Why does the New World Translation say "all other things" in Colossians 1:16-17?
Most Bibles translate Colossians 1:16-17 as saying that "all things" were created through Jesus and hold together in him. The New World Translation, used by Jehovah's Witnesses, says "all other things" instead — four separate times in these two verses.
That one added word changes the meaning. "All things were created through him" describes someone standing outside of everything that was made. "All other things were created through him" describes someone who is himself one of the things that were made — just not made by himself.
The word "other" is not in the Greek text. It was added by the translators.
This is not a disputed grammar point the way John 1:1's missing article is. Every printed Greek New Testament reads "all things" (ta panta) at each of these four spots — there is no Greek word there that could mean "other." What is being examined is not a translation choice between two real Greek words, but whether a word absent from the text should have been supplied at all.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not deny that "other" is added — their reasoning is explained below, in What They Teach, and it deserves a fair hearing rather than dismissal. But an addition defended on theological grounds is still an addition, and readers deserve to know which parts of an English Bible are translation and which are interpretation added on top of it.
The Greek text of these verses says "all things," without qualification, were created through Christ and exist through him. Whatever "firstborn" means in the verse just before it, it cannot be used to license adding a word the sentence that follows does not contain.
Examine it for yourself
The evidence, the interpretations and the conclusion, separated so you can examine each step. Every passage is linked; read them in context.
The Greek text itself
Ta panta — "all things" — appears four times across Colossians 1:16-17: things created in him, things created through and for him, things existing before him, and things holding together in him. In none of the four is there a Greek word for "other" (allos or heteros). This is a textual fact, not an interpretation: every printed critical Greek New Testament agrees on the wording. What is interpreted is whether the surrounding context justifies supplying "other" in English.
- Colossians 1:16-17
The construction under examination: "all things," unqualified, four times.
What they teach
Stated accurately, on its own terms, then examined against Scripture.
The New World Translation renders Colossians 1:16-17 as saying "by means of him all other things were created" and "he is before all other things" — inserting the word "other," which is not in most Bible translations, to make clear that Jesus himself, as a created being, is not included among the things he created.
The Greek text of Colossians 1:16-17 uses the phrase ta panta — "all things" — four times. No Greek word for "other" (either allos or heteros) appears anywhere in these verses; this is checkable against any printed Greek New Testament. "Other" is a word the NWT's translators added, not a word they translated. Jehovah's Witnesses do not deny this — their stated argument is that "other" makes explicit a meaning they believe the passage already implies, because Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus "firstborn of all creation," which they read as placing him inside the category "all things." But that argument depends on already having decided what "firstborn" means — see the dedicated question on that word — and cannot by itself justify adding a word absent from the Greek. Bruce Metzger, reviewing the New World Translation in 1953, called this specific insertion unwarranted: the word "other" is used four times "in order to make the passage refer to Jesus as being on a par with other created things," a conclusion the Greek text does not supply.
- Colossians 1:16-17
"All things" (ta panta) four times, with no Greek word for "other" present in any occurrence.
- Colossians 1:15
"Firstborn of all creation" — the verse the NWT's insertion depends on being read as birth order rather than rank.
That ta panta occurs four times in these two verses, and that no form of allos or heteros ("other") appears in the Greek text at any of the four occurrences, is a plain textual fact — verifiable in any critical Greek New Testament (e.g. the UBS or Nestle-Aland text) and not disputed by any side.
Bruce M. Metzger, Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote in a 1953 review of the New World Translation ("The Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ," Theology Today 10/1, pp. 65-85): "Here the word 'other' has been unwarrantably inserted four times. It is not present in the original Greek, and was obviously used by the translators in order to make the passage refer to Jesus as being on a par with other created things." Metzger's broader assessment of the NWT's method in the same review is that it contains "quite erroneous renderings of the Greek."
What the evidence supports
The New World Translation's "all other things" in Colossians 1:16-17 is a supplied word, not a translation of anything present in the Greek text.
Ta panta ("all things") occurs without qualification at all four points in these verses, and the addition of "other" is defended by Jehovah's Witnesses on theological grounds tied to Colossians 1:15's "firstborn," not on textual grounds. Bruce Metzger's assessment — that the insertion exists to make Jesus "on a par with other created things" — reflects what the Greek text itself does not require. Therefore The Berea does not accept "all other things" as an accurate rendering of these verses.
Examine further
- Colossians 1:15
"Firstborn of all creation" — see the dedicated question on whether this means rank or birth order.
- John 1:3
"All things were made through him" — the same claim, in John's own words.
Discuss and study
- Why does it matter whether a word is translated from the Greek or added by the translator, even if the translator believes the addition reflects the passage's true meaning?
- Does the strength of the JW argument for "other" depend on how "firstborn" is read in the verse just before it?