Romans 11:36

Paul declares that God is the beginning of the substance of all things by the words "of him" and the bond of their subsistence by the expression "through him" and their final end by the term "to him."

What person who believes that he lives "from him and through him and to him" will dare to make the One who encompasses in himself the life of each of us a witness of a life which does not reflect him?

God himself made all things and he rules in perpetuity over everything which he has made. Everyone ought to turn to him, to thank him for what they asked for and to put their trust in him for the future. They ought to honor him …

"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." Himself devised, Himself created, Himself worketh together. For He is rich, and needeth not to receive from another. And wise, and needeth no counsellor. Why speak I of a counsellor? To know the things of Him is no one able, save Himself alone, the Rich and Wise One. For it is proof of much riches that He should make them of the Gentiles thus well supplied; and of much wisdom that He should constitute the inferiors of the Jews their teachers. Then as he was awe-struck he offers up thanksgiving also in the word, "To Whom be glory forever. Amen." For when he tells of any great and unutterable thing of this kind, he ends in wonder with a doxology. And this he does in regard to the Son also. For in that passage also he went on to the very same thing that he does here. "Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is over all God blessed forever. Amen."

He Himself is the source of all things: this means "from Him." He is also the support of all things: this means "by Him." All things have their beginning from Him, and were created by Him, and all things stand and are held together, resting …

Therefore when it condemns and reprobates, it operates according to justice: but when it predestines, according to grace and mercy, which does not exclude justice. Because therefore all, insofar as they were of the mass of perdition, deserved to be condemned: therefore more are reprobated …

This threefold radiation may be considered from the viewpoint of the originating principle, from that of the receiving subject, and from that of the object in which it terminates. For it concerns the originating principles in terms of the three causes: the primary (efficient), the …

Now, this seven-fold series, either in the sensible world or in the minor world, arises out of the archetypal world, where causal principles exist in a seven-fold series. For God exists by reason of a triple-formed cause, original, exemplary, and final, and He cannot exist …

Turning back again, let us say: because therefore the most pure and absolute being, which is simply being, is the first and the last, therefore it is the origin and consummating end of all things. Because eternal and most present, therefore it encompasses and enters …

But because from itself, therefore it lacks a producer and creator: therefore it can neither depend nor begin; and through this it has the highest and most perfect necessity, which excludes all mutability and dependence, inevitability and indigence, coercion and violence, which denote a diminished …

"In him are all things" not only because he has brought them from nothing into being but because it is by his operation that all things he made are kept in existence and held together. Living things, however, participate more abundantly, because they participate in the good both by their being and by their living. But rational beings, while they participate in the good in the aforementioned ways, do so still more by their very rationality. For in a way they are more akin to him, although of course he is immeasurably superior to them.

Then when he says, for from him, he shows God's depth, inasmuch as in him are all things. First, he shows his causality; second, his dignity, at to him be glory; third, his perpetuity, at for ever. First, therefore, he says: it is right to …

To him - As the ultimate end, are all things. To him be the glory of his riches, wisdom, knowledge. Amen - A concluding word, in which the affection of the apostle, when it is come to the height, shuts up all.

I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

For of him, and through him, and to him are all things,....

MY text consists almost entirely of monosyllables, but it contains the loftiest of sublimities. Such a tremendous weight of meaning is concentrated here that an archangel's eloquence would fail to convey its teaching in all its glory to any finite minds, even if seraphs were his hearers. I will affirm that there is no man living who can preach from my text a sermon worthy of it.

(5) As we are "justified by faith," so are we "kept by the power of God through faith"--faith alone--unto salvation (Ro 11:20-32). (6) God's covenant with Abraham and his natural seed is a perpetual covenant, in equal force under the Gospel as before it.

MY text consists almost entirely of monosyllables, but it contains the loftiest of sublimities. Such a tremendous weight of meaning is concentrated here that an archangel's eloquence would fail to convey its teaching in all its glory to any finite minds, even if seraphs were his hearers. I will affirm that there is no man living who can preach from my text a sermon worthy of it. No, among all the sacred orators and the eloquent pleaders for God, there never did live and never will live a man capable of reaching the height of the great argument contained in these few simple words. I utterly despair of success and will not, therefore, make an attempt to work out the infinite Glory of this sentence. Our great God alone can expound this verse for He only knows Himself and He only can worthily set forth His own perfections. Yet I am comforted by this reflection that maybe, in answer to our prayers, God Himself may preach from this text this morning in our hearts. If not through the words of the speaker, yet by that still small voice to which the Believer's ear is so well accustomed. If thus He shall condescend to favor us, our hearts shall be lifted up in His ways. There are two things before us, the one worthy of our observation and the second of our imitation. You have in the text, first of all, doctrine and then devotion, The doctrine is high doctrine—"Of Him and through Him and to Him, are all things." The devotion is lofty devotion—"To whom be glory forever. Amen." I. Let us consider THE DOCTRINE. It is laid down by the Apostle Paul as a general principle that all things come of God—they are of Him as their source. They are through Him as their means. They are to Him as their end. They are of Him in the plan, through Him in the working and to Him in the Glory which they produce.

For of him - εξ αὐτοῦ ex autou; compare 1Co 1:30; 1Co 8:6. This expression doubtless means that he is the original source and fountain of all blessings. He is the Creator of all, the rich “fountain from which all streams of existence take their rise. The design of this verse is to show that no creature has any claim on God. Jews and Gentiles must alike receive salvation on the ground of his mercy. So far from having a claim on God, the apostle here affirms that all things have come from him, and therefore all must be derived to us. Nothing has been produced by chance, or haphazard; nothing by created skill or might. All has been formed by God; and therefore he has a right to dispose of all. And through him - δἰ αὐτοῦ di autou.) That is, by his immediate operating agency. The former expression, “of him,” affirmed that he was the original source of all things; this declares that all are by him, or through him, as their immediate cause. It is not merely by his plan or purpose; it is by his agency, by the direct exertion of his power in their creation and bestowment. By his power they are still directed and controlled. Human agency, therefore, could not lay him under any obligation. He does not need the aid of man; and he did not call in that aid in the creation and government of the world. He is the independent Creator and Lord, and on him none can have a claim. To him - εἰς αὐτὸν eis autos. This expression denotes the final cause, the reason or end for which all things were formed. It is to promote his honor and glory. It is to manifest his praise, or to give a proper putting forth of the glorious attributes of God; that the exceeding greatness, and goodness, and grandeur of his character might be evinced. […]