---
title: 1 Corinthians 15:28
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-15-28/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-15-28.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 15:28
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 15:28

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.

## JW Usage

JWs treat 1 Corinthians 15:28 as their strongest proof-text against the Trinity: "the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all." If the Son subjects himself to the Father permanently, he cannot be equal to God. The verse is read as teaching eternal ontological subordination — not merely a functional arrangement within the economy of redemption.

## Protestant Usage

The "subjection" in verse 28 is the completion of the incarnate Son's redemptive mission and the return to the pre-incarnation relationship — not an ontological statement about inferior nature. John 17:5 has Jesus asking the Father to glorify him "with the glory I had alongside you before the world was," pointing to a shared glory that precedes the incarnation. A general who voluntarily returns command to a king after winning a war is not proving he is less human than the king — he is completing his commission. Paul's logic in verse 27 is telling: he must explicitly exclude the Father from those subjected to the Son ("it is evident that this does not include the One who subjected all things to him"). The exception only needed to be stated because the Son's authority is so comprehensive that without the qualifier it would logically include the Father. That is divine- scale authority, not creaturely subordination.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Son Hands Over the Kingdom — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1corinthians15-subjection.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / John 17:5 / Philippians 2:9-11 [Deity of Christ]
- [Christ Is Already Reigning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christ-reigning-now.md) — Acts 2:30-36 / Ephesians 1:20-22 / 1 Corinthians 15:25 [Eschatology]
- [The Last Enemy Is Death — and It's Last for a Reason](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/last-enemy-death-subjection-chain.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / Revelation 20:7-15 — the chain Paul will not let break [Eschatology]