The phrase "all things" appears in the account of the conclusion of Christ's redemptive work, when He has defeated every enemy, including death, and placed all things under His feet. This subjection demonstrates His rule, yet the Father remains excepted as the One who placed all things under the Son. Once all things are made subject, the Son Himself submits to the Father, resulting in God being all in all. This marks the point at which God is obviously supreme over everything, with every being and power brought into total agreement and harmony. The same theme connects to the Father's original purpose of gathering together in one all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth. Christ serves as the active agent who subdues all things to Himself while serving as Head over all things to the church, which is described as His body and the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The oneness already shared between the Father and the Son, expressed as one mind and purpose, extends to those joined to them, so that believers may be made perfect in one. This process fulfills the restitution of all things and completes the new creation. The development moves from the end point of universal subjection and harmony back through the present work of sanctification, in which Christ supplies every necessary spiritual provision so that those called may advance toward the same oneness. The church thereby participates in manifesting God's glory as the sphere in which His purpose reaches its intended conclusion.

When all things are subdued unto Christ, the Son subjects Himself to the Father that God may be all in all. This occurs after Christ delivers the kingdom, puts down all rule and authority, reigns until every enemy is placed under His feet, and destroys death as the final foe. The phrase indicates that all things are placed under Christ except the Father who accomplished the subjection, resulting in the whole creation delivered from bondage to corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God and the complete restitution of all things. This state marks the conclusion of Christ's work and the new creation, with the Father at the center as the focus and cause of oneness. The process has already begun through acceptance of Christ's sacrifice, repentance from dead works, and receipt of the Holy Spirit, linking believers to the same ongoing history that includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David while extending forward through prophecy. Citizenship in heaven requires living according to heavenly standards rather than earthly things, producing conduct that contrasts with those whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose minds remain fixed on carnality. God supplies every enabling gift, including predestination, redemption, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and power, so that believers may be strengthened in the inner man, comprehend the love of Christ, and be filled with all the fullness of God. Christ, as Head, subdues all things unto Himself and changes the body to conform to His glorious body, while the church as His Body participates in this ordering. The same Greek term rendered subdue, subject, and under describes the rearrangement of scattered and confused persons into orderly subjection first under Christ and then under the Father. This demands continuous work to put off the old man with its fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, anger, and lying, and to put on the new man renewed in experiential knowledge after the image of the Creator, eliminating divisions of race, tradition, culture, and status until Christ is all in all. God produces both the will and the power to obey, just as He supplied manna and water to Israel, so that each step of the walk is empowered by Him while believers remain obligated to move forward in faith. Submission to Christ maintains unity because each person cares for his own relationship with the Head, allowing the Father and Son to dwell within and progressively become all in all.

All in all appears only twice in Scripture, in I Corinthians 15:28 and Ephesians 1:23, and represents the culmination of God's entire purpose for creation. Within I Corinthians 15, Paul addresses confusion among Gentiles and Corinthians regarding bodily resurrection, establishing through eyewitness testimony that Christ experienced an actual bodily resurrection, seen by Cephas, the twelve, over five hundred brethren, James, and all the apostles. This foundation matters because denying Christ's bodily resurrection denies His importance to this awesome truth. Paul then traces the process forward: Christ, having become the firstfruits of the resurrected, must reign until He puts all enemies under His feet, with death being the last enemy destroyed. Only then does Christ deliver the kingdom to God the Father and become subject to Him, that God may be all in all. This sequence reveals that Christ's return is not the end point; something significant follows afterward. All in all constitutes Christ's final act in this current phase of operations, when all things are brought back to God as their beginning and end so that everything may be closely bound to Him. This represents the point when all living beings not only recognize God as such but actually live in harmony with Him, though imperfectly. Zechariah 13 and 14 provide prophetic markers leading toward this fulfillment, describing a fountain opened for the house of David and Jerusalem's inhabitants, cleansing the land of idols and unclean spirits, followed by Christ's feet standing on the Mount of Olives. These events, though not yet begun, represent steps building toward all in all, with the family of David—including Christ Himself—playing a central role in Jerusalem's cleansing. John 17 demonstrates that Christ actively prays for believers to be kept, sanctified, and made one with the Father and Son, just as He and the Father are one, directly connecting present spiritual preparation to this future unity. Romans 8 reinforces that believers, indwelt by the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, are being prepared as sons of God for this ultimate purpose. John 15 emphasizes total dependence on Christ as the vine, since believers can produce nothing of value apart from Him. Sanctification—the cooperative, progressive work of God and man during which Christ's image is created in believers—serves as the present process moving toward all in all. The Days of Unleavened Bread symbolically frame this longest portion of spiritual growth, requiring believers to overcome sin and avoid distractions. Since the Millennium must occur before all in all is reached, believers stand roughly a thousand years from its fulfillment, meaning they are being prepared not merely for Christ's return but for continued work afterward, when God will use prepared believers for what comes next. I Corinthians 1:26-29 clarifies that God deliberately chose the weak and despised so that no one might glory in His presence, ensuring humility as believers move toward this ultimate goal of complete restitution and harmony with God.