When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15:28

Paul is describing to Corinth what will happen at “the end” when the dead are resurrected (15:20-24a).  Christ will “deliver the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (15:24b), after having “put all his enemies under his feet” with “death” being the last “enemy to be destroyed” (15:25-26).  Citing Psalm 8:6, the apostle reminds the Corinthians that “God has put all things in subjection under (Christ’s) feet” (15:27a; cf. Eph. 1:22a; Matt. 11:27; 28:18)…except for the Father himself (“he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him” – 15:27b).  Thus, at “the end” of time when Jesus surrenders his kingdom to his Father (15:24), “the Son himself will also be subjected” to his Father, the One who had earlier “put all things in subjection under” Jesus (15:28a).

This will happen so that “God may be all in all” (15:28b).  Concerning this phrase, R.C.H. Lenski in his commentary on 1 Corinthians observes that there will not be one “hand or a voice in the whole universe raised against him.”  Brad Price in his commentary on 1 Corinthians writes, “The expression ‘all in all’ in verse 28 seems to describe a state of absolute perfection and completeness.  When Jesus returns, all evil and enemies will be removed (verses 25-26), righteousness will reign, all the saved will be together, and God will be all that the saved have and need.”  I’m reminded of what Paul wrote to the Ephesian saints about how there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:6).  The ideal of which Paul spoke to Ephesus which also touches on God’s sovereignty (Ps. 115:3; 135:6; Is. 46:9-10; Job 42:2) and omnipresence (Ps. 139:1ff; Heb. 4:13) will be fully realized and seen by all of his creation once the sin of which God can have no part (Is. 59:2) is completely destroyed (15:25-26).  In the eternal glory of heaven after Judgment Day, the only authority will be God.  All will respond to that authority in the same way: with obedience.  Everything done or said within heaven will focus only on one Being…God.  He will truly “be all in all.”

There is another theological implication to Paul’s statement that God the Son “will also be subjected to” his Father so that “God may be all in all” (15:28).  Wayne Jackson describes it best in his New Testament Commentary:

At the time of Christ’s ascension into heaven (Acts 1:9), all things were subjected to him (cf. Eph. 1:20-23) – except the Father himself (v. 27).  When his present reign and conquests are completed (with permanency), the Son himself will “be subjected” to the Father.  This subjection in no way diminishes Christ’s divine glory.  This passage presents perhaps one of the most profound thoughts in biblical theology.  Christ was not subjected to the Father before the incarnation (cf. Phil. 2:5ff); he will be in some sense after his Second Coming.  Why?  The answer is not supplied.  It could reflect a deeper level of devotion to humanity than anyone can possibly imagine from our present vantage point – forever identified with the redeemed!

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around this, friends.  This joins the many unimaginable aspects of eternal glory in heaven, the inheritance and reward waiting for all faithful saints on that wonderful day!

I can’t wait to see it and experience it.

— Jon