Ephesians 4.8c-Jesus Christ Captured Captives
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday January 18, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:8c-Jesus Christ Captured Captives
Lesson # 217
Ephesians 4:7 Now, however, to each one of us grace was given corresponding to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate gracious giving. 8 Therefore, it says, “When he ascended to the highest place, he captured captives. He generously gave gifts to certain members of the human race.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:8 is a strong inferential statement, which is composed of the following:
(1) Temporal participial clause anabas eis hypsos (ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος), “When He ascended to the highest place” (Author’s translation)
(2) Declarative statement: ēchmalōteusen aichmalōsian (ᾐχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν), “he captured captives.” (Author’s translation)
(3) Declarative statement: edōken domata ⸀tois anthrōpois (ἔδωκεν δόματα ⸀τοῖς ἀνθρώποις), “He generously gave gifts to certain members of the human race.” (Author’s translation)
This strong inferential statements quotes Psalm 68:18 as confirmation or as the basis for Paul’s assertion in Ephesians 4:7, which we noted asserts that grace in the form of a spiritual gift was given to each church age believer at the moment of justification which corresponds to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate gracious giving.
The temporal participial clause asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the highest place, which is a reference to being seated at the right hand of His heavenly Father forty days after His resurrection.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that in Ephesians 1:20-21, Paul teaches that the Lord sat down at the right hand of His heavenly Father.
Furthermore, the Lord first distributed spiritual gifts to Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.
At that time, His disciples first received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which resulted in them not only being baptized into Christ or identified with Him but also receiving a spiritual gift.
Thus, the implication of Paul’s assertion in Ephesians 4:8 is that the Lord not only ascended to the highest place but for the purpose of being seated at His Father’s right hand.
In fact, the prepositional phrase eis hypsos (εἰς ὕψος), “to the highest place” is identifying the location to which Jesus Christ ascended.
Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father, He was declared the victor over Satan.
Consequently, He received the title deed of planet earth and assumed the sovereign rulership over the earth at that time.
By seating His Son, Jesus Christ and His bride the church at His right hand and placing every animate and inanimate object under their authority, the Father restored humanity to its original position, namely rulership over the earth.
The verb aichmalōteuō (αἰχμαλωτεύω) is a technical military term for causing someone to become a prisoner of war pertaining to taking possession of someone by physical force as after an invasion.
The referent of the third person singular form of this verb is Jesus Christ.
The noun aichmalōsia (αἰχμαλωσία) is the cognate noun of the verb aichmalōteuō (αἰχμαλωτεύω) and means “captive” since the word pertains to the state of being taken as a prisoner of war and kept a captive.
Among expositors, there are two interpretations with regards to the referent of this noun:
(1) The enemies of Jesu Christ as enumerated by Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3, namely, the sin nature, Satan and cosmic world system governed by his fellow evil spirits.
(2) The people who had been enslaved or held as captives of the sin nature, Satan and his fellow evil spirits who under his authority rule his cosmic world system.
The second interpretation makes the most sense because the text of Ephesians 4:8 says that these individuals who were captured by Jesus Christ or made His prisoners were already existing in the state of being prisoners of war or captives.
Therefore, this noun aichmalōsia (αἰχμαλωσία) refers to those sinners who were declared justified by the Father when they trusted in His Son, Jesus Christ as their Savior and who were once slaves to the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic world system and thus held as captives or prisoners by the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic world system.
Therefore, the first declarative statement which helps to complete the thought of the temporal participial clause in Ephesians 4:8 asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ captured these justified sinners when He ascended to the right hand of the Father.
As we noted, those whom He captured were those sinners who had been enslaved or held as captives of the sin nature, Satan and his fellow evil spirits who under his authority rule his cosmic world system but were freed from this enslavement through faith in Jesus Christ.
These justified sinners were not only church age believers but also Old Testament saints who looked forward in faith to the Messiah.
In fact, in Ephesians 4:9, Paul asserts that Jesus Christ descended into the lower regions of the earth, which took place after His physical death on the cross and before His resurrection.
He descended into “Hades” or as it is called in the Old Testament, “Sheol,” which contained two compartments:
(1) Paradise: the place of the departed souls of believers before the resurrection of Christ (Lk. 23:39-43; Eph. 4:8-9) who were transferred to heaven after the resurrection of Christ (Eph. 4:10).
(2) Torments: the temporary fire for the souls of unbelievers from all dispensations (Lk. 16:19-31).
Therefore, Jesus Christ removed the Old Testament saints that were located in the Paradise portion of Hades and brought them to heaven.
Those believers who died before the resurrection of Jesus Christ, like the thief on the cross, were brought to heaven by Him along with the dead Old Testament saints (Lk. 23:43).
