Berean Standard Bible
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
All Things Made Through the Pioneer
All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
The Greek *egeneto* (aorist of *ginomai*) means "came into being" — denoting things that began to exist — and is carefully distinguished here from the eternal *ēn* ("was") used of the Word in verses 1–2. The final phrase *ho gegonen* ("that has come into being") is retained as part of verse 3 per the punctuation supported by early manuscripts, completing the thought: everything in the realm of created existence came through him. The preposition *di' autou* ("through him") preserves the instrumental role of the Word — he is the agent, not the source; creation flows from the Father through the Word.
Berean Standard Bible
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
King James Version
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Goodspeed New Testament
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
3Everything came into existence through him, and apart from him nothing came to be.
Translation for Translators
T4T was designed as a tool for Bible translators, not as a devotional text. It makes implicit meaning explicit and flags figurative language with abbreviations. Gold [brackets] indicate translation notes. ◄Triangles► mark alternative renderings.Read more about how to read T4T →BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
3He is the one by whom God caused everything to exist. He is the one who created absolutely everything [LIT]Literal renderingT4T departs from a strictly literal rendering here and flags it for the translator..
Berean Standard Bible
Goodspeed New Testament
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
Everything came into existence through him, and apart from him nothing came to be.
Berean Standard Bible
Goodspeed New Testament
King James Version
BSB and T4T shown with Greek annotations — · Why we show the Greek →
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
Everything came into existence through him, and apart from him nothing came to be.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
SBL
3
πάντα all πᾶς pâs including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole all (manner of, means), alw διʼ through διά diá a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional) αὐτοῦ he αὐτός autós from the particle (perhaps akin to the base of G109 (ἀήρ) through the idea of a baffling wind) (backward); the reflexive ἐγένετο come into being γίνομαι gínomai a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be (gen-erate), i.e. (reflexively) to become (come i , καὶ and καί kaí apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too χωρὶς apart from χωρίς chōrís adverb from G5561 (χώρα); at a space, i.e. separately or apart from (often as preposition) beside, by itself, without αὐτοῦ he αὐτός autós from the particle (perhaps akin to the base of G109 (ἀήρ) through the idea of a baffling wind) (backward); the reflexive ἐγένετο come into being γίνομαι gínomai a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be (gen-erate), i.e. (reflexively) to become (come i οὐδὲ not even οὐδέ oudé from G3756 (οὐ) and G1161 (δέ); not however, i.e. neither, nor, not even neither (indeed), never, no (more, nor, not), n ἕν in ἐν en a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (mediall . ὃ the ὁ ho the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom) the, this, that, one, he, she, γέγονεν come into being γίνομαι gínomai a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be (gen-erate), i.e. (reflexively) to become (come i
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
The Greek verb here is egeneto — "came into being" — used twice in rapid succession. John chooses this word carefully: it speaks of things coming into existence through a process, through agency. The preposition dia ("through") marks the Pioneer as the instrument of creation, not its origin. Origin and instrument are not the same thing.
Most readings flatten this distinction and conclude that the Pioneer must therefore share the Father's uncreated nature. But dia never means that. When Paul writes that all things are from the Father and through the Son in 1 Corinthians 8:6, he uses the same construction — source and agent held deliberately apart.
The Functional Faith reading sees something richer here: the Father's firstborn was the Father's supreme agent in the forming of all that exists. Colossians 1:15 calls him the protokos pases ktiseos — the firstborn of all creation — and this passage shows why that title carries such weight. He was there first, and everything else came through him. That is pioneering language, not competing-divinity language.
This matters practically because it means the Pioneer understands the world from the inside. He was not visiting creation — he was woven into it as its firstborn, which makes his solidarity with us genuine and his path genuinely walkable.
Sit with this
If the Pioneer was the Father's instrument in making all things, what does it mean that he then entered those same things as one of us?
Sources
SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)License
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
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