Efesianëve 1:21

Shqip Bible

dhe vuri çdo gjë nën këmbët e tij, edhe ia dha për krye përmbi çdo gjë kishës,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

above: Philippians 2:9, Philippians 2:10, Colossians 2:10, Hebrews 1:4

principality: Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12, Daniel 7:27, Romans 8:38, Romans 8:39, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 4:14, 1 Peter 3:22

every: Matthew 28:19, Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:9-11, Revelation 19:12, Revelation 19:13

in that: Matthew 25:31-36, Matthew 28:18, John 5:25-29, Hebrews 2:5, Revelation 20:10-15

Reciprocal: Job 25:2 - Dominion Psalms 8:5 - hast Psalms 69:29 - let thy Psalms 97:9 - high Psalms 103:19 - his kingdom Psalms 113:7 - out of Song of Solomon 5:11 - head Isaiah 6:1 - high Isaiah 9:6 - the government Isaiah 33:5 - he dwelleth Ezekiel 1:26 - over Ezekiel 34:24 - a prince Daniel 7:13 - and they Daniel 12:1 - the great Micah 4:8 - the first Luke 10:22 - All things John 3:31 - that cometh John 13:3 - knowing Ephesians 3:15 - the whole Ephesians 4:6 - who Hebrews 2:8 - hast

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Far above all principality and power,.... Good angels and bad angels, and civil magistrates, who also may be intended by the following words:

and might and dominion; good angels may be so called, because of their employment under God in the affairs of Providence, and the government of this world; and Christ is not only above them, as he is God, being their Creator, who has made them, and on whom they depend, and is the Lord whom they serve, and is the object of their worship and adoration, and as he is Mediator, to whom they minister, and so is above them in nature, name, and office; but also as he is man, in union with the Son of God; and chiefly he here is said to be above them on account of place, being at the right hand of God, where they are not, Hebrews 1:13. And evil angels may be so called, because of the government which subsists among themselves, and the power and influence they have over mankind; Christ was above them when here on earth, as appears by his resisting the temptations of Satan, and defeating him in them; by his dispossessing devils from the bodies of men; by his spoiling and destroying them and their works at his death; and by his leading them captive, and triumphing over them at his ascension; and by delivering souls out of his hands at conversion, through his power attending the ministration of his Gospel; and his being above them will still be more manifest, in the binding of Satan a thousand years, and in the final condemnation of him, and of all his angels under him: civil magistrates are sometimes called by these names, and Christ is above them; they receive their governments from him, they rule by him, and are accountable to him, and are set up and put down at his pleasure; all these senses may be taken in; but the first seems chiefly designed: it is added,

and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; persons of authority and dignity, of fame and renown, whether in earth or heaven; as emperors, kings, princes, nobles, generals of armies c. in this world, and cherubim, seraphim, &c. in the other world: this phrase denotes both the extensiveness of Christ's kingdom, and the eternity of it as reaching to both worlds, and being over everything in them, and as lasting to the end of this, and unto that which is to come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Far above all principality - The general sense in this verse is, that the Lord Jesus was exalted to the highest conceivable dignity and honor; compare Philippians 2:9; Colossians 2:10. In this beautiful and most important passage, the apostle labors for words to convey the greatness of his conceptions, and uses those which denote the highest conceivable dignity and glory. The “main” idea is, that God had manifested great “power” in thus exalting the Lord Jesus, and that similar power was exhibited in raising up the sinner from the death of sin to the life and honor of believing. The work of religion throughout was a work of power; a work of exalting and honoring “the dead,” whether dead in sin or in the grave; and Christians ought to know the extent and glory of the power thus put forth in their salvation. The word rendered “far above” - ὑπεράνω huperanō - is a compound word, meaning “high above,” or greatly exalted. He was not merely “above” the ranks of the heavenly beings, as the head; he was not one of their own rank, placed by office a little above them, but he was infinitely exalted over them, as of different rank and dignity. How could this be if he were a mere man; or if he were an angel? The word rendered “principality” - ἀρχή archē - means properly, “the beginning;” and then the first, the first place, power, dominion, pre-eminence, rulers. magistrates, etc. It may refer here to any rank and power, whether among people or angels, and the sense is, that Christ is exalted above all.

And power - It is not easy to distinguish between the exact meaning of the words which the apostle here uses. The general idea is, that Christ is elevated above all ranks of creatures, however exalted. and by whatever name they may be known. As in this he refers to the “world that is to come,” as well as this world, it is clear that there is a reference here to the ranks of the angels, and probably he means to allude to the prevailing opinion among the Jews, that the angels are of different orders. Some of the Jewish rabbies reckon four, others ten orders of angels, and they presume to give them names according to their different ranks and power. But all this is evidently the result of mere fancy. The Scriptures hint in several places at a difference of rank among the angels, but the sacred writers do not go into detail. It may be added that there is no improbability in such a subordination, but it is rather to be presumed to be true. The creatures of God are not made alike; and difference of degree and rank, as far as our observation extends everywhere prevails. On this verse compare the notes at Romans 8:38.

Dominion - Greek “Lordship.”

And every name that is named - Every creature of every rank.

Not only in this world - Not only above all kings, and princes, and rulers of every grade and rank on earth.

But also in that which is to come - This refers undoubtedly to heaven. The meaning is, that he is Supreme over all.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Far above all principality — The difficulty in this verse does not arise from the words themselves, the meaning of each being easily understood, but from the sense in which the apostle uses them. Some think he has reference here to the different orders among good and evil angels; he is superior to all the former, and rules all the latter. Others think he refers to earthly governments; and as απχη, principality, the first word, signifies the most sovereign and extensive kind of dominion; and κυριοτης, lordship, the last word, signifies the lowest degree of authority; hence we are to understand that to our Lord, in his human nature, are subjected the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest orders of beings in the universe.-Chandler. Others imagine that the apostle has in view, by whatsoever is named in this world, all the dignitaries of the Jewish Church; and by what is named in the world to come, all the dignities that should be found in the Christian Church.

Schoettgen supposes that the "apostle's αρχη (for αρχοντες, the abstract for the concrete) means the same as the נשיאים Nesiim among the Jews, whose chief business it was to clear and decide all contentions which arose concerning traditions and legal controversies.

"That εξουσια, power, is the same as צורבא tsorba, he who possesses authority to propound, expound, persuade, convince, and refute.

"That δυναμις, might, answers to רבנות rabbanoth, signifying all the class of rabbins, whose office it was to expound the law, and teach the people generally.

"And that κυριοτης, dominion, answers to מר mar, which signifies a person above the lower orders of men. And he observes that Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, called fishermen, publicans, and men from the lowest orders of the people, to the work of the ministry; and made them instruments of confounding and overturning all the Jewish rulers, rabbins, and doctors. And that in the world which is to come-the successive ages of Christianity, he should ever be exalted above all those powers and authorities which Antichrist might bring into the Christian Church; such as popes, cardinals, wicked archbishops, bishops, deans, and canons; and all those who among the schoolmen were termed seraphic doctors, angelic doctors, most illuminated, most perfect, and irrefragable doctors. And although Wiclif, Huss, Luther, Melancthon, and the rest of the reformers, were men of little or no note when compared with the rulers of the popish Church, so eminently did the power of Christ work in and by them, that the pope and all his adjutants were every where confounded, and their power and authority annihilated in several entire regions."

It is certain that the apostle means that all created power, glory, and influence, are under Christ; and hence it is added: