For “God has put everything under His feet.” Now when it says that everything has been put under Him, this clearly does not include the One who put everything under Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
- NKJV For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
- NASB For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him.
- NLT For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God has put all things under Christ's feet, with God Himself clearly excepted. It matters because it shows the scope and ordering of Christ's authority.
Overview
Citing Psalm 8, Paul affirms that all things are subjected to Christ, while clarifying that the Father who does the subjecting is not Himself included. This careful distinction preserves the proper relationship within the Godhead. Christ's universal authority is real, yet it is given by and exercised toward the glory of the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 8:6You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
- Heb 2:8and placed everything under his feet.” When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.
- Matt 28:18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
- Matt 11:27All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
- Eph 1:22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
- John 13:3Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.
- John 3:35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.
- 1 Pet 3:22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.
- Phil 2:9–11Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,
- Rev 1:18the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Heb 1:13Yet to which of the angels did God ever say: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”?
- Heb 10:12But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.
- Eph 1:20which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 15:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.