# G3956 - pas **Strong's:** [G3956](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3956/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** pas (masc. nom. sing.); panta (neut. nom./acc. plur.) **Part of speech:** adjective; functions as universal quantifier **NT occurrences:** ~1,243, one of the most common words in the GNT **Hebrew equivalents (LXX):** *H3605 - kol* (כֹּל, "all, the whole") ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) 1. **Each, every, any** (singular without the article), distributive sense. 2. **All, the whole** (singular with the article, or plural with article *τὰ πάντα*), collective sense. 3. **Of every kind**, qualitative universality. 4. **All things, the universe** (substantival neuter plural *τὰ πάντα*), the totality of created reality. The lexeme is grammatically a high-frequency function word; what makes it lexicon-worthy is its **load-bearing role in cosmological and christological texts** where the unrestricted universal quantifier carries the doctrinal weight of the verse. ## Theological force, *ta panta* as cosmological totality The substantival neuter plural **τὰ πάντα** ("the all," "all things") is the NT's standard expression for the totality of created reality. When Paul, John, or Hebrews says Christ is the agent or sustainer or goal of *ta panta*, the universal quantifier is the doctrine: nothing escapes the scope, no exception is admitted, no second principle is allowed alongside. The polemical force is anti-dualist (Marcion, Gnostic emanation cosmologies) and anti-Arian (no created mediator: the agent of *all* things cannot Himself be a created thing). Three distinct theological loci weaponize *ta panta*: **1. Christ as cosmic agent and sustainer**, [Colossians 1.16](/codex/colossians-1-16/) (*ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα*, "in Him all things were created"); [Colossians 1.17](/codex/colossians-1-17/) (*τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν*, "all things hold together in Him"); [John 1.3](/codex/john-1-3/) (*πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο*, "all things came into being through Him"); [Hebrews 1.3](/codex/hebrews-1-3/) (*φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ*, "upholding all things by the word of His power"); [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) ("one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are *ta panta*"). The fourfold scope (creation, sustenance, mediation, telos) admits no exception. **2. Eschatological subjection / cosmic recapitulation**, [1 Corinthians 15:27-28](/codex/1-corinthians-15-27-28/) (God has put *panta* in subjection under Christ's feet, then Christ subjects Himself to the One who put *ta panta* under Him, so that God may be *panta en pasin*, "all in all"); [Ephesians 1:10](/codex/ephesians-1-10/) (*ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ*, "to head up *ta panta* in Christ"); [Ephesians 1:23](/codex/ephesians-1-23/) (the Church is "the fullness of Him who fills *ta panta* in *pasin*"); [Philippians 3:21](/codex/philippians-3-21/) (Christ subdues *ta panta* to Himself). **3. Soteriological universality of the offer**, *πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων*, "everyone who believes" ([Romans 10:11](/codex/romans-10-11/); [John 3:15-16](/codex/john-3-15-16/); [Acts 2:21](/codex/acts-2-21/); 10:43); [1 Timothy 2:4](/codex/1-timothy-2-4/) (God wills *πάντας ἀνθρώπους*, "all people," to be saved); [Titus 2:11](/codex/titus-2-11/) (the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to *πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις*). ## Notable verses, christological *ta panta* - **[Colossians 1.15-17](/codex/colossians-1-15-17/)**, *ta panta* (singular, distributive) creates the locus classicus: "all things, visible / invisible / thrones / dominions / rulers / authorities, *ta panta* through Him and for Him… *ta panta* hold together in Him." Paul exhausts the scope explicitly so no escape clause is possible. - **[Colossians 1:20](/codex/colossians-1-20/)**, *ta panta* are the object of reconciliation through the cross. - **[John 1.3](/codex/john-1-3/)**, "*panta* came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being." The double quantifier (positive *panta* + negative *oude hen*) closes every loophole. - **[Hebrews 1.3](/codex/hebrews-1-3/)**, Christ upholds *ta panta* by His word's