Potentate

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

The word occurs only in the designation of God in  1 Timothy 6:15, ‘the blessed and only Potentate (δυνάστης), the King of kings, and Lord of lords.’ This is the only instance in the NT in which the word δυνάστης is applied to God. It occurs with tolerable frequency in this sense in the apocryphal books, e.g.  Sirach 46:5-6,  2 Maccabees 3:24;  2 Maccabees 12:15,  3 Maccabees 2:3. It is characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles to set God in the foreground as the author of salvation, and the heaping up of attributes in this passage to denote the Divine sovereignty may be merely an instance of this tendency. Some, however, find underlying it a protest against Gnostic misrepresentations, or against the growing practice of Emperor-worship.

G. Wauchope Stewart.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

δυνάστης, 'powerful one.' Jehovah is the only Potentate.  1 Timothy 6:15 . The word occurs also in  Luke 1:52 : Jehovah "hath put down 'the mighty' from their thrones." And in  Acts 8:27 , the eunuch was a man 'of great authority': they at times had more power than the kings.

King James Dictionary

PO'TENTATE, n. A person who possesses great power or sway a prince a sovereign an emperor, king or monarch.

Exalting him not only above earthly princes and potentates, but above the highest of the celestial hierarchy.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

 1—Timothy 6:15Authority

Webster's Dictionary

(a.) One who is potent; one who possesses great power or sway; a prince, sovereign, or monarch.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Timothy 6:15

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pō´ten - tāt ( δυνάστης , dunástēs , "mighty one," from δυναμαι , dúnamai , "to be able"): A person who possesses great power and authority. Only in   1 Timothy 6:15 , "the blessed and only Potentate" (= God). The same Greek word is used of Zeus in Sophocles ( Ant. 608), and of God in Apocrypha (e.g. Sirach 46:5; 2 Macc 15:3, 13). It is used of men in   Luke 1:52 (the King James Version "the mighty," the Revised Version (British and American) "princes") and   Acts 8:27 ("of great authority").