The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 150

i;et.s for the good of the re.st; the Church is a ,er. 10.-Re that desoended is the same fe:lowship or brotherhood, where each has an also that ascended far above all the heavens. inte=t in all and nll in each, and is bound There was a proportion between the descent to act accordingly. e.od the asceut. His descent was deep- Ver. S.-Whe~efore he saith, When he as- into the lower parts of earth; but bis 11.'lcent cended on high he led captivity captive, and was more glorious than his descent hnd received gifts for men. The speaker is God, been humbling. The Hebrew idea of various the author of Scripture, :mu the place is the heavens is brought in; the ascent was not sixty-eighth psalm. That psalm is a psalm merely to the third heaven, but far above of triumph, where the placing of the ark on all heavens. That he might fill all things. Zion is celebrated as if it had ,been a great A very sublime view of the purpose for victory. As this quotation shows, the psalm which Christ reigns on high. The specific in its deepest sense is Messianic, celebrating idea with whiclt the apostle sta.rted-to the victory of Christ. The substance rather give gifts to men-is swallowed up for the than the words of the passage are given, for moment by a. view for grander and more the second person (" tlwu hast 11.'lcended," comprehensive, "to fill a.11 things." Jesus etc.) is changed into the third; and whereas has gone on high to pour his glory and ex- in the psalm it is said, "ga~ gifts to men," cellence over every creature in the universe as modi.tied by the apostle it is said. "receif!ed who is the subject of grace, to be the Light ,;i£ts far men." As in a literal triumph, the of the world, the one Source of all good. As chiefs of the enemy's army are led captive, in the solar system it is from one snn tha.t so the powers of darkness were led captive all the supplies of light 11nd heat come, nil by Cb.ri..---t ( captirity, a1XJ'DN"uia. denote.s the colours that beautify earth, sea, and sky, pri~); and as on occasion of a triumph all the influences that ripen the grain and the spoils of the enemy &.re made over to mature the fruit, all the chemical power the conqueror, who again gives them away that transforms and new-creates: so the nmong the soldiers and people, so gifts were ascended Jesus is the Sun of tbe universe; given to Christ after his triumph to be all healing, all life, nil blessing are from him. girnn by him to his Chmch. We must not It is quite in the manner of the apostle, force the e.oalogy too far: the point is simply when he introduces the mention of Christ, this-as a conqueror at a triumph gets to be carried, in the contempllltion of his gifts to distribute, so Christ, on his resur- person, far above the immediate ooce.sion, rection and ascension, got the Holy Spirit and extol the infinite perfection nnd glory to bestow on his Church (comp. eh. i 22). that distinguish him. Ver. 9.-Now (the fact) that he ascended, Ver. 11.-And he gave some (to be) what does it imply but that he descended first 1 apostles. Coming back to the diversity of Th.i ascent implied a previoUB descent; that gifts (ver. 7), he enumerates some of these, is, the ~cent of the Son of God-of one wlw as Christ (a{,.rbr, he, emphatic) bestowed was himself in heaven, who was in the bosom them. The organization of the Church is of the Father (comp. John iii 13), implied not a mere human arrangement; its officers that he bad come down from heaven, a are of Divine appointment. The first gift is, striking proof of his interest in and love his apostles. It is not meant that he gav11 '.',)r the children of men. And the descent t.o some the gifts needed to constitute them ,_ ,,s not merely to the ordinary condition apostles, though that is true; but th11t, ,,f lumanity, but to a more than ordinarily having qualified some to be apostles, he gave ,~(-g-,;;,fod c:ondition, not merely to the eur- them to the Church. An apostle had his f:ice of tiie e:ar-th, but to the lower parts of commission direct from Christ (Matt. x. 5); the earth. This has sometimes bt,en inter- he posseesed supernatural gifts (Matt. x. 8); p,,.,ted of Had!:£, but surely without reason. it was necesaary for him to have seen the Lord l f tile expreasion denotes more than Christ's (Acts i. 22); his diocese was the whole world Lumble condition, it probably means the (Matt. nviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15). 'fhe urau. This was thti climax of Cliriet's apostles were the constituent body of the 1,amiliation; to LP. rc·mo,·cd out of men's Church-they h11d all necessary r:ifts for dlt. IV. 1-32.] THE EPISTLE TO TIIE EPHESIANS.