What Does 1 Corinthians 1:8 Mean?
Who will also make you firm until the end, unaccused in the day of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.THE KEY
The one who makes you firm carries you to the finish, where no accusation holds against you in the day of Jesus, the Anointed One.
THE MEANING
God is the one establishing you and carrying that work through to completion. Your hope of standing without accusation in the day of Jesus, the Anointed One, rests in this keeping work rather than in your ability to hold yourself together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must secure your own standing through flawless self-maintenance is undone: God is the one making you firm and bringing you to that day unaccused.
THE ROOT
βεβαιώσει
bebaiōsei
GROWS FROM
βέβαιος
bebaios
Firm, stable, secure; the verb means to make firm or establish.
“make firm” in this verse is bebaiōsei. The word translated “confirm” carries the sense of making you firm and keeping you established. Its force in this verse is not simply reassurance: God is the one who holds you steady through to the end.
ALSO GROWS
bebaios: Firm, secure, dependable.
βέβαιος
This adjective reveals the quality God gives: a standing that is made secure.
bebaiōsis: Confirmation, establishment.
βεβαίωσις
This noun names the act of establishing, bringing out the active work contained in “confirm.”
ἀνεγκλήτους
anenkletous
GROWS FROM
ἐγκαλέω
enkaleō
To accuse or bring a charge; with the negative prefix, the word means unaccused or without a charge.
“unaccused” in this verse is anenkletous. “Blameless” can sound like a demand for flawless performance, but this word has the shape of an accusation that does not stand. The verse pictures you brought to the day without a charge holding against you.
ALSO GROWS
enkaleō: Accuse, bring a charge against.
ἐγκαλέω
This is the accusation that the word “blameless” negates.
enklēma: An accusation or charge.
ἔγκλημα
This related noun makes the courtroom edge of “blameless” visible.
τέλους
telous
GROWS FROM
τέλος
telos
An end, completion, or goal.
The phrase “unto the end” points to the completion of the course, not merely the passage of time. God’s establishing work reaches its intended finish.
ALSO GROWS
teleō: Finish, accomplish, bring to completion.
τελέω
This verb shows the active movement toward the completion named by “end.”
teleios: Complete, mature, brought to its intended end.
τέλειος
This related word echoes the movement from being established toward completion.
THE PATTERN
God establishes a person and carries his work in them through to completion.
The LORD finishes what concerns me; your faithful love, O LORD, endures for the ages; do not let the works of your hands drop.Being confident of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will finish it until the day of Jesus the Anointed One.The one who calls you is steady, and he will also do it.THE THREAD
Now the one who makes us firm with you in the Anointed One, and who has anointed us, is God.The verb βεβαιόω (bebaioō, make firm) underlies “stablisheth” here and belongs to the same word family as “confirm” in 1 Corinthians 1:8. The repeated root makes the source of your steadiness clear: God establishes you and carries you toward the day named in the verse.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us