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. 9. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” The pron. ὅς, who, refers of course to the person of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7). But this name being expressly repeated at the end of the verse, many commentators have been led to refer the pronoun ὅς to θεός, God (1 Corinthians 1:4). But this reference would reduce the whole passage, 1 Corinthians 1:5-7, to a simple parenthesis; it has besides against it the repetition of the word θεός in 1 Corinthians 1:9. If the expression our Lord Jesus Christ appears again at the end of the verse, instead of the pronoun, this arises from the fact that the term “the day of Christ” is a sort of technical phrase in the New Testament; it corresponds to the “day of the Lord” in the Old Testament.

The καί, also, implies that the work to be yet accomplished will only be the legitimate continuation of that which is already wrought in them. There is undoubtedly an intentional correlation between the βεβαιώσει, will confirm, of 1 Corinthians 1:8, and the ἐβεβαιώθη, was confirmed, of 1 Corinthians 1:6. Since God confirmed Paul's preaching at Corinth by the gifts which His Spirit produced there, He will certainly confirm believers in their faith in the gospel to the end.

This end is the Lord's coming again, for which the Church should constantly watch, for the very reason that it knows not the time of it; comp. Luke 12:35-36; Mark 13:32. If this event does not happen during the life of this or that generation, death takes its place for each, till that generation for which it will be realized externally. The phrase, in the day of Christ, does not depend on the verb will confirm, but on the epithet ἀνεγκλήτους, unblameable. We must understand between the verb and the adjective the words εἰς τὸ εἶναι, as in Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Philippians 3:21 (where the words εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι are a gloss): the end is directly connected with the means. ᾿Ανέγκλητος signifies exempt from accusation, and many apply the word to the act of justification which will cover the infirmities and stains of believers in that supreme hour, so that, as Meyer says, the epithet is not equivalent to ἀναμάρτητος, exempt from sin. It does not seem to me that this meaning suits the parallels 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; for these passages represent believers as completely sanctified at that time. If then they are no longer subject to any accusation, it will not be only, as during their earthly career, in virtue of their justification by faith, it will be in virtue of their thenceforth perfected sanctification. The Greek - Latin reading παρουσία, advent, instead of ἡμέρα, day, has no probability.