Philippians 3:10 Archives - Word of Grace Studies

Inherent power (δύναμις)

Inherent power (δύναμις) describes the potential for functioning, the ability or capability to carry something out.

Inherent ability is often translated as, “power”, “wonders”, “mighty works”, or “miracles”, which can cause a lot of confusion in understanding what is being expressed. However, when we go back to its roots, we find that it refers to a person’s natural innate capacity or talent without the need to be taught or trained.

In Matthew chapter eleven, verses twenty through twenty-three, Jesus rebukes Chorazin and Bethsaida for their unbelief because of all the many manifestations of inherent ability that were done before them. In comparison, if these works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, these cities would still remain. However, in the day of Judgment, it will be more tolerable for these cities than for Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated His authority by bestowing inherent ability upon the twelve disciples. He sent them to Israel to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God, equipping them with the inherent ability and authority over demons and diseases, Luke 9:1.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the inherent ability of God, 1 Corinthians 1:18. The gospel of the Christ has within its words the inherent ability to save, Romans 1:16. It is important to clearly and without modification state the good news by which we are saved that is laid out by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. Christ died on behalf of our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. Unlike the message of the Kingdom of the Heavens, which could […]

The One Abiding in Him

1 John 3:6 Every, the one abiding, in Him does not sin. Every, the one sinning, has not seen Him with discernment nor experientially knows Him.

We do not see the change in any of our English translations with the word “sin” in this passage. ‘Sin” is used twice, once as a verb, which describes an action and once as a participle which describes a characteristic. The KJV and NAS us the same word “sin” for both forms, which actually hides the meaning from the reader. The ESV attempts to distinguish the words from the NAS and KVJ, but ends up making the same mistake. The forms of the word “sin” are very important here. A participle is a verbal noun which uses an action to describe a person or characterize them as someone who does the action stated by the verbal portion. Its focus is not on the action of the verb directly. Whereas, a verb simply looks at the action.

We have two participles that are extremely important to our understanding of this passage. First is “the one abiding”. This is one who is characterized as feeling as ease in Him (Christ). Not just simply abiding for a small period of time, off and on, but not really feeling at ease; rather, one who has settled down and feels at ease with who he or she is in Christ. In the translation above I followed the Original Greek, which makes for a bit of hard English, but also helps to bring out the truth of the passage. “Every, the one abiding” (participle), is not referring directly to the action but to the characteristic of the individual who is abiding. “every” is added in the Greek […]