What Does Ephesians 6:10 Mean?
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the grip of his strength.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.THE KEY
The verse locates strength in the Lord, so being strong begins with being strengthened by a power beyond yourself.
THE MEANING
Your strength is found in the Lord, who is its source now. The verse names a strengthening that comes from his ruling force and might, not a measure of how much strength you can produce on your own. Its words place you within a strength greater than your own.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that weakness means you must generate enough strength before you can stand; the verse locates strengthening in the Lord and his might.
THE ROOT
ἐνδυναμοῦσθε
endynamousthe
GROWS FROM
δύναμ-
dynam-
ability or capacity to act; the force of being able
“strong” in this verse is endynamousthe. The Greek verb can carry the sense “be strengthened,” making the Lord the source of the strength named here. English can sound like a demand to summon strength from within yourself, while the Greek also holds the possibility of receiving it.
ALSO GROWS
dynamis: power or ability
δύναμις
This related word shows that the strength in the verse belongs to a wider family of capacity and power.
dynatos: able or powerful
δυνατός
This branch connects strength with the capacity to act, rather than with a feeling of being strong.
κράτει
kratei
GROWS FROM
κρατ-
krat-
strength that holds sway; might or dominion
“grip” in this verse is kratei. The “power” here carries the sense of prevailing strength, not merely an abstract reserve of energy. It places the strengthening in the Lord’s active rule.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: might or dominion
κράτος
This related noun makes the ruling force behind the verse’s power more visible.
krateō: to hold fast or prevail
κρατέω
This branch evokes strength that holds its ground, illuminating the sustaining force named in the verse.
ἰσχύος
ischyos
GROWS FROM
ἰσχυ-
ischy-
strength or force
The verse pairs this word for strength with κράτος, a word for prevailing might. Together, the terms make the source and force of the reader’s strengthening emphatic.
ALSO GROWS
ischys: strength or might
ἰσχύς
This is the noun behind “might,” naming the force the verse attributes to the Lord.
ischyō: to be strong or prevail
ἰσχύω
This related verb connects the Lord’s might with the capacity to endure and prevail.
THE PATTERN
Strength for the present struggle is received from God’s sustaining power rather than manufactured from human capacity.
Then he answered and said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by army, nor by strength, but by my breath, says the LORD of hosts.And he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for strength is carried to its end in weakness." Most gladly, then, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the strength of the Anointed One may pitch its tent over me.I have strength for all things in the Anointed One who fills me with power.THE THREAD
So then, my son, be strong in the favor that is in the Anointed One, Jesus.The Greek verb ἐνδυναμοῦ (endynamou, “be strengthened”) comes from the same δύναμ- (dynam-, “ability or strength”) family as “be strong” in Ephesians. Here the strengthening is found in the grace in Christ Jesus; Ephesians names the Lord and his might as its source.
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