Power

Ability, force, strength. Power includes a particular relation to the subordinate execution of superior orders. In the word authority we find a sufficient energy to make us perceive a right. Dominion carries with it an idea of empire.

For the use of this word in 1Co 11:10, see VEIL.\par

The two principal words in the N.T. translated ’power’ are 1, δύναμις, and 2, ἐξουσία. It is important to see the difference between them, for their signification is not at all the same. No. 1 may be described as ’capacity, moral or physical ability, power.’ No. 2 signifies ’delegated authority, right, privilege, title.’ The latter always supposes power to exercise the right; but in the former there is no thought of right or authority. No. 1 is translated in the A.V. ’ability, might, mighty, mighty deeds, miracles, power, strength, violence, mighty works, wonderful works,’ etc. which will help further to show the character of the word, contrasted with No. 2, which is translated ’authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, and strength.’

The word ’power’ occurs in both lists, and this needs to be cleared of any ambiguity. No. 2 is often translated ’power’ where some other word would convey the sense better; but there is no single word in the English language that exactly answers to the Greek, and which would suit in all places. A concordance must be consulted for a full list of the occurrences: a few passages only are cited. All ’authority’ is given to the Lord Jesus. Mat 9:6; Mat 28:18; Joh 17:2. Satan offered to give to the Lord ’authority’ over the kingdoms of the world which had been delivered to him, if the Lord would fall down and worship him. Luk 4:6. To as many as received the Lord, to them gave He ’right ’ or ’title’ to become the children of God. Joh 1:12. "There is no ’authority’ but of God," No. 2 occurring five times in Rom 13:1-3. Along with ’principality’ occurs No. 2 in Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12; Col 1:16; Col 2:10; Col 2:15; Tit 3:1.

The principal thing to remember is that No. 2 signifies a delegated right or title, with the presumed power or strength to enforce the right; whereas in No. 1 it is strength or power only.

See Ethics of power; Power, ethics; and Will to power

GOD Being Your Power

2Sa_22:33.

Jesus Christ Being Given Power

Mat_28:18; Luk_4:31-36; Joh_10:14-18; Joh_17:1-3; Act_10:37-38.

Power Belonging To GOD

Psa_62:11.

The LORD Being Powerful

Jos_4:24; 2Ch_25:8; Job_37:23; Psa_93:1-4; Psa_147:5; Jer_10:6; Nah_1:3.

The LORD Giving Power

Mar_6:7; Luk_9:1-2; Luk_10:17-20; Joh_1:1-13; Act_1:6-8.

The Power Of The LORD

Psa_66:3-7; Jer_10:10-12; Jer_27:4-5; Jer_32:17.

There Being No Power Other Than GOD

Joh_19:10-11; Rom_13:1-2.

What Is In Power

1Co_4:20.

What Is Power

Rom_1:16; Heb_4:12.

When You Will Receive Power

Act_1:6-8.

POWER.—The term indicates the efficient force by which personal commands and the claims of law receive obedient attention and fulfilment.

In Authorized Version of Gospels ‘power’ is used with about equal frequency to represent two words in the original, δύναμις and ἐξονσία. These words are thus distinguished by Grimm-Thayer:—‘δύν. power, natural ability, general and inherent; ἐξους. primarily liberty of action, then authority—either as delegated power or as unrestrained, arbitrary power.’ Cf. also Cremer, s.vv. In Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , except in the three cases named below, ‘authority’ is given as the rendering of ἑξουσια, usually in the text, sometimes in the margin. Luk 22:53 retains ‘power’ without any marginal alternative; Joh 1:12 gives ‘right’; Joh 10:18 retains ‘power,’ but has ‘right’ in margin.

1. Power in the personal life of Christ.—During His earthly ministry, in the impression made both upon His disciples and upon the hostile Pharisees, as well as upon the mass of the people, there is abundant testimony to the transcendent personality of Christ. With this accords also the estimate concerning Him in the Acts and the Epistles. A vague attempt at assimilation likened Him to one of the prophets (Mat 16:14), and Herod saw in Him the risen John the Baptist (Mar 6:16), but otherwise His life and character were ever recognized as unique and beyond comparison (see Awe). In His works of healing, wrought on mind and body, the evidence was open to all (Mar 5:15, Luk 9:43). It was the same with His teaching (Mat 7:29). In dealing with the most venerated religious precepts and traditions, He acts with the ease and freedom of original authority, noting limitations and supplying enlarged meanings and higher applications (Mat 5:33-48). He rejects the offer of world empire (Luk 4:6; Luk_Luk 4:8), and warns those whom He sent forward to tell of His approach not to rejoice even in the exercise of His delegated power (Luk 10:20). The same qualities of range and originality are recognized in His sympathy with the outcast and suffering (Luk 7:34; Luk 13:11, Joh 11:35), in His knowledge of the heart and its temptations (Luk 5:20; Luk 7:47, Joh 4:18), and in His controversies with the Jewish leaders (Mat 22:15-46). A still deeper insight into the uniqueness of His character is afforded by what was involved in following and serving Him (Luk 14:25-35, Joh 14:12; Joh 15:8). His works were stated by Himself to have been wrought in God (Joh 14:10), who also had sent Him (Joh 9:4, Joh 16:28); and His day had been foreseen by Abraham (Joh 8:56) and Isaiah (Isa 61:1-2), and by the prophets generally (Luk 24:27). His Kingdom was to be coextensive with the world and its nationalities (Mat 8:11; Mat 26:13; Mat 28:19, Joh 10:16; Joh 17:20). The gift of His life, offered freely and apart from external constraint, was to be the bond of union among His disciples (Mat 26:26-28, Joh 15:12-13), and was to be the power that would draw the world unto Him (Joh 3:14; Joh 12:32). The impression thus made upon His disciples became in turn the testimony which they gave to the world—‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth’ (Joh 1:14). See Authority of Christ.

