dominion

dominion power to rule, or that which is subject to rule. Before 1949 the term was used officially to describe the self-governing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations —e.g., Canada, Australia, or India. In 1949 India became a republic within the Commonwealth, and the use of the term dominion has since been largely abandoned because it is thought to imply subordination. Now these states are simply referred to as members of the Commonwealth.

do·min·ion / dəˈminyən/ • n. 1. sovereignty; control: man's attempt to establish dominion over nature. 2. (usu. dominions) the territory of a sovereign or government: the Angevin dominions. ∎  (Dominion) hist. each of the self-governing territories of the British Commonwealth. 3. (dominions) another term for domination (sense 2).

dominion The exercise of authority. In the creation narrative of the Priestly writer the human species is given dominion over the rest of creation (Gen. 1: 26, 28) but subject to the ultimate dominion of the Lord (Ps. 22: 28). Dominion which is arbitrary and oppressive is condemned by Jesus (Matt. 20: 25), and persecutors of the Church (Rev. 1: 9) are surely flouting God's dominion (Rev. 1: 6). There was also in some places a belief in angelic powers who existed somehow between God and the world and such beings may be the ‘dominions’ of Col. 1: 16, where the writer is insisting that such intermediary powers, if they existed, have been defeated by the unique and universal redemptive work of Christ, who is not to be confused with any mere angel.