In him we are endowed with priceless treasures, and we give him ourselves, our all. The Treasury of David. Great King of grace my heart subdue, I would be led in triumph too; As willing captive to my Lord, To own the conquests of his word. The ancient prophecy of David is fulfilled here on the foot of mount Olivet.

To take "captivity captive," signifies that Christ conquered the allied principalities and powers, the devil, sin, death, and hell; and that he deprived them of the instruments wherewith they enslaved men. He not only silenced the cannon on the spiritual Gibraltar, but he took rock, fortifications, and all. He not only silenced the horrible and destructive battlements of the powerful and compactly united ghostly enemies, but he threw down the towers, razed the castles, and took away the keys of the dungeons.

He is the Master henceforth, and for ever. He did, also, at the same time, save his people.

Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

Where, O Jesus, is the army of which thou art the Captain? They were gifts of mercy: The apostle shows that a portion of these gifts are gifts of ministry. Accordingly, whenever God condescends to dwell among a people and in a country, he gives that people and country this ministry. He sends them his gospel in the mouths of faithful servants. He establishes there his house; the board and the candlestick; and then, in his Spirit, he dwells there and blesses his heritage.

He ascended - He who? Clearly the Lord Jesus Christ.


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Jesus is LORD in both testaments! It was not the Father Who ascended but it was the Son, Who subordinated Himself for the work of salvation, although He is subordinate in Himself but co-equal with His Father misunderstanding of these basic doctrines led to the Arian heresy which held that Christ although divine was a created being. In the first chapter Paul referred to this momentous event writing See notes Ephesians 1: As used figuratively in James see below it speaks of dignity or being exalted as having a "high" position.

He led captive a host of captives - In the context of Ephesians 4, this passage depicts our triumphant Lord Jesus Christ returning from earth to heaven after His victory at Calvary. This is a quotation from Psalm He led captivity captive. The inferences drawn from the triumphal return of the King are: The captives are most probably the Old Testament saints in sheol hades. In His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered Satan, sin, and death cf. Although I favor the above interpretations, it must be mentioned that there are other able commentators who feel this passage indicates quite a different identity of the captives.

For example Martyn Lloyd-Jones feels that In ancient times, if a king or a prince or a great military captain waged successful warfare, when he came back to his own country there was always a kind of victory parade. The conquered kings and princes and military chieftains and captains were all made to walk in the procession in their chains.

He had taken his foes captive and was now making a public display of them. At the same time he threw gifts to his own people. He was riding in his chariot distributing his largesse among the acclaiming people, and he was leading these conquered men as captives at the same time. Exposition of Ephesians in 8 Vol. The idea is to gain complete control over another, either by force or deception. The allusion is to a triumphal possession in which one marched the captives that one had taken in a war.

A host of captives aichmalosia describes the state of being captive or of taking someone captive by the force of the spear. He gave - As noted above, Paul substitutes "gave" for "received". Some might argue that this contradicts the infallibility of the Scripture. But there is really no contradiction for it is true to say that Christ both received and gave. And so we see Christ has both received and given, the latter action presupposing the former.

So the Son received the gift from the Father and gives gifts to the Church, thus there is no contradiction for both statements are true. The same Holy Spirit Who inspired David to write received, also inspired Paul to write give, these actions being two sides of the same "coin" for the same intended meaning is brought out in both cases; i.

Gave gifts - The greatest gift Jesus gave was the Holy Spirit, Who in turn brought life to men in salvation, baptized brought them into union with the body of Christ and then distributed individual spiritual gifts to each believer as He willed. Gave didomi means He granted these gifts based on decision of His will and not on the merit of the recipients. Upon arriving in heaven, He gave gifts to men. Paul here uses yet another term for gifts domata to express the comprehensiveness of this gracious provision. Like a triumphant conqueror distributing the spoils to his subjects, so Christ takes the trophies He has won and distributes them in His kingdom.

After His ascension came all the gifts empowered by the Holy Spirit John 7: When the Savior was exalted on high, He sent the Spirit Acts 1: Gifts doma from didomi is a word that means present or gift but which lends greater emphasis to the character of the gift. For example, in secular Greek doma was used of a thing given, as in a medical dose. Doma can mean a gift as such without any benefit necessarily derived from it. Vine explains that doma Doma is far more common in the Septuagint LXX being found some 58 times.

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In Philippians 4 Paul uses doma to refer to the material gifts the Philippians repeatedly sent him for his needs writing Not that I seek the gift doma itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account See note Philippians 4: To men anthropos to those men and women who compose the Church. Notice that it says "he ascended. NLT - Tyndale House. Note the implication here - to say that Christ "ascended" means that he must previously have "descended", that is from the height of Heaven to the depth of this world. Now, the fact that He ascended, what is it except that also He descended into the nether parts of the earth?

