This detailed Bible research infographic examines 1 Corinthians 8:6 in Greek and compares it with several English translations. It highlights Paul’s words, “one God, the Father, from whom are all things” and “one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things,” while examining translations that introduce words such as “created,” “were created,” “Creator,” and “Jehovah” that are not explicitly written in the Greek text.
QUICK FACTS: 1 CORINTHIANS 8:6
WHAT DOES THE GREEK TEXT REALLY SAY?
1 Corinthians 8:6 is one of Paul's clearest statements concerning the identity of the one God and the one Lord Jesus Christ.
The Berean Literal Bible reads:
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6, BLB
Notice exactly what Paul says:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER
and
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST
But when we compare this simple Greek wording with several English translations, we discover that some translations add interpretive words concerning creation that are not explicitly present in the Greek text.
Let's examine them.
THE GREEK TEXT
The relevant Greek reads:
ἀλλ’ ἡμῖν εἷς Θεὸς ὁ Πατήρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτόν· καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς δι’ αὐτοῦ.
The important expressions are:
ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα
“from whom are all things”
and:
δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα
“through whom are all things”
The Greek text itself does not explicitly contain the words:
“CREATED”
or:
“WERE CREATED.”
Those words are interpretive additions supplied by certain translators.
That does not automatically prove dishonest intent, but readers should know when a translation has moved from translating the Greek into interpreting what the translators believe Paul meant.
THE ARAMAIC BIBLE IN PLAIN ENGLISH
The Aramaic Bible in Plain English reads:
“To us, ours is one God The Father, for all things are from him and we are in him, and The One LORD JEHOVAH Yeshua The Messiah, for all things are by him, and we are also in his hand.”
Immediately notice the expression:
“LORD JEHOVAH YESHUA THE MESSIAH”
But “Jehovah” is not present in the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 8:6.
The Greek simply says:
Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός
meaning:
“Lord Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, inserting “JEHOVAH” into the English wording goes considerably beyond what the Greek text actually says.
Whatever someone believes theologically about Jesus, the reader deserves to know that Paul did not write the Greek equivalent of “Jehovah” in this verse.
THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE
The Amplified Bible reads:
“…one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things [that have been created]…”
Notice the brackets:
[THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED]
Those words are not explicitly present in the Greek.
The Greek says:
“through whom are all things.”
The Amplified Bible is deliberately explanatory, and its brackets indicate supplied explanatory material. Nevertheless, that addition introduces a specific creation interpretation that the Greek phrase itself does not spell out.
NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
The NLT reads:
“There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created…”
and concerning Jesus:
“…through whom all things were created…”
Again, the Greek does not explicitly say:
“ALL THINGS WERE CREATED.”
Paul writes:
“from whom are all things”
concerning the Father, and:
“through whom are all things”
concerning Jesus Christ.
The NLT has therefore interpreted Paul's statement specifically in terms of creation rather than translating the expression more literally.
CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION
The CEV reads:
“We have only one God, and he is the Father. He created everything…”
and:
“Jesus Christ is our only Lord. Everything was made by him…”
Once again, expressions such as:
“HE CREATED EVERYTHING”
and:
“EVERYTHING WAS MADE BY HIM”
are interpretive expansions.
The underlying Greek expressions remain:
“from whom are all things”
and:
“through whom are all things.”
GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION
The Good News Translation similarly reads:
“…the Father, who is the Creator of all things…”
and:
“…Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created…”
But Paul does not actually use the Greek word for “Creator” here, nor does the sentence explicitly contain the verb “created.”
Those ideas have been supplied by the translators as their interpretation of Paul's meaning.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Because there is a substantial difference between translation and interpretation.
Paul's actual distinction is remarkably simple:
ONE GOD, THE FATHER
FROM WHOM ARE ALL THINGS
and:
ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST
THROUGH WHOM ARE ALL THINGS
We should first allow Paul to speak using the words he actually wrote before inserting theological explanations into his sentence.
PAUL IDENTIFIES THE ONE GOD
The most striking part of this passage is sometimes overlooked.
Paul does not say:
“For us there is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Instead, he explicitly identifies the one God:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
This agrees with Jesus' own words:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3, BLB
Jesus distinguishes between:
“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and:
“JESUS CHRIST, WHOM YOU HAVE SENT.”
Paul likewise distinguishes between:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER
and:
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST
AN IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT “ALL THINGS”
We should also be careful not to make the opposite mistake.
The absence of the explicit Greek word “created” does not, by itself, prove that creation has nothing to do with Paul's statement.
The phrase τὰ πάντα — “all things” must be interpreted from Paul's context and wider theology.
Therefore, the strongest textual argument is not:
“THE GREEK PROVES THIS CANNOT REFER TO CREATION.”
Rather, it is:
“THE GREEK DOES NOT EXPLICITLY SAY ‘ALL THINGS WERE CREATED.’”
That distinction makes the argument more accurate and much harder to dismiss.
WHAT HAVE WE DISCOVERED?
The facts are straightforward:
1. Paul explicitly identifies the Father as “one God.”
2. Paul identifies Jesus Christ as “one Lord.”
3. The Greek says all things are “from” the Father.
4. The Greek says all things are “through” Jesus Christ.
5. The Greek text of this verse does not explicitly contain “created,” “were created,” or “Creator.”
6. The Greek text does not call Jesus “Jehovah.”
7. Therefore, translations that introduce these expressions are giving readers an interpretation of Paul's words rather than reproducing those particular words directly from the Greek.
FINAL CONCLUSION
When we remove the interpretive additions and return to Paul's Greek wording, his statement is remarkably clear:
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6, BLB
ONE GOD — THE FATHER.
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.
Before building doctrine upon words such as “Jehovah,” “Creator,” or “all things were created,” we should first ask a simple Berean question:
ARE THOSE WORDS ACTUALLY IN THE GREEK?
In 1 Corinthians 8:6, they are not explicitly there.
That does not settle every theological question surrounding the verse, but it does tell us something extremely important:
LET PAUL'S OWN WORDS SPEAK BEFORE ADDING WORDS FOR HIM.
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
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