ephesians-4:8,-ephesians-4:11-16-niv

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ephesians 4:8-16

Ephesians 4:8-16 The Origin of the Christian Clergy. No doubt from the first the Christian society which we now call a Church existed in Christ's faithful followers, even from the beginning, and wheresoever, in any time or country, two or three were gathered together by the communion of love or faith, they also would be a Christian Church, and even for years after our Lord's departure such a society existed without the separate order of clergy. I. Yet there was a sense in which the Christian... read more

Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae - Ephesians 4:7-8

DISCOURSE: 2108THE ASCENSION OF CHRISTEphesians 4:7-8. Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.FROM the divisions which exist in the Christian Church, it has been said, by the enemies of Christianity, “First agree amongst yourselves, before you attempt to proselyte others to your religion.” That divisions do exist, is undeniable: and that they are a... read more

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible - Ephesians 4:7-12

The Ascension of Christ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Sermon (No. 982) Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, March 26th, 1871 by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto... read more

Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Ephesians 4:1-32

Now Paul begins the fourth chapter again with the reminder that he is aprisoner of the Lord, and I beseech you, [I beg you, I implore you] that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called ( Ephesians 4:1 ).Now, notice this is the first mention now that Paul makes of your response to God. He has spent three chapters telling you what God has done for you, of what God has given to you, of what God has provided for you. He has spent three chapters unfolding the glorious mysteries of... read more

Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Ephesians 4:1-32

Ephesians 4:1-2 . I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you a pathetic argument, for if I hear of discords among you it will add affliction to my bonds; that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. We are called with a holy calling, according to his purpose and grace. 2 Timothy 1:9. We are called to come out from among the wicked, and to regard the earth only as the land of our pilgrimage. 2 Corinthians 6:17. We are called with a high and holy calling as the sons... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Ephesians 4:8

Ephesians 4:8Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.The glory of the ascended ChristI. The ascension of Christ secured and declared His triumph.1. The glory of Christ was foreshadowed by the triumphal procession of Jehovah to Zion.(1) The captives of the Lord of salvation: the redeemed; sin; death; Satan.(2) The riches of the Lord of salvation: gifts, not of gold, etc., but of spiritual life, endowment, and reward.2. The descent and... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Ephesians 4:8

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Ver. 8. He led captivity captive, &c. ] As in the Roman triumphs, the victor ascended up to the Capitol in a chariot of state, the prisoners following on foot with their hands bound behind, and they threw certain pieces of coin abroad, to be picked up by the common people; so Christ in the day of his solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin, death, and hell,... read more

Samuel Bagster

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge - Ephesians 4:8

When: Psalms 68:18 he led: Judges 5:12, Colossians 2:15 captivity: or, a multitude of captives and: 1 Samuel 30:26, Esther 2:18 Reciprocal: Genesis 3:15 - it shall Numbers 3:9 - General 2 Samuel 6:19 - he dealt 2 Kings 2:12 - he saw him 2 Chronicles 30:24 - did give Psalms 24:3 - Who Psalms 24:7 - shall Psalms 47:5 - God Isaiah 14:2 - and they Ezekiel 46:18 - inheritance out Joel 2:23 - the former Zechariah 10:4 - of him came forth Matthew 23:34 - I send Mark 16:19 - he was Luke 9:51 -... read more

John Wesley

Wesley's Explanatory Notes - Ephesians 4:8

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.Wherefore he saith — That is, in reference to which God saith by David, Having ascended on high, he led captivity captive - He triumphed over all his enemies, Satan, sin, and death, which had before enslaved all the world: alluding to the custom of ancient conquerors, who led those they had conquered in chains after them. And, as they also used to give donatives to the people, at their return... read more

Daniel Whedon

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 4:8

8. Wherefore In illustration of these gifts, St. Paul now quotes a passage (Psalms 68:18, where see note) in which Jehovah is represented as having ascended on high, and applies it to the ascended Christ, just mentioned as the divine giver. The psalm is a song of Jehovah’s victory, on what occasion written is not certain, but unquestionably applicable to Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. But the particular verse quoted seems to describe the triumphant Jehovah ascending... read more