Jurisdiction

JURISDICTION

joo-ris-dik'-shun (exousia):

The word exousia is well known in New Testament Greek. It is derived from the word exesti, and suggests the absence of any hindrance to an act. It contains the idea of right and might (Cremer). In the New Testament it means right, authority, capability (Romans 9:21); power, strength (Matthew 9:8); right and might (John 5:27). Thus it gets the meaning of the powers of the magistrate, which it bears in later Greek (Titus 3:1; Romans 13:1-3). And in this sense it is used in Luke 23:7, where it is translated "jurisdiction."