Ephesians 4:8

Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to people.”

BSB

This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.”

KJV

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

ASV

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.

BBE

For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men.

Original Greek

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The early church

As though he had said, Why art thou high-minded? The whole is of God. The Prophet saith in the Psalm, "Thou hast received gifts among men" whereas the Apostle saith, "He gave gifts unto men." The one is the same as the other.
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on Ephesians
When thou hearest these words, think not of a mere removal from one place to another; for what Paul establishes in the Epistle to the Philippians, that very argument is he also insisting upon here. In the same way as there, when exhorting them concerning lowliness, he brings forward Christ as an example, so does he here also, saying, "He descended into the lower parts of the earth." For were not this so, this expression which he uses, "He became obedient even unto death," were superfluous; whereas from His ascending, he implies His descent, and by "the lower parts of the earth," he means "death," according to the notions of men; as Jacob also said, "Then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." And again as it is in the Psalm, "Lest I become like them that go down into the pit," that is like the dead. Why does he descant upon this region here? And of what captivity does he speak? Of that of the devil; for He took the tyrant captive, the devil, I mean, and death, and the curse, and sin. Behold His spoils and His trophies. "Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended?" This strikes at Paul of Samosata and his school.
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on Ephesians
As though he had said, Why art thou high-minded? The whole is of God. The Prophet saith in the Psalm, "Thou hast received gifts among men" whereas the Apostle saith, "He gave gifts unto men." The one is the same as the other.
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on Ephesians

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 7–16

Unto every believer is given some gift of grace, for their mutual help. All is given as seems best to Christ to bestow upon every one. He received for them, that he might give to them, a large measure of gifts and graces; particularly the gift of the Holy Ghost. Not a mere head knowledge, or bare acknowledging Christ to be the Son of God, but such as brings trust and obedience. There is a fulness in Christ, and a measure of that fulness given in the counsel of God to every believer; but we never come to the perfect measure till we come to heaven. God's children are growing, as long as they are in this world; and the Christian's growth tends to the glory of Christ. The more a man finds himself drawn out to improve in his station, and according to his measure, all that he has received, to the spiritual good of others, he may the more certainly believe that he has the grace of sincere love and charity rooted in his heart. (Ep 4:17-24)

Read Matthew Henry on Ephesians 4 →

Parallel passages

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The same words or events elsewhere, including Old Testament passages quoted in the New.

Cross-references

5

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.