With God all things are possible.  This is the Ohio state motto.  A twelve-year-old boy recommended it during a motto contest held in the 1950s.  This is from Matthew 19:26.  “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'”

I was thinking about all that happens in our lives, all that God does in our lives, all the “alls”. So I thought, let’s look at a Greek word for all – pas.

But first, I’m going to sidetrack for a bit.  Sometimes you’ll hear someone say that God won’t give you more than you can handle.  This sounds nice and seems to make sense if you don’t really dig deeper.  It seems to indicate that everyone has some kind of threshold that God knows about.  I never really thought about it too much until now.  This seems to be a misquote of 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says that “he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability”.

God is not the one who tempts us, but he may give us more than we can handle.  He gave Moses more than he could handle.  David had more than he could handle.  We might think we have more than we can handle –  more than we can handle alone.

My point comes to this.  With God at your side you can handle all things.  Life is going to throw things your way that you cannot handle alone, but with God you CAN handle them.  With God you can handle cancer, death of loved ones, financial hardship, family dysfunction, ridicule, and so much more.  And oftentimes God’s way of dealing with something is different than the world’s way of dealing with something.

And why would God want to give us more than we can handle?  Maybe because we need to be reminded that we need to rely on Him, not ourselves.  If life wasn’t hard, we wouldn’t look to God for help would we?  How are we going to grow if we aren’t stretched?  So during these times, we just need to remember that “with God all things are possible”.  God is right there waiting to walk with us, to support us.

Let’s get back to pas.  Pas and its different forms are found in the New Testament over 1000 times.  Pas means all, the whole, every kind of.  (biblehub.com)  Think about all the individual pieces it takes to make up the ‘all’ in the verses, instead of just passing by the word quickly as you would usually do.

Verses:

Matthew 11:28 NASB Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 24:14 NIV And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Always is from ‘all the days’.)

Mark 12:33 NIV To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. (The first three ‘alls’ are from the Greek holos which means all, the whole, or the entire.  This is where we get the term whole, or wholly. It has to do with all the parts working together as a whole.)

Luke 18:31 KJV And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint;

John 3:16 ESV For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:35 KJV The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

Acts 2:21 NASB And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 3:23 ESV For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 8:28 NIV And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

1 Corinthians 15:22 KJV For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised from the dead.

Galatians 5:14 ESV For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Ephesians 4:14-16 NASB  As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Ephesians 5:13 NIV But everything exposed by the light becomes visible–and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

Colossians 1:15-20 ESV He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 3:8 KJV  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

1 Timothy 3:11 NASB  Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

2 Timothy 2:10 KJV Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Hebrews 4:4 NIV For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”

Hebrews 4:13 ESV  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 5:9 NASB And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.

James 1:2 ESV Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

1 Peter 4:8 NIV Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

2 Peter 3:9 NASB The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

1 John 1:7 NIV But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The G/K number for pas is 4246.

The Strong’s number for pas is 3956.