TypeError: 'undefined' is not an object

I'm not sure how you could just check if something isn't undefined and at the same time get an error that it is undefined. What browser are you using?

You could check in the following way (extra = and making length a truthy evaluation)

if (typeof sub !== 'undefined' && sub.from && sub.from.length) {

[update]

I see that you reset sub and thereby reset sub.from but fail to re check if sub.from exist:

for (var i = 0; i < sub.from.length; i++) {//<== assuming sub.from.exist
            mainid = sub.from[i]['id'];
            var sub = afcHelper_Submissions[mainid]; // <== re setting sub

My guess is that the error is not on the if statement but on the for(i... statement. In Firebug you can break automatically on an error and I guess it'll break on that line (not on the if statement).