the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Power Powers
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or Six Greek expressions are thus translated in the EV_.
1. ἐξουσία is rendered thus frequently in the AV_. It means, more exactly, ‘authority,’ which the RV_ often substitutes, but sometimes, especially in Rev., it follows the AV_. The Revisers prefer ‘right’ in Romans 9:21, 1 Corinthians 9:4 f., 2 Thessalonians 3:9. In Acts 26:18 the expression ‘the power (ἐξουσία) of Satan’ is to be noted, with which compare Luke 22:53, Colossians 1:13.
2. δύναμις.-We find ‘the power of God’ in 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 2:5, 2 Corinthians 6:7; ‘the power of our Lord Jesus’ in 1 Corinthians 5:4; ‘the power of the Holy Ghost’ in Romans 15:13; Romans 15:19 in Acts 8:10 ‘that power of God which is called Great’ is a title given to Simon Magus. There is a strange variation in the RV_ of 2 Corinthians 12:9, where δύναμις is twice used as an attribute of Christ; on the first occasion it renders ‘my power is made perfect in weakness’ (AV_ ‘my strength’), but on the second (where the AV_ has ‘power’) it gives ‘that the strength of Christ may rest upon me,’ Elsewhere ‘power’ is uniformly used by the RV_, replacing ‘might’ and ‘strength’ of the AV_ (cf. Ephesians 1:21, Colossians 1:11, Revelation 12:10).
3. κράτος is rendered ‘power’ by the AV_ in Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 6:10, Colossians 1:11, Revelation 5:13, 1 Timothy 6:16, Hebrews 2:14; in the last two references the RV_ also translates in the same way.
4. ἰσχύς (2 Thessalonians 1:9) is rendered AV_ ‘power,’ RV_ ‘might.’
5. τὸ δυνατόν.-In Romans 9:22 AV_ and RV_ have ‘willing to make his power known,’ i.e. ‘what is possible to Him.’
6. τῷ δυναμένῳ is translated in Romans 16:25 ‘to him that is of power’; RV_ ‘to him that is able.’
Lastly, in Rev. the AV_ sometimes inserts the word ‘power’ from the sense, where there is no Greek to correspond, e.g. Revelation 6:4, ‘power was given to him’ (ἐδόθη αὐτῷ); cf. Revelation 11:3, Revelation 13:15, Revelation 16:3, in all of which the word disappears from the RV_.
The plural ‘powers’ represents δυνάμεις in Hebrews 6:5, Romans 8:38; 1 Peter 3:22; in the last two references angelic beings seem to be meant, as also in Ephesians 1:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:24 (singular). ‘Powers’ is used by the AV_ and the RV_ for ἐξουσίαι (another class of angels) in Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:15, and in Romans 13:1-3 in the sense of ‘earthly rulers.’ In Titus 3:1 the AV_ gives ‘powers,’ the RV_ ‘authorities’ (q.v._). See, further, art._ Principality.
W. H. Dundas.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Power Powers'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/power-powers.html. 1906-1918.
