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NASB | Ephesians 4:8 Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 4:8 Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND HE BESTOWED GIFTS ON MEN." [Ps 68:18] |
Subject: Eph 4:8("given") vs Ps 68:18("received)? |
Bible Note: He received gifts from the conquered? And he gave those to the church? He recovered men from the powers that held them, and gave them to the church? Possibly so. It is somewhat distressing to see the different ways the one passage (Psalm 68:18) is rendered in different translations. We may get some help, I think, by looking at what other scriptures say on the same subject. Who were the conquered? Would they be the same ones we read of in Colossians 2:15, that “having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it”? Are they not the evil powers, aligned with the devil, that had us in bondage (Hebrews 2:14,15)? What gifts would he have received from them? Are they the same gifts he gave to us (Ephesians 4:11): apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers? Jesus knew that he should depart out of this world unto the Father (John 13:1) and in John 14:3,12 he said that he would. In John 14:16 he said he would pray to the Father, and he (the Father) would send another Comforter. In John 14:26 he said that the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, was the one the Father would send in his name. In John 15:26 he said that the Comforter would come, as he would be sending him from the Father, “even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father”. In Acts 2:33, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he shed forth that which they were seeing and hearing. In Acts 2:38 Peter told them that all believers would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that the Spirit is not only himself a gift, but he brings gifts with him. “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:11 “All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will”. It is evident that the same Spirit who gives gifts to the men also gives the gifted men to the church. Thus, “he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11,12). So, it seems that Jesus ascends on high, receives the Holy Spirit from the Father and sends him into the world. The Holy Spirit brings gifts to individual believers and gives those gifted individuals to the church for the purposes stated. |