THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

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 (Ro 9:21); power, strength (Mt 9:8); right and might (Joh 5:27). Thus it gets the meaning of the powers of the magistrate, which it bears in later Greek (Tit 3:1; Ro 13:1-3). And in this sense it is used in Lu 23:7, where it is translated "jurisdiction."