Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
Parallel translations
- WEB All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
- KJV All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
- NKJV All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
- NASB All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
- NLT God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
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
Everything that exists was made through the Word, with nothing excepted. This shows Christ is the Creator, not a creature.
Overview
John insists, both positively and negatively, that all created things came into being through the Word, leaving nothing outside His creative work (cf. Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). Because He made all things, He stands above creation as God. This refutes any notion that the Son is merely the highest created being and grounds His authority to redeem the world He made.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Col 1:16–17For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
- 1 Cor 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
- Rev 4:11“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and came to be.”
- Ps 33:6By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Gen 1:26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- John 1:10He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
- Heb 1:2–3But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
- Isa 45:18For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
- Isa 45:12It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host.
- Ps 102:25In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Gen 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Heb 3:3–4For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
- Heb 1:10–12And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Eph 3:9and to illuminate for everyone the stewardship of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
- John 5:17–19But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
Seminary
- ★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
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
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 1:3 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.