2. Power in the Kingdom of Christ.—Christ declared of His Kingdom that it was not of this world (Joh 18:36). Those worldly kingdoms were of the sword, established by and for physical dominion. As every created thing must, by the inward necessity of that condition, come to an end, so those kingdoms would perish by the sword (Mat 26:52). His Kingdom, on the other hand, did not rise from beneath, but descended from above, having its origin in the eternal thought of God, the Kingdom of heaven. With the first grasp of this meaning, its administration was spoken of as different from the law of a carnal commandment, being ‘the power of an endless life’ (Heb 7:16).

In the prophetic intimation of its advent through the mediation of the sorrows of Zion, the essential character and tendency of this Kingdom, the requirements of its citizenship, the extent of its dominion, the motive of its statesmanship, its estimate of heroism, and its rewards of service, were all so new and conflicting, that there seemed to be two Messiahs, one who should reign and deliver, and one who should serve and suffer (Isaiah 53; Isa 59:16-19; Isa 61:1-3). Only the accomplished fact was able to reveal, and in new areas of its expansion is still revealing, that for such a Kingdom the anointed Head must needs have suffered in order to enter into His glory (Luk 24:26). The new and wonderful element that made its citizenship not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (Joh 1:13), consisted in this, that whereas in the kingdoms of the world there had been an ever-ascending scale of power, man living unto himself, and governments existing for the sake of the governing classes, so there was in this Kingdom a correspondingly descending scale of service in which all those features were precisely reversed. Whereas previously in religion men were the supplicants, and sacrificed unto their deities, and propitiated them by gifts and promises of devotion, in this Kingdom God Himself was the chief sacrificer, offering His only-begotten Son; and the Almighty sought to reconcile the weak unto Himself (Joh 3:16; Joh 3:18; Joh 12:27; Joh 18:37), with this leading fact of the Kingdom all the others followed in complete agreement. He who would be accounted greatest must qualify for that distinction by becoming the servant of all (Mat 20:26; Mat 20:28). Women are declared to excel in faith (Mat 15:28), discernment (Mat 26:13), and courageous sacrifice (Mar 12:41-44). Little children are regarded with reverence, and the loving trust of a child’s heart gives direction to the wise, and appoints the duties of the great (Mat 18:3-4; Mat 19:14). The constitution and aspirations of the Kingdom, as embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, not only surpass all similar requirements of government, but seem to invert all that the world had hitherto counted great and noble. The innermost instinct of empire, the white ensign of this unique Kingdom, is the joy of harmonious relationship to the will of God. Government is by beatitudes. The crucifixion of self for the sake of others is the recognition mark of its people. This pervades all gradations of its society, for He who is on the throne emptied Himself, and what is done unto the least is regarded as done unto Him (Mat 25:40). Instead of pride and ambition, the lust of power and possession that had created and controlled other dynasties, its regalia and administration are entrusted to the poor in spirit who claim no homage. The dispensing of the beatitudes is given to those who have become acquainted with grief and discouragement, whose necks have felt the pressure of the harsh forces and sharp limitations of life. Here also for exalted office there is the partaking of the Divine nature, but it is reserved for the pure in heart. So rich is the provision for its subjects, that even the cry of hunger becomes a feast, and to bear a burden and cross with Christ is an immediate Paradise. By its connexion with the One Name of which the OT spoke it fulfilled the vision of the prophets which Judaism had obscured, and, on the other hand, included in due place and proportion those gifts for physical need and circumstance that had been the crown and consummation of Gentile desire (Mat 6:33). These are both represented in the familiar and venerated form of prayer which in its first part lifts the language of our possession above all gifts to God Himself, but makes it treason for His Church to covet the Name, the Kingdom, and the Will. In its second part it encourages the claim of our continual frailty, ignorance, and dependence.

