1 Corinthians 15:28

Context

Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, the letter Paul sent to the church at Corinth, deals with the resurrection. Some in the Corinthian church were saying that "there is no resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:12), and Paul answers that Christ has risen as "the firstfruits of them that slept." In 15:20–28 he then sets out the order of events at the end. Christ will put down all rule and authority and deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Verse 27 quotes Psalm 8: "For he hath put all things under his feet." Verse 28 is the conclusion that brings this discussion to a close. God, who put all things under the Son, is the sole exception, and the Son himself will also be subject to him, so that God may be "all in all": "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."

Interpretations

• The orthodox patristic reading: Augustine and others read this subjection as that of the incarnate Christ, that is, his subjection as man and as Mediator (the one who joins God and humanity). On this view, the verse does not conflict with the Trinitarian doctrine that the Son and the Father are equal in divinity.
• The Reformed reading: John Calvin and other Reformed interpreters explain that the reign Christ exercises as Mediator, that is, the reign by which he accomplishes redemption, reaches its completion at the end and is handed over to the Father. In this interpretation, too, the Son's divine sovereignty continues.
• The Arian and non-Trinitarian reading: In the fourth century, the Arian party cited this verse as evidence that the Son is inferior to the Father in essence. Today Jehovah's Witnesses cite the verse on similar grounds.
• Origen's reading: The third-century theologian Origen connected the phrase "all in all" with the idea that all things will ultimately be restored to God. This idea was rejected by the later church.

Controversies and Issues

In the fourth century, Marcellus of Ancyra is reported to have appealed to this verse in arguing that the Son's kingdom will come to an end in the last days. It is widely held that the confession "whose kingdom shall have no end," included in the expanded form of the Nicene Creed (the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed), was directed against such claims. In the 2010s, a debate arose in American evangelical circles over the view that the Son is eternally functionally subordinate to the Father, and this verse was discussed anew as a key proof text.

The major denominations in Korea, including Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, Full Gospel, and Anglican churches, all accept the Trinitarian confession of the Nicene Creed and therefore broadly agree in not reading this verse as diminishing the Son's divinity.

There is also a question of translation. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok) tradition renders the final clause as "that he may dwell in all as Lord of all." A literal rendering of the Greek original, however, means that God becomes "all things in all things." For this reason, some have pointed out that "as Lord of all" is an interpretive paraphrase.

Related Passages

• 1 Corinthians 15:22-26
• Psalm 8:5-8
• Philippians 2:9-11
• Colossians 1:15-17
• John 10:30