Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 1:20

"which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly [places]," — Ephesians 1:20 (ASV)

Having piled up the vocabulary of divine power, Paul shows where it was most impressively exerted—in the resurrection of Christ and his subsequent exaltation to the place of authority. Paul has no hesitation in ascribing the resurrection of Jesus to the Father in accordance with other Scriptures. Yet Father and Son are so at one in this, as in all things, that our Lord could also claim in Jn 10:19 that he had authority both to relinquish his life and to resume it again.

Paul links with Christ’s resurrection his ascension and his sitting down at God’s right hand in heaven. God not only raised his Son from the grave but exalted him to the seat of power. Paul alludes here to Ps 110:1; the exaltation of the king of Israel as the Lord’s anointed found its ultimate application in Christ’s exaltation. Although spatial imagery is involved, we must not think of God’s right hand as a place but as a symbol of authority. Similarly, the “heavenly realms” are not to be identified with outer space (cf. v.3).