Again, the same principle of looking and stooping downwards and of uplifting what is beneath is the main subject-matter of the parables of Christ. The power that is seen exemplified in them is the counterpart of what is set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Under various aspects, in whole or in part, they unfold the meaning of discipleship, the power of the Kingdom, and the dangers that attend its service. Here also, to be in the Kingdom is beatitude; and when this privilege of entrance has been prevented by any cause whatever, the regret over the one wasted life and its great opportunity is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luk 13:28).

Thus in His life and death, in His teaching and labours, Christ conformed to the beatitudes of the Kingdom, and afterwards entrusted its advancement to His disciples. ‘Come unto me—take my yoke—learn of me,’—salvation, self-devotion, sainthood,—these were the steps into the Kingdom, and the power of its service.

In His last message to the disciples our Lord gave two special commands about the Kingdom they were to establish and extend in His name. This communication was accompanied by a touching and solemn act of covenant, and endeared by the mention of all that He had been and would be to them. The first concerned the loyalty to Himself that was to carry with it the invincible power of the Kingdom. It was, ‘Abide in me and I in you’ (Joh 15:4). In His cherished presence they would know His purpose, and that would be their way of power. This presence, however, could be granted only where they loved one another as He had loved them (Joh 15:12). It was in vain to go out to the conquest of the world unless this base of operations was safeguarded. They were to tarry in Jerusalem until it became in each heart a conscious experience beyond the reach of doubt or discouragement. This enabling supernatural power of the Kingdom came to be called the grace of God. In 1 Corinthians 13 its essential meaning is breathed forth as from a vase containing the fragrance of what is no longer visible. Its power within the heart is exhibited in Romans 8, and its energy of diffusion in Romans 13.

The second charge affected the world that was to be His possession, the nations that were to bring each its special riches and glory into His Kingdom (Mat 28:19-20, cf. Mar 16:15). It was His greatest commandment, and is therefore the greatest test of love to Him. He recognized the right and claim of the world to wait until it received sufficient evidence that He had been sent to be its Ruler. He warned His disciples that the only evidence that could carry such conviction would be the sight of a Church so filled with the spirit of His Kingdom and so devoted to the fulfilment of His command, that all things would give way in order to the presentation of that proof. The world that will say the Church is one will say that Christ is Lord (Joh 10:16; Joh 17:21-23).

See also art. Force.

Literature.—W. Arthur, Tongue of Fire, ch. ix.; A. Maclaren, Holy of Holies, chs. vi. viii.; Mason, Conditions of our Lord’s Life on Earth (1896), 84; W. N. Clarke, What shall we think of Christianity? (1899), 106; Forrest, Authority of Christ.

G. M. Mackie.

POWER.—In general the word means ability for doing something, and includes the idea of adequate strength, might, skill, resources, energy, and efficiency, either material, mental, or spiritual, to effect intended results. Strictly speaking, there is no real power or authority in the universe but that which is ultimately of God (Psa 62:11, Joh 19:11, Rom 13:1). But this Almighty One has originated innumerable subordinate powers, and some of these are possessed of ability to perform acts contrary to the will and commandments of the Creator. And so we may speak of the power of God, or of man, or of angel, or of demon, or of powers inherent in things inanimate. Inasmuch as in the highest and absolute sense ‘power belongeth unto God,’ It is fitting to ascribe unto Him such doxologies as appear in 1Ch 29:11, Mat 6:13. In Mat 26:64 the word ‘power’ is employed for God Himself, and it is accordingly very natural that it should be often used to denote the various forms of God’s activity, especially in His works of creation and redemption. Christ is thus the power of God both in His Person and in His gospel of salvation (1Co 1:18; 1Co 1:24, Rom 1:16). The power of the Holy Spirit is also another mode of the Divine activity. By similar usage Simon the sorcerer was called ‘the power of God which is called Great’ (Act 8:10), i.e. a supposed incarnation of the power of God. The plural powers is used in a variety of meanings. (1) In Mat 7:22, Luk 10:13, Act 2:22; Act 8:13, ‘powers,’ or ‘mighty works,’ along with ‘signs and wonders,’ are to be understood as miracles, and were concrete manifestations of supernatural power. (2) ‘The powers of the heavens’ (Mat 24:29, Mar 13:25) are understood by some as the forces inherent in the sun, moon, stars, and other phenomena of the heavens, by virtue of which they ‘rule over the day and over the night’ (Gen 1:18); by others these heavenly powers are understood to be the starry hosts themselves conceived as the armies of the heavens. (3) Both good and evil angels are designated by the terms ‘principalities and powers’ in such passages as Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12, Col 1:16; Col 2:10; Col 2:15, 1Pe 3:22. The context of each passage must show whether the reference is to angels or demons. in Eph 2:2 Samatan is called ‘the prince of the power of the air,’ and these powers are further defined in Eph 6:12 as ‘world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.’ These are thought of as so many ranks of evil spirits who are ever at war with God’s hosts, and seek to usurp the heavenly regions. (4) in Rom 13:1 civil magistrates are called ‘the higher powers’ because of their superior rank, authority, and influence as officers ordained of God for the administration of justice among men (cf. Luk 12:11, Tit 3:1). (5) ‘The powers of the age to come’ (Heb 6:5) are best understood of all supernatural gifts and spiritual forces which belong to the age or dispensation of the New Covenant, of which Jesus is the Mediator (cf. Heb 9:15). They include the ‘greater works’ (Joh 14:12) which Jesus assured His disciples they should do after His going unto the Father and sending them the Spirit of truth. See Authority, Kingdom of God.

