. Rev., unreprovable. The kindred verb ejgkalew occurs only in Acts and Romans. See on Rom 8:33<\/span>. It means to accuse publicly, but not necessarily before a tribunal. See Act 23:28<\/span>, 29<\/span>; Act 26:2<\/span>, 7<\/span>. Hence the word here points to appearance at God ‘s bar.<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “Who shall also confirm you,”<\/strong> (Greek hos kai bebaiosei humas heos telous) “who” (Christ) “will also confirm you till the finish.” What a pledge of security! Not “maybe or might”, but will. See Col 1:21-22<\/span>; Php_1:6.<\/p>\n 2) “Unto the end.” (heos telous) means “until it is finished.” This complete redemption, assured by the promise of Jesus, and through the seal of the Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13-14<\/span>; Eph 4:30<\/span>; Joh 10:27<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) “That ye may be blameless.”<\/strong> (Greek anegkletous) “as blameless ones,” 1Th 5:23<\/span>; Php_2:15; 2Pe 3:14<\/span>. It is the purpose of God that Christians live so that they may be without guilt for blame or charges of wrong brought against them.<\/p>\n 4) “In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”<\/strong> This term “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” refers to that first aspect of His coming in the air for His saints to initiate the reward of the saints, leading to the marriage of the Lamb – while the term “day of the Lord” refers to the judgment of the Lord on Israel, the Gentile world, and false religions 1Co 5:5<\/span>; 2Co 1:14<\/span>; Php_1:6; Php_1:10.<\/p>\n 8. Who will also confirm you. The relative here refers not to Christ, but to God, though the word God is the remoter antecedent. For the Apostle is going on with his congratulation, and as he has told them previously what he thought of them, so he now lets them know what hope he has of them as to the future, and this partly for the purpose of assuring them still farther of his affection for them, and partly that he may exhort them by his own example to cherish the same hope. It is as if he had said — Though the expectation of a salvation to come keeps you still in suspense, you ought nevertheless to feel assured that the Lord will never forsake you, but will on the contrary increase what he has begun in you, that when that day comes on which <\/p>\n “<\/p>\n we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,” (2Co 5:10<\/span>,) <\/p>\n we may be found there blameless. <\/p>\n Blameless In his Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians (Eph 1:4<\/span>, and Col 1:22<\/span>) he teaches that this is the end of our calling — that we may appear pure and unreproachable in the presence of Christ. It is, however, to be observed, that this glorious purity is not in the first instance perfected in us; nay, rather, it goes well with us if we are every day making progress in penitence, and are being purged from the sins (2Pe 1:9<\/span>) that expose us to the displeasure of God, until at length we put off, along with the mortal body, all the offscourings of sin. Of the day of the Lord we shall have occasion to speak when we come to the fourth chapter. <\/p>\n (8) Who.<\/strong>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 Lords name where the possessive pronoun would have seemed more natural (Eph. 4:12<\/span>; Col. 2:11<\/span>). The general sense of the passage, however, and especially of the following verse, shows that the antecedent to who is not Christ, in 1Co. 1:7<\/span>, but God, in 1Co. 1:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n Three distinct periods are referred to in these verses(1) the time when the grace of God was given them (1Co. 1:4<\/span>); (2) the present time while they wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus, endowed as they are with the qualities described in 1Co. 1:5-7<\/span>; and (3) the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is still futureif 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 1Co. 4:3<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 8<\/strong>. <\/strong> Who<\/strong> Referring to Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n Shall confirm<\/strong> Will confirm; <\/em> being the simple future. Fatalistic doctrine interprets this will confirm <\/strong> to mean that there can be no failure of their firmly enduring to the end; that the passage “furnishes a guarantee against that greatest of dangers, the fickleness of the human will.” LANGE’S Bibel-werke, <\/em> on the passage. Such an interpretation violates the true doctrine of probation, and ignores the true nature of the freedom of a responsible will, which must be allowed the power and the area for choosing either way. See our note on