1 Corinthians 8:6 – everything made through Jesus, or everything in Jesus’ hand?
In most translations, the latter half of 1 Corinthians 8:6 sounds like this:
‘And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.’ –Berean Standard Bible
Now, because we defer to the Aramaic when there’s a disagreement between the Aramaic and the Greek, we should mention a problem: the Aramaic text could be taken in one of two ways. It could agree with what’s said above, but it could also simply be about everything being in Jesus’ hand, or power.
Literally, the Aramaic text reads:
…and-one lord, Jesus Anointed-One, all-of in/with-his-hand/arm also we in/with-his-hand/arm.
This could be translated just as it appears in Greek, but also as this:
There’s also just one Lord, Jesus the Anointed; everything is in his hand, and we are in his hand too.
The confusion arises because the Aramaic for ‘in’ can also mean ‘with’ or ‘by means of’, and the expression ‘hand/arm’ is part of a common way of talking about acting, fighting, and so on. Consider how many times Yahweh talks about showing his ‘mighty arm’ in the Old Testament.
So the Aramaic text could mean:
- ‘all [is] by means of his hand’, or
- ‘all [are] in his hand’.
Or, in other words:
- Everything was created by/through Jesus, or
- Everything is in Jesus’ hand.
Which is correct?
Well, the Greek text seems to quite clearly state that it should mean ‘all [is] by means of his hand’. Modern Bibles translate this to mean that everything was created by God through Jesus.
Most would assume the Greek simply clarifies the Aramaic text here, and that one meaning is implied, and that’s the end of the matter.
However, there’s two more possibilities:
- Paul may have been quoting a common saying among Aramaic-speakers that was deliberately ambiguous, a saying that implies that we are BOTH created by him and also in his hand. This double-meaning may have been lost when the saying was translated to Greek.
- The Greek text may be implying that we are both created by him and also in his hand, something captured well by the Aramaic version, but not conveyed so well by the Greek.
- There’s also a much smaller possibility that the Greek text suffered some early corruption and was originally just ambiguous as the Aramaic, but was later clarified by someone to be ‘helpful.’
All of these options seem possible to us, because the double meaning of ‘in and by’ flows so extremely well from the previous verses.