M. S. Terry.

pou´ẽr: This word, indicative of might, strength, force, is used in the Old Testament to render very many Hebrew terms, the translation in numerous instances being varied in the Revised Version (British and American) to words like “valor,” “rule,” “strength,” “might,” “dominion.” The principal words for “power” in the New Testament are δύαμις, dúnamis, and ἐξουσία, exousı́a. In the latter case the Revised Version (British and American) frequently changes to “authority” (Mar 3:15; Mar 6:7; Eph 1:21, etc.) or “right” (Rom 9:21; 1Co 9:6; 2Th 3:9, etc.). Power is attributed preeminently to God (1Ch 29:11; Job 26:14; Psa 66:7; Psa 145:11; Rev 7:12, etc.). On this attribute of power of God, see OMNIPOTENCE. The supreme manifestation of the power, as of the wisdom and love of God, is in redemption (1Co 1:18, 1Co 1:24). The preaching of the gospel is accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:4; 1Th 1:5, etc.). Miracles, as “mighty works,” are denoted by the term “powers” (so Mat 11:21, Mat 11:23 the Revised Version margin, etc.). The end of all time’s developments is that God takes to Him His great power and reigns (Rev 11:17).

Some English versions of the Bible use the word ‘power’ to translate different Greek words. In some cases the meaning has to do with great strength or the ability to exercise that strength (1Co 1:18; Eph 1:19; Rev 5:13). In other cases it has to do with authority, or the right to exercise authority (Mat 21:23; Mat 28:18; Joh 1:12; Rom 13:1). The present article is concerned with the first of these meanings. For the second meaning see AUTHORITY.

Evidences of God’s power

The Old Testament repeatedly speaks of God’s immeasurable power. This power was demonstrated through his creation of the universe (Psa 33:6-9; Isa 40:21-23; Jer 10:12-13), his activity in nature (Psa 29:3-10; Psa 66:5-7), his control of history (Exo 9:16; Psa 33:10; Isa 40:15-17) and his saving acts on behalf of his people (Exo 15:4-12; Exo 32:11; Psa 106:8; Psa 111:6; Isa 40:10-11).

These evidences of God’s power are referred to also in the New Testament (Luk 1:49; Rom 1:16; Rom 1:20; Rom 15:19; Heb 1:10-12; Rev 7:12; Rev 15:8). The life and ministry of Jesus Christ provide particularly clear evidence of God’s power (Luk 4:14; Luk 4:36; Luk 5:17; Luk 9:1; see MIRACLES; KINGDOM OF GOD). The supreme demonstration of God’s power is the resurrection of Jesus (Rom 1:4; Eph 1:19-20).

Saving power at work

God’s promise to believers is that the same power as raised Jesus from death is available to them. Just as Jesus conquered sin and death, so can those who trust in him. They have victory over sin now and are assured of victory over death at Jesus’ return (Rom 6:5-11; Rom 8:9-11; Php 3:9-11; 1Co 6:14; 1Co 15:42-44; 1Co 15:54-56).

The entire salvation God has made available operates by his power. This salvation includes saving sinners from eternal condemnation and giving them victory over sin in their lives as believers (Rom 1:16; Rom 6:14; 1Co 1:18; 1Co 1:24; 1Co 2:5; Eph 1:18-20; Eph 3:20; 1Pe 1:3-5). This power becomes theirs through the Spirit of God within them (Act 1:8; Rom 15:13; Eph 3:16; cf. Mic 3:8; Zec 4:6; see HOLY SPIRIT).

Although they have this power of God within them, believers are not to seek exhibitions of it that will draw attention to themselves (2Co 12:9; 2Co 13:4). They should be humble and dependent on God, so that he alone may be the one in whom people trust and to whom they give praise (Act 3:12-16; 1Co 2:4-5; 2Co 4:7; Php 4:13; 1Th 1:5; 2Pe 1:3).