Rom 2:9<\/span>. Hence Grotius well says, “God does his own part,” in confirming. We say as above, 1Co 1:1<\/span>, the apostle expresses only the divine side of the work, implying the required performance of the human conditions which are elsewhere expressed in countless cases. That is, assuming that the Corinthian Church are earnestly anxious to be confirmed blameless to the end<\/strong>, he promises that God on his part will be faithful <\/strong> to confirm <\/strong> them. <\/p>\n Blameless<\/strong> Being forgiven of every sin and sanctified unto all holiness; so that at the end <\/strong> we are perfectly blameless. Note Rom 8:33<\/span>. <\/p>\n The end<\/strong> the coming of Christ to judgment. See note on 1Co 15:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n ‘Who will also confirm you to the end, unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’<\/p>\n Note here the promise that they will experience this because they will be ‘confirmed’ to the end (bebaioo). This verb is used as a legal term to indicate guaranteeing security. It is used in Heb 13:9<\/span> of those whose hearts are strengthened (confirmed) by grace. And Who is the One who will confirm us to the end? It matters little whether we see this as referring back to Christ Jesus (1Co 1:7<\/span>) or God (1Co 1:4<\/span>). The latter is supported by the words in 1Co 1:9<\/span>, for otherwise the faithfulness of God in the matter comes in somewhat abruptly. The former is supported by the closeness of the antecedent. But either way the confirmation is by the Godhead, and is linked with God’s faithfulness in that we learn that He is faithful in carrying out this very purpose.<\/p>\n Just as the testimony of Jesus Christ was ‘confirmed’ in them by the Holy Spirit as He ‘sealed them unto the day of redemption’ (Eph 4:30<\/span>), guaranteeing their security (1Co 1:6<\/span>), so now we also learn that either God Himself or the Lord Jesus Christ Himself guarantees their security, ‘confirming’ them to the end, and guaranteeing that they will be unreproveable in that day. Thus Paul can speak of, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ’ (Php 1:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n So the true people of God are seen as being safe and secure in His hands. They can rely on the faithfulness of God. But there is another side to the picture. The test that they are His people is that He will continue within them His sanctifying work, changing them from glory into glory as they behold His face (2Co 3:18<\/span>) that they may be presented perfect before Him, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight (Col 1:22<\/span>). That they will be presented unreproveable is guaranteed because He is the One Who ‘confirms’ them. They may stumble but they will not ultimately fall. God will work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is the day when His people come before Him to receive His blessings, to give an account of their stewardship (1Co 3:10-15<\/span>; Rom 14:10-12<\/span>), and to receive praise from God (1Co 4:5<\/span>). It is the day of the Lord’s final triumph.<\/p>\n The ‘day of Christ’ differs from the day of the Lord in that the latter refers more generally to God coming in judgment and finalising His purposes for creation (1Th 5:2<\/span>; 2Pe 3:10<\/span>), while the day of Christ and its parallels speak of the day when He comes for His own (1Co 1:8<\/span>; 1Co 5:5<\/span>; 2Co 1:14<\/span>; Php 1:6<\/span>; Php 1:10<\/span>; Php 2:16<\/span>; 2Th 2:2<\/span>; 1Jn 4:17<\/span>). Both occur within the final activities of God at the end of time, but looked at from a differing viewpoint, the one pointing to the day when Christ deals with His own, the other with the time when God brings all things to summation.<\/p>\n ‘God is faithful.’ The One Who has called us into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is totally faithful. This is the final guarantee of what has gone before. The Spirit has sealed us, and Christ and God will ‘confirm’ us, for all rests, not on our faithfulness, but on the faithfulness of God. And none is able to pluck us from His hand (Joh 10:29<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘Called us.’ This is effectual calling, and guarantees the future of those called (2Ti 1:9<\/span>; 1Pe 5:10<\/span>). In the end the reason why men respond to Christ is because they have been given to Him by the Father (Joh 6:37<\/span>; Joh 6:39<\/span>) and because the Father draws them to Him (Joh 6:44<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘Into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.’ The idea here is of fellowship with Him. The word for ‘fellowship’ (koinonia) signifies communion, fellowship, close relationship, full sharing. It is a favourite expression for the marital relationship thought of as the most intimate between human beings. Thus the idea is of such a close relationship with Christ that nothing can part us. It is an indissoluble union. But it is also a unity that demands being conformed to the One with Whom the union is made. We cannot speak of ‘fellowship’ without thinking in terms of conformity (Rom 8:29<\/span>). ‘How shall two walk together, except they be agreed?’ (Amo 3:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n Others would read it as meaning the fellowship of His people established by Jesus Christ, but the context demands that a close relationship with Christ be in mind. It is because we are ‘in Christ’ that we are secure (1Co 1:2<\/span>; 1Co 1:5<\/span>). Thus we are members of His body in the closest possible sense ( 1Co 6:15 ; 1Co 6:17<\/span>; 1Co 10:16-17<\/span>; 1Co 12:12-27<\/span>; Eph 5:30<\/span>) and fitly framed together in Him (Eph 2:20-21<\/span>).<\/p>\n It may be asked. ‘If Christians are so secure in Christ, how do we explain those who fall away?’ The answer is one of two, either that such people never genuinely committed themselves to Christ from the heart, never really trusted in the saving work of the cross, whatever the outward appearance, were never really in Him. It is that they were converted to an idea, or the friendship of the church, or because someone they loved was a Christian, or because they liked some part of the message which suited their particular viewpoint, or for some other similar reason, and not to true submission to the living Christ. Or alternatively that while being marked off as His, they are being allowed to stray for a while, but can be sure that the Shepherd will seek them until He finds them (Luk 15:4<\/span>). He will not let them finally stay away. All stray at some point, for every deliberate sin is a straying, but some take longer to be returned than others. Yet, if they are His, returned they will be, for His reputation as a Saviour is at stake.<\/p>\n ‘How then,’ it may be asked, ‘can we have assurance that we are His?’ And the answer is, by the genuineness of our response to Christ and the assurance of the Spirit within. This is revealed in our genuine awareness of sin, by our genuine recognition that only through His finished work on the cross can we find forgiveness and salvation, by our genuine response to Him on this basis, by our desire to please Him (not the church or people within the church or Paul or Apollos or Peter or any other outstanding personality, but Him) and our desire therefore to do always what is pleasing to Him. In the end it is final perseverance which is the proof of salvation, for Christ does not fail in His work, but our confidence should be, not in that final perseverance, but in the Saviour in Whose hands we are and Who will bring it about. We may fail, but if we are His He will pick us up again and set us on the right way.<\/p>\n 1Co 1:8<\/span> . ] refers to ., not, as Flatt, Pott, Billroth, Schrader, Olshausen, de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, Hofmann, with the majority of interpreters, assume, to the far-distant 1Co 1:4<\/span> , a view to which we are not compelled either by the . which follows (see below), or by 1Co 1:9<\/span> , seeing that the working of the exalted Christ is in fact subordinated to the will of God (1Co 3:23<\/span> , 1Co 11:3<\/span> ; Rom 8:34<\/span> , al<\/em> [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 Rom 1:1-7<\/span> .<\/p>\n ] also<\/em> , denotes that which corresponds to<\/em> the . . [134] , what Christ will do.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong> ] <\/em><\/strong> Rom 16:25<\/span> ; 1Th 3:13 ; 2Co 1:21<\/span> . The future stands here not optatively<\/em> (Pott), but as expressive of a confident hope<\/em> in the gracious working of Christ. [135]<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> ] applies not to the end of life<\/em> (Calovius, Flatt, and others), but, as the foregoing . . <\/em><\/strong> .<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> .<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> [136] and the following . . [137] clearly show, to the end of the pre-Messianic period<\/em> of the world’s history (the , see on Mat 13:32<\/span> ), which is to be ushered in by the now nearly approaching (1Co 7:29<\/span> , 1Co 15:51<\/span> ) Parousia. Comp 1Co 10:11<\/span> ; 2Co 1:13<\/span> . It is the <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> , Mat 13:39<\/span> f., Mat 24:3<\/span> , Mat 28:20<\/span> ; comp Heb 9:26<\/span> .<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong> Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n