“"He led captivity captive"”

Sunday, March 25, 2018

During the meeting in Mattoon last week, while visiting with some of the brethren I was asked a question. The sister said that in their ladies’ class a question came up concerning Ephesians 4:8. They wanted to know what Paul meant when he said, “There He says, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” Let take a closer look.

In the first seven verses the apostle was teaching about the unity that achieved because of the seven “ones”: one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism and Father (vrs. 4-6). From such each is given a measure of Christ’s gift (vr. 7). This is where Paul quotes from Psalm 68:18 (Eph. 4:8). But why did he say this?

To answer to our question we need to focus on Christ’s ascension. When did Jesus ascend on high? This was after His resurrection (Acts 1:9-11). In verse 9 of Ephesians 4, we are told where Christ went prior to his ascension. He went first to the lower parts of the earth when He died. We know this place as Hades, and part of it is called Paradise (Lk. 23:43; Acts 2:27).  When Jesus conquered death, He ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things (Eph. 4:10).

We are now getting a pretty clear picture concerning the statement about leading captivity captive and giving gifts to men. Think about the condition or state of mankind prior to Christ resurrecting from the dead and ascending back to heaven. There was no way of getting to Heaven.  When the Lord said He was the way, truth and the life, no one was getting to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14:6). But, if Jesus doesn’t die and resurrect, there is no way to the Father.

The phrase, captivity captive, seems a little odd. However, when we stop and think of Satan and his supposed powers, Christ removed them by His resurrection. Also, with Jesus ascending to the right hand of God, He is ruling and reigning and it position to help mankind. I think a good parallel passage would be Colossians 2:15, where it reads, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Let’s now talk about the words following captivity captive, in Ephesians 4:8. This should shed even more light on the wording. It says, “and gave gifts to men.” We need to ask, what gifts were given to men when Jesus went back to heaven?  Think about the following verses in Ephesians 4. The brethren were told that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers were given to edify the body of Christ (vrs. 11-12). Remember the promise Christ gave to His apostles, that after He leaves He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (Jn. 16:13). Also, they would be equipped to confirm the word spoken with signs and wonders (Mk. 16:19-20). This was all done when Jesus ascended. Whether we are talking about Satan’s powers being destroyed or that all the faithful, past and present and future, now have access to Heaven by the gifts given to men, the lesson is the same.

There is one more great lesson we can learn from studying this question. Let’s make sure when studying the word of God that we don’t make the scriptures teach things that contradict other Bible verses. Peter gave the warning concerning those who are unskilled in the word, how they twist the scriptures to their own destruction (II Pet. 3:16).  This is easily avoided if we consider the context. To take a verse and have it teaching something that has nothing to do with the text is to mishandle the word of God. Let’s not stop asking questions and seeking answers. But let’s not seek answers that are just not there!

Chuck

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