Bible Dictionary
ABLE
To have power, strength, capacity, or sufficient qualification to do something. The word may refer to ability, permission, or the absence of obstacles.
Definition
To be able is to possess power, strength, capacity, or sufficient qualification to do something. The word may also refer to the absence of external obstacles or to what is allowable or permitted.
Biblical Usage
Biblical usage distinguishes inherent strength from circumstances that permit an action. In one passage, “able ministers” means those fitted or made sufficient for ministry.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>a'-b'-l: The Greek dunamai, "to have power," may refer either to inherent strength, or to the absence of in external obstacles, or to what may be allowable or permitted. The Greek ischuo, as in Lu 13:24; Joh 21:6, refers always to the first of the above meanings. The use of the word as an adjective the King James Version of 2Co 3:6, is misleading, and has been properly changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into "sufficient as ministers," i.e. "hath fitted us to be ministers."</p>