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NASB | Ephesians 4:9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 4:9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had previously descended [from the heights of heaven] into the lower parts of the earth? |
Subject: Dr. B. What does aggelos mean? |
Bible Note: Hi Dr. B, You give me some interesting food for thought. The thing about me is that I simply read the word and believe what I read. If the Bible says that the fish ascended after Peter hooked it, ok. That does not offend my sensibilities. A fish can do that. So now I realize a little more of God's grace. Peter only had to obey Jesus and put his line in the water. He didn't even have to reel the fish in. It just swam up to him. Regarding Jesus descending - why could He Not descend "under His own power" - in the active voice? Again, I see no problems there. The disciple ask "do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven?" I find it interesting that they are talking about "commanding" fire to do something, that if they commanded, fire would obey them, and come down from heaven. In this verse, "fire" is the accusitive noun following the verb "command", and so they are clearly talking about telling "fire" what to do, with the presumption that "fire" would obey their command, and "come down", as an active voice verb. The fire would be obeying their command, but it would be the fire that was comming down of its own accord. So I see no difficulty there. Could not a sheet in a vision "move of its own accord"? Just because it was sent, does not require that invisible hands carried it. Where it was taken up again, that is in the passive voice. But of its coming down, that is the active voice. But this is a vision, and God can have the visions He sends do whatever He wants them to do. Likewise for James 1:17, God can send, and what He sends goes. God can call, and what He calls comes. But as I read the accounts of Elijah and Enoch, the LORD "took" Elijah, and Enoch was "taken" by God. When I check the Septuagint on the story of Elijah, where the LITV says Elijah "went up" in a whirlwind, the Septuagint says "anelemphthe", which is (if I'm understanding correctly) the passive voice of analambano, to recieve up. All of these passages are literally interpreted, without bias, and my ideas of what they describe formed soley and entirely on the text. I find that all are in harmony with the rest of Scripture (to the best of my knowledge). So this is what I believe. Love in Christ, Mark |