ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Ephesians 1.21

Book: Ephesians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

19. and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20. which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21. far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

  1. and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19-23, ASV)
WEB

19. and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20. which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21. far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

  1. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, 23. which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:19-23, WEB)
KJV

19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, his mighty power: Gr. the might of his power 20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

  1. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19-23, KJV)
YLT

19. and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us who are believing, according to the working of the power of His might, 20. which He wrought in the Christ, having raised him out of the dead, and did set [him] at His right hand in the heavenly [places],

21. far above all principality, and authority, and might, and lordship, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in the coming one;

  1. and all things He did put under his feet, and did give him, head over all things to the assembly, 23. which is his body, the fulness of Him who is filling the all in all, (Ephesians 1:19-23, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle.
  • Audience: Believers at Ephesus. Several of the earliest witnesses, including P46 and the original hands of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, lack the words "in Ephesus" at 1:1, which has long suggested the letter circulated among the churches of the Roman province of Asia rather than addressing one congregation alone.
  • Location: Written from imprisonment. Paul calls himself "the prisoner of Christ Jesus" (Eph 3:1, 4:1) and "an ambassador in chains" (Eph 6:20); the traditional identification is the Roman custody of Acts 28.
  • Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the traditional Roman-imprisonment dating.

Theological reading

Hyperanō pasēs archēs kai exousias kai dynameōs kai kyriotētos kai pantos onomatos onomazomenou ou monon en tō aiōni toutō alla kai en tō mellonti.

The four terms. Archē, exousia, dynamis and kyriotēs, rule, authority, power and dominion. Paul uses similar lists at 3:10, 6:12, Colossians 1:16 and Romans 8:38, and they appear to designate ranks of spiritual powers rather than merely abstract forces. Whether the sequence reflects a fixed hierarchy in first-century angelology or is a deliberate piling up for comprehensiveness is not settled, and the argument does not require settling it, since either way the point is exhaustiveness.

Hyperanō. A double compound, hyper plus anō, above-above, and Paul uses it again at 4:10 of Christ ascending far above all the heavens. It is not comparative but categorical: Christ is not the highest item in the series but above the series.

"Every name that is named." Pantos onomatos onomazomenou extends the claim past the four categories to anything nameable. In a first-century context where names of powers were invoked in magic and adjuration, this is a specific and pointed claim, and Ephesus was a noted centre of such practice; Acts 19:19 records the burning of magical books there at a value of fifty thousand pieces of silver. Readers in that city would have heard the phrase as addressing something concrete.

"Not only in this age but also in the one to come." The temporal extension closes the last gap. The supremacy is not a present arrangement that a future order might revise. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, where the same powers are abolished at the end.

Where the verse does work. It is the letter's foundation for the spiritual-warfare passage at 6:10-20. The armour of God is prescribed to people who have already been told, five chapters earlier, that the powers they contend with are under the feet of the one they belong to. Read in that order, chapter 6 is not an anxious text, and reading chapter 6 without chapter 1 is the most common way it is misused.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.