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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.
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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.
