Commenting
on Rev 21:7 (“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son”) and its potential for being a “proof-text” for
theosis, one anti-Mormon author admitted that “all” (πας in Greek) should not be absolutised and instead, is
limited based on the context it is used in:
In 1 Corinthians 13:7, Christians are told to
believe “all things.” What are “all things”? Are they teachings that are
contrary to the Bible? Bible readers need to be careful when the word “all” is
in the biblical text. “All” needs to be kept in the immediate context. Clearly,
“all” should be restricted to the context of the passage and not to be
understood to encompass all spiritual things or all physical things. (Matthew
A. Paulson, Breaking the Mormon Code: A
Critique of Mormon Scholarship Regarding Classic Christian Theology and the
Book of Mormon [Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, 2006, 2009], 54)
Such is important in light of Col 1:15-20, a common “proof-text” against
Latter-day Saint Christology. On this, see my article:
On πας itself, a good book-length study is:
J. William Johnston, The Use of Πας in the New Testament (Studies in Biblical Greek)