1 Corinthians 8:6

8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live. ¹ 

Proverbs 16:4

16:4 The Lord works ²  everything for its own ends ³  –

even the wicked for the day of disaster. ⁴ 

Romans 11:36

11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Hebrews 1:2-3

1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, ⁵  whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. ⁶  1:3 The Son is ⁷  the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, ⁸  and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁹ 

¹ tn Grk “through whom [are] all things and we [are] through him.”

² sn The Hebrew verb translated “works” (פָּעַל, pa’al) means “to work out; to bring about; to accomplish.” It is used of God’s sovereign control of life (e.g., Num 23:23; Isa 26:12).

³ tn Heb “for its answer.” The term לַמַּעֲנֵהוּ (lamma’anehu) has been taken to mean either “for his purpose” or “for its answer.” The Hebrew word is מַעֲנֶה (ma’aneh, “answer”) and not לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “purpose”). So the suffix likely refers to “everything” (כֹּל, kol). God ensures that everyone’s actions and the consequences of those actions correspond – certainly the wicked for the day of calamity. In God’s order there is just retribution for every act.

⁴ sn This is an example of synthetic parallelism (“A, what’s more B”). The A-line affirms a truth, and the B-line expands on it with a specific application about the wicked – whatever disaster comes their way is an appropriate correspondent for their life.

⁵ tn The Greek puts an emphasis on the quality of God’s final revelation. As such, it is more than an indefinite notion (“a son”) though less than a definite one (“the son”), for this final revelation is not just through any son of God, nor is the emphasis specifically on the person himself. Rather, the focus here is on the nature of the vehicle of God’s revelation: He is no mere spokesman (or prophet) for God, nor is he merely a heavenly messenger (or angel); instead, this final revelation comes through one who is intimately acquainted with the heavenly Father in a way that only a family member could be. There is, however, no exact equivalent in English (“in son” is hardly good English style).

⁶ tn Grk “the ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 11:3 for the same usage.

⁷ tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.

⁸ tn Grk “by the word of his power.”

⁹ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.