God is faithful: the word faithful, which is chosen by Revised Standard Version, often means the attitude of an inferior to a superior, as in the phrase “faithful servant,” “faithful hound.” That is not the meaning in this verse. Good News Bible‘s “trusted” is a better translation. Another way to render this phrase is “You can trust God.” In languages that must show the reason for “trusting,” one may say “You can trust God that he will do these things.” Some common language translations have placed these words at the end of the sentence in order to emphasize them; for example, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “… and God keeps his promises.”

By whom you were called: many languages must show that God is the agent of the action called. Translations such as Good News Bible and New English Bible make this explicit. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “God himself has called you.”

Perhaps the most important word in this verse is the one that Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible translate fellowship. Revised English Bible replaces this noun by a verb having the same meaning: “to share in the life of his Son.” “Share in,” of course, simply means “participate in.” The text implies that the fellowship into which God calls Christians is the fellowship or communion that he himself has with his Son. So the word that translators use here should not refer specifically to the kind of fellowship that Christians have with one another in the church.

Good News Bible puts the clause “God is to be trusted” in apposition with the phrase “the God who.” In languages that do not employ appositional constructions such as this, the translator should use two separate sentences; for example, “You can trust God. He is the one who called you….”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .