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This word is used, though not invariably, in the translation of three Gr. expressions: (1) the verb êõñéåýåéí , ‘to be lord of,’ ‘to have dominion over’ (Rom_6:9; Rom_6:14; Rom_7:1 Authorized Version and Revised Version ; 2Co_1:24, Authorized Version , where Revised Version has ‘have lordship’); (2) ôὸ êñÜôïò ; (3) êõñéüôçò .
ôὸ êñÜôïò is rendered thus in the doxologies in 1Pe_4:11; 1Pe_5:11, Jud_1:25, Rev_1:6; Rev_5:13 (Revised Version ). In the only other doxology where it occurs (1Ti_6:16) Revised Version strangely retains ‘power’ of Authorized Version . Lightfoot (on Col_1:11) says that ‘the word êñÜôïò in the NT is applied solely to God,’ Thayer (s. v. äýíáìéò ), more cautiously, that the word is used ‘in the NT chiefly of God’; Heb_2:14 is an exception.
êõñéüôçò ) is found in four passages, viz. Eph_1:21, Col_1:16 (plural), Jud_1:8, 2Pe_2:10; Revised Version in all cases gives ‘dominion,’ Authorized Version in the first three, and in the margin of 2Pe_2:10 (text, ‘government’). In Eph. and Col. a class of angels is meant (Milton’s ‘Dominations’) with which compare 1Co_8:5, where angels are called êýñéïé (Thayer Grimm’s Gr.-Eng. Lexicon of the NT, tr. Thayer , Lexicon, s.v. êõñéüôçò ). The meaning of the word in Peter and Jude presents some difficulty. (a) Many suppose that here also angels are referred to, which 2Pe_2:11 and the reference to the sin of the Sodomites seem to support. Cremer (Lexicon, s.v. êõñéüôçò ) says that in Peter evil angels are implied from the context, though not in Jude. But, as Bennett (Century Bible: ‘The General Epistles,’ 1901, p. 334) points out, ‘it does not seem likely that blasphemy against angels would be so conspicuous a sin of licentious men as to call forth this emphatic condemnation.’ (b) êõñéüôçò may be understood of the power and majesty of God (Bigg, St. Peter and St. Jude [International Critical Commentary , 1901], p. 279), or the Lordship of Christ, in support of which 2Pe_2:1; 2Pe_2:6, Jud_1:4; Jud_1:15 may be quoted. (c) It may refer to authorities in the Church whose legitimate power these men despised and spoke against. Bennett inclines to this interpretation in Jude and regards it as included also in 2 Peter, where he gives the general principle of the argument thus: when good angels withstand dignities, i.e. evil angels, although the good are the more powerful, they do not abuse their opponents; how absurd and wicked for evil men to abuse good angels, or perhaps even the legitimate Church authorities. J. R. Lumby (in Speaker’s Commentary: ‘Heb. to Rev.,’ 1881, p. 395) combines (b) and (c) above: ‘the railing at dignities, though its first exhibition might be made against the Apostles and those set in authority in the Church, yet went further and resulted in the denial of our only Master, God Himself, whose dominion these sinners were disregarding, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose glory these men speak evil of or rail at.’
In the Revised Version of 1Ti_2:12 áὐèåíôåῖí ἀíäñüò is translated ‘to have dominion over,’ Authorized Version ‘to usurp authority over.’ See also article Principality.
W. H. Dundas.