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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." Himself devised, Himself created, Himself worketh together. For He is rich, and needeth not to receive from another. And wise, and needeth no counsellor. Why speak I of a counsellor? To know the things of Him is no one able, save Himself alone, the Rich and Wise One. For it is proof of much riches that He should make them of the Gentiles thus well supplied; and of much wisdom that He should constitute the inferiors of the Jews their teachers. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
He Himself is the source of all things: this means "from Him." He is also the support of all things: this means "by Him." All things have their beginning from Him, and were created by Him, and all things stand and are held together, resting upon Him as upon a certain foundation. It is Paul's custom to end his discourse with thanksgiving when he speaks of something important. He does the same now as well. …
Clement of Alexandria
Those who bestow laudatory addresses on the rich appear to me to be rightly judged not only flatterers and base, in vehemently pretending that things which are disagreeable give them pleasure, but also godless and treacherous; godless, because neglecting to praise and glorify God, who is alone perfect and good, "of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and for whom are all things," they invest with divine honours men wallowing in an execrable and abominable life, and, what is the principal thing, liable on this account to …
Western Saints
Ambrose of Milan
"From him" means the beginning and origin of the substance of the universe, i.e., by his will and power.… "Through him" means the continuation of the universe; "unto him" means its end.
Thomas Aquinas
Then when he says, for from him, he shows God's depth, inasmuch as in him are all things. First, he shows his causality; second, his dignity, at to him be glory; third, his perpetuity, at for ever. First, therefore, he says: it is right to say that no one first gave to him, because from him, and through him, and in him, are all things. Thus nothing can be unless received from God. To designate God's causality he uses three prepositions, namely, from, through, and in. …
Bonaventure
But because from itself, therefore it lacks a producer and creator: therefore it can neither depend nor begin; and through this it has the highest and most perfect necessity, which excludes all mutability and dependence, inevitability and indigence, coercion and violence, which denote a diminished necessity: and conversely it posits the highest permanence and stability, the highest sufficiency and freedom. …
Quaestiones Disputatae, De Mysterio Trinitatis, Question 7 ↗
Translation