power. - **[1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)**, the Christianized Shema: "one God the Father, *ek* whom *ta panta*… one Lord Jesus Christ, *di'* whom *ta panta*." - **[Romans 11:36](/codex/romans-11-36/)**, "*ek* Him and *di'* Him and *eis* Him are *ta panta*." Originally a doxological formula referring to God; Paul redeploys the prepositional structure for Christ in [1 Cor 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) and [Col 1:16](/codex/colossians-1-16/). - **[Ephesians 4:10](/codex/ephesians-4-10/)**, Christ ascended "above all the heavens, that He might fill *ta panta*." - **[Philippians 2:9](/codex/philippians-2-9/)**, God has given Jesus "the name above *pan onoma*" (every name). ## Notable verses, soteriological *pas* - **[John 3:15](/codex/john-3-15/)**, *πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων*, "everyone who believes", the universalizing predication of saving faith - **[John 3:16](/codex/john-3-16/)**, *πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν*, repeats the construction - **[Romans 10:11](/codex/romans-10-11/)**, *πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ' αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται* - **[Romans 10:13](/codex/romans-10-13/)**, *πᾶς γὰρ ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται* (quoting [Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/)) - **[Acts 2:21](/codex/acts-2-21/); 10:43** - **[Galatians 3:28](/codex/galatians-3-28/)**, "you are *pantes* one in Christ Jesus" (the unity of the new humanity) - **[1 Timothy 2:4](/codex/1-timothy-2-4/)**, God desires *pantas anthrōpous* to be saved - **[Titus 2:11](/codex/titus-2-11/)**, grace appeared "to *pasin anthrōpois*" - **[2 Peter 3:9](/codex/2-peter-3-9/)**, God is patient, not wishing any (*tinas*) to perish but *pantas* to come to repentance ## Patristic / scholarly note The Council of Nicaea (AD 325) treats the *panta di' autou egeneto* of [John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/) as decisive: if Christ is the agent of *all* that came into being, He cannot Himself be among the things that came into being, therefore He is uncreated, *homoousios* with the Father. Athanasius (*Contra Arianos* II.21-24, c. AD 360) develops the argument repeatedly: "if all things are made through the Word, and He is not made, then He is not one of the things that are made" (paraphrased). Augustine (*Tractates on John* 1.11) makes the same move on [John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/). Modern scholarship reads [Colossians 1:15-20](/codex/colossians-1-15-20/) as a pre-Pauline christological hymn (Hengel, Bauckham) using the Jewish Wisdom-tradition pattern (Wisdom 7:24-27; Sirach 24) but with universal-quantifier escalation: where Wisdom is *fashioned by* God, the Son is the agent *through whom* all things come, a category-leap that Wisdom-typology cannot support and that puts Jesus in the *Creator* category rather than among created mediators. The theological lever is precisely the unrestricted quantifier. In contemporary apologetics, *ta panta* in [Colossians 1](/codex/colossians-1/) and John 1 features in the [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/) (high-christology argument from creation-mediation) and is the standard reply to subordinationist / Arian / Jehovah's-Witness readings ("the Watchtower's interpolation 'all *other* things' has no Greek warrant"). ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Top-cited references using *pas / panta / ta panta*: [Colossians 1.15-17](/codex/colossians-1-15-17/), [Colossians 1.16](/codex/colossians-1-16/), [Colossians 1.17](/codex/colossians-1-17/), [John 1.3](/codex/john-1-3/), [Hebrews 1.3](/codex/hebrews-1-3/), [Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/). ## See also - [G2937 - ktisis](/codex/g2937-ktisis/), *ktisis* (creation), the noun *ta panta* enumerates - [G2936 - ktizo](/codex/g2936-ktizo/), *ktizō* (to create), paired with *ta panta* in [Col 1:16](/codex/colossians-1-16/) - [G3056 - logos](/codex/g3056-logos/), the agent who creates *ta panta* (John 1) - *H3605 - kol*, Hebrew universal quantifier (LXX equivalent) - [Colossians 1.15-17](/codex/colossians-1-15-17/), [John 1.1-3](/codex/john-1-1-3/), [Hebrews 1.3](/codex/hebrews-1-3/), locus classicus passages - [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/), the *ta panta* argument