αὐτὸν (auton) in Colossians 1:16: Accusative Singular Masculine
αὐτὸν (auton) in Colossians 1:16
Textual Witness
The witness reads αὐτὸν in Colossians 1:16 within the clause καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form sharpens the clause's goal-oriented sense: creation is said to have a relation toward him, not merely to exist around him.
How To Communicate It
This form can be communicated as 'for him' or 'toward him' in context, while preserving the verse's emphasis on intended orientation.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Case and gender help describe function, but they do not by themselves settle every interpretive question.
- The form should not be used to force a meaning beyond the clause or to make a grammatical label into a theological claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word refers back to a person or thing already in view, rather than naming it again.
Accusative: the form normally marks a direct object or a related goal, endpoint, or complement role in the clause.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, so it points to one referent in context.
Masculine: the noun-class marking is masculine in form here, but that grammatical class by itself does not make a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It is attached to the preposition εἰς in the phrase εἰς αὐτὸν.
The preposition εἰς governs the accusative and presents a goal or direction of relation. Here the grammar supports a movement or orientation toward the same referent already named in the verse, without forcing a more specific nuance than the context gives.
The form functions as the object of εἰς and helps express the telic sense of the clause, that creation is ordered toward this referent.
It is not the subject of the clause, and it does not by itself identify a new antecedent or alter the lemma into another word.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The pronoun in the eis phrase contributes to the goal-orientation of creation language in Colossians 1:16.
Object of eis marking goal or orientation. marks the referent toward whom creation is ordered. Attached to the phrase eis auton. Governed by the preposition eis. The pronoun is grammatically small but interpretively weighty because it completes the verse's through-him and for-him movement.
Toward whom is the creation language directed? The pronoun marks the same referent in view as the goal or orientation of created things.
Direct: The prepositional object directly supports a rendering such as "for him" or "toward him," depending on translation policy.
The preposition marks direction or goal, while the full Christological claim rests on the whole sentence, not on the pronoun alone.
Pronoun alone proves the full doctrine: The pronoun completes a significant phrase, but doctrine should be drawn from the whole clause and passage.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads αὐτὸν in Colossians 1:16 within the clause καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται.
The lemma is αὐτός, a common pronoun that can refer back to the same person or thing already in view.
The accusative after εἰς naturally signals direction or goal. In this context, it supports reading the clause as creation being directed toward the same referent identified earlier, without requiring extra detail beyond the sentence.
The verse presents all things as created through and for him, so αὐτὸν contributes to the claim that the creation has an intended relation and orientation toward that referent.
Within the wider passage, the form fits the repeated focus on one exalted referent rather than on multiple objects or an abstract principle.
For teaching or translation, the form helps show that the final phrase is not just about location but about intended relation or purpose toward him.
Do not derive from case or gender alone a separate theology, a different referent, or a stronger nuance than the immediate context supports.