8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
Pivoting from the doctrine of the unity of the Church, Paul turns to the diversity of giftedness. Amidst this cantata of gifts working together for the goal of growing into the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:7-16), we find inserted this somewhat cryptic passage. If this is an allusion to OT prophecy, Psalm 68:18, as some commentator’s think, then Paul would be charged with changing the text from “you have received gifts among men” (Psalm 68:18) to “he gave gifts to men.” Thus, Paul would then be making an allusion to the prophecy and therefore adapting it, but not actually quoting it. In this view, Paul was expanding the meaning of the Psalm, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. However, other commentators think he quoted a contemporary hymn that was familiar to the readers. This last view is supported by the way Paul introduces the thought with, “Therefore it says.” This is not the usual way of prefacing OT references. It is identical to Ephesians 5:14 where the phrase introduces not a Scripture quote, but most likely a verse from an ancient hymn.
In either case, the One who gives the gifts (which is the subject of Ephesians 4:7-16) is One with authority, by virtue of His victory over the spiritual enemies of God (“He led captive a host of captives,” see also Col 2:15) and His ascension into glory. Ascension implies a descension. Jesus stated this clearly, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man” (John 3:13). Christendom has argued over what this means, that Jesus “descended into the lower parts of the earth.” On the one hand, some believe this refers to hell, as most renditions of the Apostle’s Creed state. In support of this see 1 Peter 3:19, 20; 4:6. A variation of this is simply that God the Son descended not just to the lowliness of becoming a man, but also went to death and the grave.
However, others interpret “the lower parts of the earth” to mean earth itself, which is lower when compared to heaven. This phrase is used this way by Isaiah, “Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it…” (Is 44:23). When Christ ascended, the church was formed and God then gave the spiritual gifts to the Church.
Lord, thank You for humbling Yourself, so that You could be exalted and then distribute gifts to Your family.
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