

“To possess power or to be powerful,” wrote Stanley I. Benn in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “is to have a generalized potentiality for getting one’s own way or for bringing about changes (at least some of which are intended) in other people’s actions or conditions.” This useful analysis of human relationships, however, does not take into account the many additional catalysts which, according to Scripture, may alter our lives.

Types of Power in the Bible

Power of God

In contrast to the [[nature]] [[gods]] of the Greek and [[Hellenism|Hellenistic]] worlds, the [[God]] of the [[Bible]] is a Person [[Transcendence|transcendent]] to immanent processes. As Lord of [[history]], He has both the ability and the right to carry out His will in the world in the way He chooses. God is the ultimate source of all power, as the doxologies say.

Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thi