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Now this "re-ascended" —what does it mean but that He had first descended into the lower regions of the earth? He ascended - Refers of course to Jesus Christ, these verses 4: Anabaino - 82x in 78v translated Usage: He also descended into the lower parts of the earth - the interpretations include descent to Hades Sheol , descent to the grave, or descent to earth incarnation.

Descent into Hades is the view held by the early church fathers but which is less popular with modern evangelical commentators. Ryrie comments that the lower parts "Could mean that Christ descended into Hades between His death and resurrection. Or, more likely, "of the earth" is better understood as an appositional phrase, meaning that Christ descended at His incarnation into the lower parts of the universe , namely, the earth.

The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: The ascending Lord was not merely ascending back from the earth, but from " the lower parts of the earth. More likely it refers to the great pit at the center of the earth, indicated in the Bible as the prison confining the souls of the dead, the place called Sheol in the Old Testament Hebrew and Hades in the Greek New Testament, but often translated "hell" in the King James Version.

One of Christ's purposes when He came to earth was. When Christ died on the cross, He in the Spirit "went and preached unto the spirits in prison" 1Peter 3: The word "preached" can be better translated "proclaimed"--that is, proclaimed His victory over Satan. Christ had said prophetically Psalm He returned from Hades with " the keys of hell and of death " Re 1: His spirit returned to His body resting in Joseph's tomb, and He arose from the dead, alive forever more.

The souls of those who had died in faith came with Him from their resting place in Hades in "Abraham's bosom" Luke With the thief on the cross who had also believed, the Lord then presumably took them all with Him into "paradise, the third heaven" Luke Those who favor this section as a reference to Christ descending into Hades associate this Ephesians passage with the passage in Peter which says It must be stated that the interpretation of this passage in 1Peter is very controversial and there are some excellent evangelical commentators who don't interpret this as Christ descending to Hades.

Click here for more discussion of this difficult passage. Many recent scholars hold this view and argue that it is a reference to the incarnation. Support for this latter view is found in the intertestamental and rabbinic use of Ps The probability, therefore, is that the comments here in v. What follows in verse 10 argues for this view. Otherwise one must think of the death of Christ the descent into Hades of Acts 2: Katabaino - 81x in 81v translated as arise 1 , ascend 2 , ascended 7 , ascending 3 , came 7 , climbed 1 , climbs 1 , come 4 , comes 2 , coming 3 , entered 2 , go 6 , goes 1 , going 6 , gone 3 , got 2 , grew 1 , grows 1 , rises 1 , started on our way up 1 , went When he restated the promise connected with obeying the fifth commandment, Paul changed it.

Since He has not promised Christians a particular piece of land, Paul stated the more general promise that lay behind the specific promise, namely, longer physical life on earth. Normally children who obey their parents end up avoiding many perils that would shorten their lives. Paul addressed fathers because they are God"s ordained family heads on whom the primary responsibility for child training rests. When a father is absent in a family, the mother usually assumes this responsibility. In Greco-Roman society the father"s authority over his children was absolute.

They could even sentence family members to death See also Barclay, p Essentially this command forbids making unreasonable demands on children in the everyday course of family life. Exasperating provocation can enflame the child"s anger unnecessarily cf. Studies indicate that the factor that causes rage in teenagers more than any other is having to face life without adequate direction from their parents. Instead fathers should provide for the physical and spiritual non-material needs of their children cf. Fathers are to do all this with the Lord at the center of the relationship and training.

Such unbridled young scamps, for lack of correction, develop too often into headstrong, peevish, self-seeking characters, menaces to the community where they dwell, and the blame rests with their supine and duty-shirking seniors. See also Wiersbe, 2: Paul contrasted masters according to the flesh with the Master of the human spirit, namely, Jesus Christ.

Christian slaves owed their earthly masters obedience. Obedience demonstrated their submission to Christ cf. Seven qualifications describe proper obedience. Service was to be respectful with fear, reverence; cf. Second, it was to be with "trembling" or "fear," that Isaiah , with care that the slave not make a mistake.

Third, it was to be sincere, without hypocrisy or duplicity. Fourth, service should be as to the Lord. The third group that Paul addressed was slaves and masters cf. Most slaves served in the home in Paul"s day, so this section fits in well with what precedes about other household relationships. Some students of Roman history have estimated that about one-third of the population in the Roman Empire at this time was slaves, approximately60 million individuals.

