John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 4:8

"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men." — Ephesians 4:8 (ASV)

Therefore he says. To serve the purpose of his argument, Paul has departed considerably from the true meaning of this quotation. Wicked men charge him with having made an unfair use of Scripture. The Jews go even further and, to give their accusations a greater appearance of plausibility, maliciously pervert the natural meaning of this passage. What is said of God is applied by them to David or to the people. “David, or the people,” they say, “ascended on high, when, as a consequence of many victories, they rose superior to their enemies.” But a careful examination of the Psalm will convince any reader that the words, he ascended up on high, are applied strictly to God alone.

The whole Psalm may be regarded as an ἐπίνικιον, a song of triumph, which David sings to God because of the victories he had obtained; but, using the occasion of the narrative of his own exploits, he makes a passing survey of the astonishing deliverances which the Lord had formerly worked for his people. His object is to show that we ought to contemplate in the history of the Church the glorious power and goodness of God; and among other things he says, Thou hast ascended on high. (Psalms 68:18). The flesh is apt to imagine that God remains idle and asleep when he does not openly execute his judgments. From a human perspective, when the Church is oppressed, God is somehow humbled; but, when he stretches out his avenging arm for her deliverance, he then appears to rouse himself and to ascend his throne of judgment.

“Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts; he put them to a perpetual reproach.”
(Psalms 78:65, 66).

This mode of expression is quite common and familiar; and, in short, the deliverance of the Church is here called the ascension of God.

Perceiving that it is a song of triumph, in which David celebrates all the victories which God had worked for the salvation of his Church, Paul very properly quoted the account given of God’s ascension and applied it to the person of Christ. The noblest triumph which God ever gained was when Christ, after subduing sin, conquering death, and putting Satan to flight, rose majestically to heaven to exercise his glorious reign over the Church. Up to this point, there is no ground for the objection that Paul has applied this quotation in a manner inconsistent with the design of the Psalmist. The continued existence of the Church is represented by David to be a manifestation of the Divine glory. But no ascension of God more triumphant or memorable will ever occur than that which took place when Christ was carried up to the right hand of the Father, to rule over all authorities and powers, and to become the everlasting guardian and protector of his people.

He led captivity captive. Captivity is a collective noun for captive enemies; and the plain meaning is that God reduced his enemies to subjection, which was more fully accomplished in Christ than in any other way. He has not only gained a complete victory over the devil, sin, death, and all the power of hell—but out of rebels he forms every day “a willing people” (Psalms 110:3), when he subdues by his word the obstinacy of our flesh. On the other hand, his enemies—to which class all wicked men belong—are held bound by chains of iron and are restrained by his power from exerting their fury beyond the limits which he assigns.

And gave gifts to men. There is more difficulty in this clause; for the words of the Psalm are, “thou hast received gifts for men,” while the apostle changes this expression into gave gifts, and thus appears to exhibit an opposite meaning. Still, there is no absurdity here; for Paul does not always quote the exact words of Scripture, but, after referring to the passage, satisfies himself with conveying its substance in his own language. Now, it is clear that the gifts which David mentions were not received by God for himself, but for his people; and accordingly, we are told in an earlier part of the Psalm that “the spoil” had been “divided” among the families of Israel (Psalms 68:12). Since, therefore, the intention of receiving was to give gifts, Paul can hardly be said to have departed from the substance, whatever alteration there may be in the words.

At the same time, I am inclined to a different opinion: that Paul purposely changed the word and employed it, not as taken from the Psalm, but as an expression of his own, suited to the present occasion. Having quoted from the Psalm a few words descriptive of Christ’s ascension, he adds, in his own language, and gave gifts,—for the purpose of drawing a comparison between the greater and the less. Paul intends to show that this ascension of God in the person of Christ was far more illustrious than the ancient triumphs of the Church; because it is a more honorable distinction for a conqueror to distribute his bounty generously to all classes than to gather spoils from the vanquished.

The interpretation given by some, that Christ received from the Father what he would distribute to us, is forced and utterly inconsistent with the apostle’s purpose. No solution of the difficulty, in my opinion, is more natural than this: Having made a brief quotation from the Psalm, Paul took the liberty of adding a statement, which, though not contained in the Psalm, is true in reference to Christ—a statement, moreover, by which the ascension of Christ is proved to be more illustrious and more worthy of admiration than those ancient manifestations of the Divine glory which David enumerates.