What Does 1 Corinthians 8:6 Mean?
But to us there is one God, the Father, out of whom are all things, and we into him, and one Lord, Jesus the Anointed One, through whom are all things, and we through him.
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
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.THE KEY
Your existence belongs inside the same movement as everything else: from the Father, through Jesus Christ, and toward the Father.
THE MEANING
You are included in the same life as all things: your being comes from the Father, and your life is through Jesus Christ. The verse holds origin and belonging together, then places you within both relationships.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you are an isolated, self-originating life: your existence belongs within the same source and sustaining relation as all things.
THE ROOT
πάντα
panta
GROWS FROM
πᾶς
pas
all, each, the whole
The same word for “all things” appears with both the Father and Jesus Christ, holding the whole of existence within both relationships. Then the verse names “we” in each relationship too: you are included in that whole.
ALSO GROWS
hapas: the whole, all together
ἅπας
This related form carries the sense of a gathered whole, echoing how the verse places all things and “we” within one shared scope.
pan: all, everything
πᾶν
This neuter form makes the whole explicit; here the plural πάντα gives that whole as “all things,” repeated across source and means.
πατήρ
patēr
GROWS FROM
πατρ-
patr-
father, forebear; source within a family line
The verse names the source of all things as Father, then immediately includes “we” in relation to him. The root’s branches carry both origin and belonging, so the source is also the one to whom we belong.
ALSO GROWS
patria: family, lineage
πατριά
This branch links fatherhood with shared kinship, illuminating the verse’s move from “all things” to “we.”
patris: fatherland, homeland
πατρίς
This branch links paternal origin with belonging, adding depth to the verse’s words “we in him.”
THE PATTERN
The whole of existence has its source, its means, and its belonging in God.
By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.All things came to be through him, and apart from him not one thing came to be that has come to be.For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him let there be weight for the ages. Amen.THE THREAD
For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him let there be weight for the ages. Amen.Romans repeats the Greek phrase τὰ πάντα (ta panta, “all things”) and makes the direction explicit: from him, through him, and to him. That sequence opens this verse’s “we in him” as belonging within the same movement that holds all things.
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