📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 15:27
What does 1 Corinthians 15:27 mean?
"For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him."
— 1 Corinthians 15:27 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.
When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?
Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?
Explanation
1 Corinthians 15:27 says, in plain terms, that God has placed everything under the authority of Christ. Paul is quoting from Psalm 8:6, a passage that originally spoke of humanity's God-given dominion over creation, and applying it to Christ as the perfect fulfillment of that calling. Paul then adds a clarifying note: when Scripture says "all things" are subjected to Christ, this obviously does not include God the Father himself, since it is the Father who did the subjecting. Christ is the one receiving authority, not the one from whom it ultimately originates.
The context is Paul's great resurrection chapter, written to the church in Corinth, where some believers were doubting or denying the future bodily resurrection of the dead. Paul argues that Christ's own resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all who belong to him, and he traces out a sequence of end-time events: Christ rises first, then at his coming those who belong to him are raised, and then comes the end, when Christ hands the kingdom over to God the Father after destroying every rival power, authority, and enemy—including death itself (verses 24–26). Verse 27 is Paul's scriptural support for this claim that "all things" will be brought under Christ's rule, with the careful qualification that the Father remains outside that subjection, as the one who instituted it.
Theologically, this verse affirms both the supreme exaltation of Christ and the ordered relationship within the Godhead. Christ, as the risen and reigning Lord, is given authority over all creation—fulfilling what Adam
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