ACC ~ Ephesians 1 v21a

WHETHER OTHER POWERS EXIST BESIDES GOD. ORIGEN: Under one Lord there may be many subordinate powers and lordships, who may themselves delegate a portion of their own power, some operating in this age and some in that which is to come. But none of these has an authority equal to the Son’s. All authorities must be subject to his authority. All subordinate powers are rightly exercised under that of Christ, since God’s power is superior to every other power. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

ABOVE ALL AUTHORITY, ABOVE ALL POWER. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Because he is the fount and the origin and the principle in everything that moves, Christ was therefore set “above all authority and above all power.” Authority is one thing, power another. Authority is ex-pressed in action. Power is expressed in the capacity to act. A potential act may exist not as present fact but as the present possibility of something. But since Christ is himself the origin of all and is in all that is possible, he is “above all power.” Since he is the source of all acts and authority is expressed in actions, he is therefore said to be “above all authority.” EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 1.1.20-23.

FAR ABOVE EVERY SOVEREIGNTY. CHRYSOSTOM: He says not merely “above” but “far above.” For God is higher than the powers on high. So he led him up there, the very one who shared our lowly humanity. He led him from the lowest depth to the highest sovereignty, beyond which there is no higher honor. “Above every sovereignty,” he says: not merely compared with this or that. … What gnats are compared with humans, so is the whole creation compared with God. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 3.1.20-23.

THE SYMBOLS OF POWER IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. JEROME: Now we must ask where the apostle found these four names—principalities, powers, forces and dominions? From what sources did he bring them into the open? It would be dishonorable to imagine that Paul, who had been schooled in godly literature, might be quoting this from pagan sources. I therefore suggest that he has brought into the open some of the Hebrew traditions which are secret. Or better, it might have been that once he understood that the law is spiritual, he grasped a higher meaning in those things that are written in the guise of history. He could have known, for example, that there was a symbol of other powers and authorities in what is said in the books of Numbers and Kings about kings, princes, captains and leaders of tribes and ages. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 1.1.21.

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