Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 8:6
yet 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, correcting a claim (8:4) that "a god is nothing" and "there is but one God," which some were using to justify eating food sacrificed to idols.
The words — εἷς (heis), "one," is the structural hinge: it appears before both "God, the Father" and "Lord, Jesus Christ," creating a deliberate parallel that distinguishes the two while binding them to the same God.
The thread — Romans 11:36 compresses the same triad ("from Him, through Him, to Him"), John 1:3 carries the "through Him" clause into the prologue, and Malachi 2:10 grounds the "one Father" in the covenant.
Why it lands — The "for us" (hēmin) makes this a confession of identity, not a metaphysical abstraction; it draws a line between the pagan claim of "many lords" (8:5) and the Christian claim of one Lord, and that line has immediate consequences for what a believer eats and with whom they sit at a meal.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Cross-references
- Romans 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
- John 1:3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
- Malachi 2:10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
- Hebrews 1:2 But 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.
- Colossians 1:16 For 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 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
- Acts 17:28 ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
- Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
- John 14:20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.