ISBE
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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia · 1915

Potentate

po'-ten-tat (dunastes, "mighty one," from dunamai, "to be able"):

A person who possesses great power and authority. Only in 1 Timothy 6:15, "the blessed and only Potentate" (= God). The same Greek word is used of Zeus in Sophocles (Ant. 608), and of God in Apocrypha (e.g. Sirach 46:5; 2 Macc 15:3,13). It is used of men in Luke 1:52 (the King James Version "the mighty," the Revised Version (British and American) "princes") and Acts 8:27 ("of great authority").

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, general editor (Chicago: Howard-Severance, 1915). Public domain. Text as published by biblestudytools.com. From the Encyclosphere, the open network of encyclopedias run by the Knowledge Standards Foundation. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: links to 1, 2, and 3 John that our source pointed at the Gospel of John corrected; our source’s section marks set as headings.