Power
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Dynamis names power, ability, mighty work, or effective strength. The New Testament uses the word for God's power in creation, the Spirit's overshadowing work, Jesus' miracles, apostolic witness, the gospel's saving efficacy, resurrection strength, and Christ's power perfected in weakness.
Reader summary
Full entry for δύναμις (G1411) · Open the biblical lexicon
Dynamis names power, ability, mighty work, or effective strength. The New Testament uses the word for God's power in creation, the Spirit's overshadowing work, Jesus' miracles, apostolic witness, the gospel's saving efficacy, resurrection strength, and Christ's power perfected in weakness.
The BSB source-word alignment has 119 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include power (61), miracles (14), [the] power (11), powers (4), miraculous powers (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:22. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (15), Luke (15), Matthew (12), Revelation (12).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Dynamis names power, ability, mighty work, or effective strength. The New Testament uses the word for God's power in creation, the Spirit's overshadowing work, Jesus' miracles, apostolic witness, the gospel's saving efficacy, resurrection strength, and Christ's power perfected in weakness. It is not a word for self-display, spiritual performance, or raw force detached from God's purpose.
Luke connects power with the Holy Spirit and witness. Paul says the gospel and the message of the cross are God's power, even when they look foolish to the world. In weakness, Christ's power rests on His servant. The word therefore teaches that true power belongs to God, works through the gospel, and often appears in forms that overturn human boasting.
Dynamis ranges from miracles and mighty works to divine strength, gospel efficacy, and resurrection power. Luke and Acts connect it to the Spirit's work. Paul anchors it in the gospel, the cross, weakness, and the power at work toward believers. The word must be governed by God's purpose rather than by fascination with impressive force.
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
The power of the Most High overshadows Mary. Dynamis here belongs to holy divine action in the incarnation, not human capacity.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus promises power when the Holy Spirit comes, resulting in witness to the ends of the earth. The word is missional before it is spectacular.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
Paul calls the gospel God's power for salvation to everyone who believes. Dynamis is tied to saving efficacy, not rhetorical polish.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The message of the cross is God's power to those being saved. Paul overturns worldly measurements of strength and wisdom.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Christ's power is perfected in weakness. The word confronts triumphalist readings by placing divine strength on a suffering servant.
And the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
Paul prays that believers know the surpassing greatness of God's power toward them. The surrounding context ties that power to Christ's resurrection and exaltation.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Power manifested in action and results, not mere authority or physical strength alone
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 120 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
might, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read versemight, power, marvelous works
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 8 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 119 lexical occurrence verses.
δύναμις is built from this root:
The gospel saves because it carries God’s active power, not human persuasion.2 Timothy 1:1-7
Indicates manifest divine authority.2 Timothy 3:1-9
Reveals divine effective power flowing from Christ.Acts 1:1-11
Mission depends on God’s power, not human strength. The promise of power in verse 8 keeps the focus on what God supplies for witness rather than on human technique.Luke 8:40–56
Timothy’s ministry is sustained by God’s enabling, not by personal bravado. Power here is the capacity to act faithfully when fear pressures retreat.Mark 9:1
True godliness carries transformative power that false religion lacks.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Dynamis teaches that God's power is effective, holy, and purposeful. It can be seen in mighty works, but it is not controlled by the desire to appear mighty. The Spirit gives power for witness. The gospel is power for salvation. The cross is power to those being saved. Christ's power rests on weakness. These uses do not compete; they reveal a consistent pattern.
God acts with strength that saves, sends, raises, sustains, and humbles. For teaching, the word should move people away from performance-driven spirituality and toward confidence in the gospel, dependence on the Spirit, and patient trust when God's strength is displayed through weakness.
Acts.1.8
Dynamis can name power, capability, or mighty works depending on the context. Its range is broader than miracles, though miracles can be called dynameis. The context must decide whether the emphasis is ability, effective force, saving power, or a mighty deed.
The Old Testament repeatedly presents the Lord as mighty in creation, redemption, judgment, and covenant rescue. The New Testament gathers that divine strength around Christ, the Spirit, the gospel, and resurrection. God's power is not less mighty because it works through the cross and weakness; those are the very places where the New Testament teaches believers to recognize it.