Ephesians 4.8d-Jesus Christ Gave Gifts to Certain Members of the Human Race
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 21, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:8d-Jesus Christ Gave Gifts to Certain Members of the Human Race
Lesson # 218
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)
These three assertions present a strong inference from the contents of Ephesians 4:7 and they quote Psalm 68:18 as confirmation or as the basis for Paul’s assertion in Ephesians 4:7.
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.
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).
In the second declarative statement in Ephesians 4:8, the verb didōmi (δίδωμι) means “to give generously” since the word pertains in this context to giving someone something implying something of great value and a gift.
It speaks of giving someone something as an expression of generosity.
The referent of the third person singular form of this verb is of course Jesus Christ.
The noun doma (δόμα) pertains to that which is given to someone without expectation of payment.
In other words, it pertains to something transferred to a person as an object to be received without compensation.
In context, the referent of this word is the spiritual gifts that each church age believer received at the moment of justification from the Holy Spirit as authorized by the Lord Jesus Christ while seated at the right hand of His heavenly Father.
The noun anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) means “the members of the human race” since the word pertains to the members of the human race in a generic sense as a collection of various people groups.
In context, the referent of this word are those members of the human race who trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Consequently, they were declared justified by the Father and simultaneously regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
They were also at justification placed in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand through the baptism of the Spirit.
This interpretation is indicated by the articular construction of this word, which is generic which indicates that it is distinguishing justified, regenerated members of the human race from those who are unrepentant, unregenerated sinners enslaved to the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic world system.
Furthermore, the context indicates this as well because Jesus Christ did not give spiritual gifts to every member of the human race and in particular unrepentant, unregenerate sinners.
On the contrary, He gave spiritual gifts to only those sinners who are members of His body and are His bride as a result of being declared justified by His heavenly Father through faith in Him.
Simultaneously, as we noted, at justification, they were placed in union with Him and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His Father’s right hand.
Therefore, the second declarative statement which also helps to complete the thought of the temporal participial clause in Ephesians 4:8 asserts that not only did the Lord Jesus capture captives but He also gave gifts to certain members of the human race when He ascended to the right hand of the Father.
This statement refers to Jesus Christ authorizing the Holy Spirit to give spiritual gifts to those sinners who have been declared justified through faith in Him by His heavenly Father.
Simultaneously, we noted, they were placed in union with Him and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His Father’s right hand.
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 4:7, Paul discusses these spiritual gifts not only in Ephesians 4:11 but also 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12:3-8. Peter discusses them in 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Therefore, in Ephesians 4:8, the apostle Paul asserts quotes Psalm 68:18 to support his assertion in Ephesians 4:7 that Jesus Christ gave grace in the form of a spiritual gift to each member of the body of Christ which corresponds to the incomparable Christ’s gracious giving.
The quote states that Jesus Christ captured captives when He ascended to the highest place in creation, namely the right hand of His heavenly Father and he then slightly changes the quote, which asserts that He received gifts from men.
However, Paul asserts that Jesus Christ generously gave them gifts when He ascended to the highest place in creation, namely the right hand of His heavenly Father.
The church age believer was once the enemy of God because of being enslaved to the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic world system prior to justification but now they are adopted members of His family and future bride who will reign with Him during His millennial reign.
The church age believer was not only captured by Jesus Christ at their justification but also at that moment they received a spiritual gift and they were once the slaves or captives of the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system but were captured by Jesus Christ at the moment of justification.
While seated at the right hand of the Father, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ first gave spiritual gifts to those who had trusted in Him as Savior and were thus declared justified by His heavenly Father (Acts 2).
Jesus Christ will continue to give spiritual gifts to those who trust in Him as Savior until the rapture of the church, which is imminent.
Not only does Paul mention Jesus Christ’s ascension and by way of implication, His session in Ephesians 4:8 but he also does so in Ephesians 1:15-23.
In the latter, Paul refers to not only Jesus Christ’s resurrection explicitly but also His ascension into the third heaven and present session at the right hand of the Father as a result of His over Satan and his kingdom at the cross.