Therefore He says: "Having ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men."
Truth to Learn
Jesus Christ moved Paradise and gave all Christians gifts.
Behind the Words
The word “says” is from the Greek verb legō, which literally means “to lay forth,” that is, “to express something in words.” There is no subject given in the Greek text, so scholars are split between “He [God] says” and “it [Scripture] says.”
“Having ascended” is translated from anabaino, which means “to go up.” It is expressed as an aorist participle, so it could be translated “having gone up.”
“On high” is from eis hupsos. A literal translation of these two words would be “into elevation,” or “into the heights.”
The words “he led … captive” are translated from the verb aichmalōteuō, which is based on aichmalōtos, meaning “a captive of war.” The verb form, aichmalōteuō literally means “to captivate” or “to lead away captive.”
“Captivity” is from the noun aichmalōsia, which is also based on aichmalōtos. This form of the word refers to “the condition, or state, of being a captive.”
Meaning Explained
Paul has been talking about all of us fulfilling our calling with special attention to maintaining the unity of the church. He is now going to talk about some of the gifts that God gives to us which enable us to perform our function within the body of Christ. In today’s verse Paul tells us when those gifts were bestowed by God.
In order to fully understand, however, we need to do a quick mini-lesson about Hell. In the Old Testament it is most often referred to as sheol, the place of the departed dead. In the New Testament it is referred to as hades. From Numbers 16:33 we learn that sheol is in the center of the earth. And, from Luke 16:22, 23 we learn that there are two different areas of hades, the place of torment (where the rich man was) and a place of rest (where Lazarus was). In the Old Testament, the unrighteous people went to the place of torments and the righteous (like Abraham and Lazarus) went to the place of rest.
Hang-in with me now. On the cross, Jesus told one of the thieves crucified beside Him that on that very day they would both be in Paradise, that is, the place of rest where Abraham was. However, in 2Corinthians 12:4 Paul tells us that he was caught up into Paradise. In fact, a close reading will show us that in this verse Paradise is up at the third heaven (God’s throne room). So, at some point in time Paradise moved.
That movement of Paradise is what Paul is describing in today’s verse. When Christ died, he went down to sheol (hades). However, when He rose from the dead he “led captivity captive.” In other words, Christ took Paradise out of sheol (hades) and took it and all the righteous dead “up to” the third heaven (2Corinthians 2:2).
At that same time, Paul tells us here, Christ gave gifts to men.
Application
You and I have special gifts (spiritual gifts or abilities) given to us by Jesus Christ. These gifts are what enable us to serve Him effectively in the local church.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2015 Will Krause. All rights reserved