John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 1:8

"who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye be] unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Corinthians 1:8 (ASV)

Who will also confirm you. The relative pronoun here refers not to Christ, but to God, though the word God is the more distant antecedent. The Apostle is continuing his congratulation. Just as he previously told them what he thought of them, so he now lets them know what hope he has for them concerning the future.

He does this partly to assure them further of his affection for them, and partly to exhort them by his own example to cherish the same hope.

It is as if he had said: Though the expectation of a future salvation keeps you in suspense, you ought nevertheless to feel assured that the Lord will never forsake you. On the contrary, He will increase what He has begun in you, so that when that day comes on which we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10), we may be found there blameless.

Blameless. In his Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians (Ephesians 1:4 and Colossians 1:22), he teaches that this is the end of our calling—that we may appear pure and unreproachable in the presence of Christ.

However, it should be observed that this glorious purity is not initially perfected in us. Indeed, it is good for us if we are daily making progress in penitence and are being purged from the sins (2 Peter 1:9) that expose us to God’s displeasure, until finally, along with the mortal body, we put off all the offscourings of sin.

We will have occasion to speak more about the day of the Lord when we come to the fourth chapter.