Scientia potentia est is perhaps better translated as "knowledge is His power", because the context of the sentence refers to the qualities of God and is imbedded in a discussion of heresies that deny the power of God: "statuuntque latiores terminos scientiae Dei quam potestatis, vel potius ejus partis potestatis Dei (nam et ipsa scientia potestas est) qua scit, quam ejus qua movet et agit: ut praesciat quaedam otiose, quae non praedestinet et praeordinet". The English translation of this section includes the following: Interpretation of the notion of power meant by Bacon must therefore take into account his distinction between the power of
Vulgar Latin demonstrative was losing its force. The Vetus Latina Bible contains a passage "Est tamen ille daemon sodalis peccati" ("The devil is a companion of sin"), in a context that suggests that the word meant little more than an article. The need to translate sacred texts that were originally in Koine Greek, which had a definite article, may have given Christian Latin an incentive to choose a substitute. Aetheria uses "ipse" similarly: "per mediam vallem ipsam" ("through the middle of the valley"), suggesting that it too was weakening in force. Another indication of the weakening of the demonstratives can be inferred