Most ancient Greeks and Romans regarded slaves as little more than living tools. See the excursus on slavery in Paul"s time in Hoehner, Ephesians , pp Varro, writing on agriculture, divided agricultural instruments into three classes-the articulate, the inarticulate and the mute. The articulate comprises the slaves; the inarticulate the cattle; and the mute the vehicles. The slave is no better than a beast who happens to be able to talk. Cato gives advice to a man taking over a farm. He must go over it and throw out everything that is past its work; and old slaves too must be thrown out on the scrap heap to starve.

When a slave is ill it is sheer extravagance to issue him with normal rations. The old and sick slave is only a broken and inefficient tool. Fifth, service was to be consistent, whether the master was watching or not. Paul may have also had in mind doing work that the human master could not check on. Sixth, it needed to arise from proper motives, not to please men only but, more importantly, to please the Lord. Seventh, the slave should have an attitude of goodwill toward his or her master. He should serve for the master"s welfare.

Such good will "does not wait to be compelled. Paul"s Epistle to the Ephesians , p The Lord is the One whom the Christian slave really serves as well as the earthly master. Paul reminded faithful slaves that they would receive a reward from Jesus Christ in the future whether their masters on earth acknowledged their good service or not. This reward would come at the judgment seat of Christ if not earlier. This principle of reward for faithful service applies to all who serve the Lord, whether slave or free. Masters should seek to please the Lord in their dealings with their slaves even as slaves should try to please Christ as they serve their masters.

Ephesians 6 Commentary - Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable

They should not threaten because our heavenly Master does not threaten us. Threatening means warning that punishment will come immediately cf. The opposite of threatening is gracious, just, and fair treatment cf. Masters should also remember that their Master in heaven will not show favoritism to them because of their social or economic status. He will evaluate them by the same standard that they have used to judge others Matthew 7: Stott identified and discussed three major reasons he believed the apostles did not urge the abolition of slavery. First, Christians were an insignificant group in the Roman Empire during the first century and were politically powerless.

Second, it was fairly easy to make the transition from slavery to freedom, and there was a growing tendency for Romans to free their slaves and even establish them in a trade or profession. Third, by this time the legal status of slaves was beginning to be eased and showed signs of further improvement. Paul was writing specifically for a society where slavery was a legal institution.

Primarily, Christian employees should serve their employers with fear, diligence, integrity, and good will and Christian employers should deal with their employees with integrity and goodwill, without threats. Both Christian employees and Christian employers need also to realize that they have a heavenly master to whom they are accountable for their attitudes and conduct. Furthermore, the behavior of both parties should be a testimony to the unbelievers with whom they work.

Hoehner, Ephesians , p William Webb did not believe these exhortations apply to employer employee relationships. As we review this section of duties, we need to remind ourselves that only a Spirit-filled believer will be able to fulfill them Ephesians 5: Essentially what Paul urged was humility that expresses itself in loving submissiveness to others rather than arrogant self-assertiveness. So ends Paul"s commands concerning how the Christian is to walk live; Ephesians 4: It probably meant both "allow the Lord to strengthen you" passive and "strengthen yourself in the Lord" middle; cf.

It is the Lord who provides the power in both cases. The theme of power introduced earlier in this epistle recurs here cf. Three different words for power in this verse, all of which appear in Ephesians 1: There is probably no great difference in meaning here, but the combination puts emphasis on the importance of the divine power at work in believers. This may be a figure of speech meaning powerful strength. A hendiadys is the expression of a single complex idea by joining two substantives with "and" rather than by using an adjective and a substantive.

Another example of this figure is "the sacrifice and service of your faith" Philippians 2: That this section is distinct from the five that precede it is evident from two facts. Paul introduced it differently, and the emphasis in it is on God"s resources. Earlier Paul urged the strengthening and growth of the body of Christ Ephesians 4: Now he explained the need for this.

The body is at war with a spiritual enemy. We do not just walk, but we also war. Husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants are visible, tangible human beings, while the "principalities and powers" arrayed against us are invisible, intangible demonic beings. According to the Book of Acts and other sources, there was an unusual amount of demonic activity in Ephesus, and Paul encountered it when he ministered there cf.

See The New Bible Dictionary, ed, s. To be strong in the Lord Ephesians 6: He supplies it for the believer cf. Some Christians are so self-confident that they think they can manage by themselves without the Lord"s strength and armour. Others are so self-distrustful that they imagine they have nothing to contribute to their victory in spiritual warfare. Paul expresses the proper combination of divine ennabling [ sic ] and human co-operation.

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The purpose of accepting the equipment that God provides for waging spiritual warfare is essentially to withstand all of Satan"s attacks. In the context of this epistle the aim of Satan in view primarily has been the disunity of the body of Christ. However what Paul said here doubtless applies to all of Satan"s aims and attacks. Robertson's Notes Sep 05, Only 2 left in stock - order soon.

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