Hebrews 3:4
in Hebrews 3And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For every house is builded by some one; but he that built all things is God.
KJV
For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
⋯
This verse in Hebrews 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseSince he had called the people and also Moses, he remained in the figure of speech and said, These are the creations and servants. For there is no house unless something has been constructed. But all things have been constructed, including the house by Christ. …
This site's exposition
counted worthy of more glory than Moses
on Hebrews 3:3-4
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses argues from an analogy any builder understood, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house, Christ compared to Moses as architect to structure rather than as one servant to another. The analogy tightens in verse 4, every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God, an unstated identification the reader is left to draw, since the house Moses served and the house Christ built are ultimately the same house God himself framed. Moses is honoured as a faithful part of the very house Christ, as its builder, stands over.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"But He that built all things is God." Thou seest that he is speaking not about the temple but about the whole people.
The Medieval Church2 voices
162. – Then he proves the minor premise of his reason when he says: For every house is built by some man. But the minor is that Christ built that house. He proves this, first, because every house needs a builder; secondly, because the house …
Therefore, since he too was part of the house, he too was created by someone, and the one who created him undoubtedly surpasses him. And the Son of God created him, He who took on flesh and was called high priest for his sake: consequently, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Christ is the maker of this house of the church in all ages: Moses was a minister in the house, he was instrumental under Christ in governing and edifying the house, but Christ is the maker of all things; for he is God, and no one less than God could build the church, either lay the foundation or carry on the superstructure.
For every house is built by some man,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
For every house is builded by some man - The literal sense is plain enough: “Every structure plainly implies an, architect, and an end for which it was formed. The architect may be employed by him for whose use the house is intended; but the efficient cause of the erection is that which is here to he regarded.” The word house, here, is still taken in a metaphorical sense as above, it signifies family or Church. Now the general meaning of the words, taken in this sense, is: “Every family has an author, and a head or governor.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Someone must be the establisher of every house; Moses was not the establisher of the house, but a portion of it (but He who established all things, and therefore the spiritual house in question, is God). Christ, as being instrumentally the Establisher of all things, must be the Establisher of the house, and so greater than Moses.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For every house is builded by some man - The words in this verse are plain, and the sentiment in it clear. The only difficulty is in seeing the connection, and in understanding how it is intended to bear on what precedes, or on what follows. It is clear that every house must have a builder, and equally clear that God is the Creator of all things. But what is the meaning of this passage in this connection? What is its bearing on the argument? If the verse was entirely omitted, and the fifth verse read in connection with the third, there would be apparently nothing wanting to complete the sense of the writer, or to finish the comparison which he had commenced. Various ways have been adopted to explain the difficulty. Perhaps the following observations may remove it, and express the true sense: (1) Every family must have a founder; every dispensation an author; every house a builder. There must be someone, therefore, over all dispensations - the old and the new - the Jewish and the Christian. (2) Paul “assumes” that the Lord Jesus was divine. He had demonstrated this in Heb 1:1-14; and he argues as if this were so, without now stopping to prove it, or even to affirm it expressly. (3) God must be over “all things.” He is Creator of all, and he must, therefore, be over all. As the Lord Jesus, therefore, is divine, he must be over the Jewish dispensation as well as the Christian - or he must, as God, have been at the head of that - or over his own family or household. (4) As such, he must have a glory and honor which could not belong to Moses. He, in his divine character, was the Author of both the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, and he must, therefore, have a rank far superior to that of Moses - which was the point which the apostle designed to illustrate. The meaning of the whole may be thus expressed. “The Lord Jesus is worthy of more honor than Moses. […]
The words behind it
11 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| πᾶς | pas | Every | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| οἶκος | oikos | house | G3624 → | 112 times |
| κατασκευάζεται | kataskeuazetai | is built | G2680 → | 11 times |
| ὑπό | hupo | by | G5259 → | 219 times |
| τινος, | tinos | someone, | G5100 → | 528 times |
| ὁ | ho | the [One] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| πάντα | panta | everything | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| κατασκευάσας | kataskeuasas | having built [is] | G2680 → | 11 times |
| θεός. | theos | God. | G2316 → | 1312 times |
πᾶςEvery
pasG3956 →1235 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
οἶκοςhouse
oikosG3624 →112 times
κατασκευάζεταιis built
kataskeuazetaiG2680 →11 times
ὑπόby
hupoG5259 →219 times
τινος,someone,
tinosG5100 →528 times
ὁthe [One]
hoG3588 →19766 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
πάνταeverything
pantaG3956 →1235 times
κατασκευάσαςhaving built [is]
kataskeuasasG2680 →11 times
θεός.God.
theosG2316 →1312 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hebrews 1:2But 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.
it leads to
- John 1:3
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
- 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…
- Colossians 1:16–18
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.
- John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 1 Peter 1:20
He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- John 1:3
Through
Hebrews 3:3For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- Zechariah 6:12–13
And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build…
- 1 Corinthians 3:9
Through
Esther 2:10Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.
it leads to
- Esther 2:20
Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.
- Esther 2:20
Where this verse is studied
About Hebrews

This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Hebrews 5; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Hebrews and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews.
