The commentary on μετ’ ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 -:
καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς θλιβομένοις ἄνεσιν μεθ’ ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ μετ’ ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ ἐν φλογὶ πυρός, διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσι θεὸν.. (7-8a)
has striking parallels with that on the similar construction in Colossians 1:11. Is it correct to translate this as 'with His powerful angels', or not? The King James had it this way, the evangelical commentators of the nineteenth century said it was quite wrong because of the αὐτοῦ, F. F. Bruce said it was a 'Hebraism' without providing any justification for his view, and almost all the major translations (including NASB, ESV, NIV, NRSV etc) have 'mighty' or 'powerful' angels. The ASV, on the other hand, had 'the angels of his power'. But while there seems now to be a consensus among the translations that 'powerful/mighty angels' is correct, most commentators since Bruce seem to take the former view. Alfred Plummer is forthright:
'With his mighty angels' (A.V.) is certainly wrong, although it is advocated by Jowett. 'Angels of power' [ie ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως] might mean 'mighty angels,' on the analogy of the Hebraic or Oriental use of the genitive in place of an adjective (Winer, p. 297) like 'hearer of forgetfulness' [ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς] .. (James 1:25..) But 'angels of His power' [ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ] could not be thus used; the 'His' belongs to 'power' and not to 'angels.' 'His power' means the power of Jesus Christ, and the angels manifest it.. they are to execute His commands.
Ellicott:
the Lord will come accompanied with the hosts of heaven, who shall be the ministers of His will and the exponents and instruments of His power. The gloss of Theoph. and Oecum. 2, δυνάμεως ἄγγελοι, τουτέστι δυνατοί, followed by Auth., al., but found in none of the best Vv. of antiquity, is now properly rejected by appy. all modern commentators. The gen. appears to fall under the general head of the gen. possessivus, and serves to mark that to which the ἄγγελοι appertained, and of which they were the ministers;
And similarly, Lightfoot (the square brackets are mine):
'with the angels, the ministers of His power.' This expression is translated in the E. V. and by others 'with his mighty angels,' δυνάμεως being made to serve the turn of an epithet according to the common Hebrew idiom. Jowett who supports this view instances υἱοὶ δυνἀμεως (Judges 18:2 [Brenton: men of valour, בְנֵי־חַיִל, men of force. 1 Samuel 18:17, 2 Chronicles 25:13 [υἱοὶ τῆς δυνἀμεως, Brenton: men of the host, בְנֵי־הַגְדוּד, sons of the army]), ἄρχοντες δυνάμεως (1 Kings 15:20 [ἄρχοντες τῶν δυνάμεων, Brenton: chiefs of his forces], 2 Kings 25:23 [ἄρχοντες τῆς δυνάμεως, Brenton: captains of the host]). But the interpretation must be discarded, though the Hebraic tinge of the passage is prop tanto in favour of it; for the position of αὐτοῦ would thus be rendered extremely awkward. Moreover on this supposition the Apostle would dwell rather on the power of subordinate beings than of the Lord Himself.
Jowett himself only says:
a Hebraism like υἱοὶ δυνἀμεως, ἄρχοντες δυνάμεως in the LXX
But looking up the instances of these that Lightfoot gives to elucidate Jowett's view, Judges 18:2 is the only one I could find which shows the Hebraic adjectival genitive, and this doesn't have the pronominal suffix to parallel αὐτοῦ.
More recently, Wanamaker renders the phrase as ' "the angels of his power" in order to emphasize the character of the coming Lord, rather than the quality or nature of the angels who will accompany him.' Fee observes that:
Many have taken this genitive as adjectival (his powerful/mighty angels; see eg., NRSV, REB, NAB), but as Lightfoot put it, this "interpretation must be discarded.." Most likely the phrase here means, "the angels who are ministers of his power."
Best:
..the angels of his power. This is a difficult phrase:'his' by position probably qualifies 'power' only but may also qualify 'angels' ('his angels of power') though this is unlikely if 'power' is the major concept; the phrase does not mean 'his powerful angels' (a genitive of quality) .. or 'the angels by which he exercises his power' (genitive of the object), but probably the 'angels which belong to his power' (possessive genitive).
I am not sure I understand this last comment. If Best thinks that it is permissible (if unlikely) for αὐτοῦ to govern ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως, giving 'his angels of power', then he is more than half way to admitting 'his powerful angels', I would have thought. But is this good Greek, or are the other commentators right in saying that αὐτοῦ can govern δυνάμεως only (at least without 'extreme awkwardness', pace Lightfoot)?
Andrew