Are subjected represents another change of tense and mood. The context clearly requires the meaning “when all things have been placed” (Good News Bible) or “when God has placed all things.”

Subjected to him means “under his rule.” The preceding verses suggest a picture of God placing everything under Christ, and this would make good sense of the rest of the verse, especially the emphatic the Son himself. This is the most likely explanation and the one preferred by translators generally. It may be good to replace the first him by “Christ,” as in Good News Bible.

The situation is slightly complicated by the fact that some manuscripts have also before the Son himself. (The UBS Greek text prints this “and” in square brackets.) This requires the meaning “but when God has subjected everything to himself, then the Son himself will also be subjected to God who subjected all things to him” (similarly Revised English Bible). Such a meaning would raise the same difficulty as noted in verse 25, since “to him” can scarcely mean “to himself.” It is simpler, then, to follow the interpretation that underlies both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible. The following is a possible translation of this first phrase: “But when God has placed all things under Christ’s rule, then Christ himself, the Son….”

Will also be subjected to him can be translated in languages that do not use passives as “will place himself under God” (Good News Bible). Alternatively, the implied subject may be expressed as “God,” give the meaning “When God has put all things under the Son, he will also subject the Son to himself he who put all things under the Son that God….”

That God may be everything to every one: it is difficult to be certain of the exact meaning of this clause. Paul uses the same or similar language in 12.6 and in Eph 1.23, always at the climax of a paragraph. It is possible, therefore, that the traditional translation “all in all” may come closer to Paul’s meaning than any attempt to define more narrowly the meaning of the two “alls.” The first “all” cannot refer to people; the second “all” may refer either to people or to things. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “then God alone is the Lord who works everything and in everyone”; Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “and then God will reign effectively in all”; Phillips “Thus, in the end, shall God be wholly and absolutely God.” Moffatt and An American Translation make it clear that they think the second “all” refers to people: “so that God may be everything to everyone.” Revised Standard Version follows this interpretation.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .