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ALL
ALL THINGS
37
AND
ALL AND ALL THINGS, Greek pas. This word occurs over 1,100 times in the New Testament and is variously
translated `all', `every', `whosoever' and other equivalent terms too numerous for us to tabulate here.
`Singular; without the article, signifies every; with the article, the whole of the object it qualifies. Thus pasa
polis, every city; pasa he polis, the whole of the city; panta perrasmon, every form of temptation (Luke 4:13);
pantes, all men; panta, all things severally. (See Phil. 4:13); ta panta, all things constituting a whole' (Col.
1:16). (Dr. E. W. Bullinger's Lexicon).
Let us acquaint ourselves with the usage of this word in the New Testament. `Every nation under heaven' (Acts
2:5) sounds universal, but is limited to a radius of some 400 miles, as a reference to verses 9-11 will reveal.
In Colossians 1:16 we read of the creation of all things that are in heaven and in earth, that Christ is before all
things and that by Him all things consist. Yet in the space of a few verses, Paul says that the gospel entrusted to him
had been preached to `every creature which is under heaven' (Col. 1:23). We have no certain knowledge that Paul
fulfilled his wish to preach the gospel in Spain, he certainly did not cover the continents of Africa, America or Asia,
yet he is free to use such terms.
When Paul wrote `all things are lawful for me' (1 Cor. 10:23) he most certainly did not mean that it would have
been lawful for him to lie, steal, murder or break any other commandment of God or of conscience. When he said
that Love `believeth all things', he most certainly did not teach that the highest exhibition of love was an uncritical
gullibility.
So, therefore, it behoves us to approach the question of the meaning of `all' with care. Let us consider some
expressions that are of dispensational importance as well as which illustrate the need for this care in interpretation.
`All Israel'. Are we to understand from Romans 11:26 that all Israel there means every single individual who
can trace his pedigree back to Jacob or to Abraham? We must remember that Romans 11 is one of three chapters
which form a unit, and unless we see the passages as a whole, we shall not be able to discern `the wood for the
trees'.
A somewhat condensed structure of Romans 9 to 11 is as follows.
Sorrow. Doxology, `Over all' panton.
A 9:1-5.
B 9:6-29. Remnant saved. Mercy on some.
(Corrective as to `all Israel' 9:6).
C 9:30 to 11:10.
Christ the end of the law.
B 11:11-32. All Israel saved. Mercy on them all.
(Corrective as to Remnant 11:1-5).
A 11:33-35. Song. Doxology. `All things' ta panta.
For a fuller exposition of Romans 9 to 11 see the book, Just and the Justifier, by the author.
In Romans 9 the apostle had said:
`They are NOT ALL ISRAEL, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, IN ISAAC shall thy seed be called ... the children of the promise are counted for the seed' (6-8).
The underlying principle of election and promise influence the extent of the word `all' here.
`All in Adam'. In like manner we could paraphrase Romans 9:6-8 and say, `they are NOT ALL IN ADAM, which
are physically descended from Adam, but "in Christ" the true seed are called', for there are many evidences in the
Scriptures to show that there are TWO SEEDS in the earth, and one of them is not of God. (See SEED4, IN ADAM2).
When Paul says, in 1 Timothy 4:10, `He is the Saviour of all men', universal redemption is not implied, for if he
had meant that, he could not have added `especially of them that believe'.
Ta panta. It is of extreme importance that we distinguish between those passages of Scripture which use panta
`all things' and ta panta some particular `all things'.