Chapter 22

Ephesians 4: When He Ascended on High

The Descent, the Ascent, and the Captives Led Free

Condensed Edition

Four verses. That is all Paul gives us. But these four verses pack a world of theology into a single image: a conqueror descending, ascending, and leading a train of freed captives behind him. Ephesians 4:7–10 is one of the most debated short passages in the New Testament. And for the argument of this book, it is one of the most important.

In Chapter 21, we looked at 1 Peter 3 and 4, where Peter tells us that Christ “went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” Peter gave us the descent and the preaching. Now Paul gives us the other side of the same event: the ascent and the liberation. Together, these two passages form the biblical core of the descent tradition. They are two angles on a single redemptive act.

Here is the text:

The passage is brief. It is also explosive. Paul sees Christ’s work as a great downward-and-upward arc. Christ went all the way down. Then he came all the way up. And when he rose, he did not rise alone. He brought captives with him.

I want to walk through this text carefully. What did Paul mean? Where did Christ descend? And who are the captives he led free?

The Immediate Context: Gifts from a Conqueror

Paul is not writing about the descent for its own sake. He is writing about spiritual gifts. In Ephesians 4:1–6, he urges unity in the church. In verse 7, he turns to the gifts Christ has poured out on his people: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (v. 11). The descent-and-ascent passage is the foundation for those gifts.¹ Christ is able to give so lavishly because of what he accomplished in his descent and ascent. The gifts flow from the victory.

This means the descent is not a side note. It is not a theological rabbit trail. Paul treats it as the ground on which everything else stands. Christ went down, Christ came up, and now Christ gives. The descent is foundational, not parenthetical.²

The Psalm Behind the Text

Paul quotes Psalm 68:18, but he changes it. The original psalm celebrates God’s triumphant march from Sinai to Zion. God went before his people in the exodus (Ps 68:7). The kings were scattered before him (vv. 11–14). Then he ascended the holy mountain, leading captives in his train, and received gifts from the conquered. It is a victory song.³

Paul takes this ancient image and reshapes it. Where the psalmist says the conqueror “received gifts among men,” Paul writes that he “gave gifts to men.” The switch is deliberate. Paul reads the psalm through the lens of Christ. And in Christ, the victory parade is not about collecting tribute. It is about pouring out blessings on his people.⁴

Some scholars think Paul may be drawing on an early Jewish reading tradition. The Aramaic Targum of Psalm 68 already connected the psalm to Moses ascending Sinai and bringing down the Torah as a gift. If Paul knew this tradition, he is doing something similar: Christ, like Moses, ascended and then gave something precious to his people.⁵ But whether or not Paul had the Targum in mind, his point is clear. The conqueror’s triumph ends in generosity. Christ’s descent and ascent result in gifts for the church.

The Descent Question: Where Did Christ Go?

Here is where the debate begins. Paul writes: “In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?” (v. 9). The Greek phrase is τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς (ta katōtera merē tēs gēs), which literally reads “the lower parts of the earth.”⁶

Three main readings have been proposed.

The first says that “the lower regions, the earth” simply means earth itself. On this view, Christ descended from heaven to earth in the Incarnation. The phrase is a genitive of apposition: “the lower parts, namely the earth.” This is the reading favored by several modern scholars, including Hoehner and Wallace.⁷

The second says that “the lower regions of the earth” means the realm of the dead beneath the earth. Christ descended to Hades. This is the reading I believe fits best.

The third says the phrase refers to the depths of human suffering. Christ entered the lowest point of human experience. This view has devotional appeal, but it does not fit the text well. Paul is using spatial language, not metaphorical language. He is talking about up and down, heaven and earth, above and below. A metaphorical reading softens the geography that Paul seems to intend.⁸

Why do I read it this way? Three lines of evidence come together.

First, the language itself. The phrase “the lower parts of the earth” matches standard biblical and Jewish-Greek usage for the realm of the dead. The Old Testament uses similar language. Isaiah 44:23 speaks of “the depths of the earth.” Psalm 63:9 refers to “the lower parts of the earth” as the destination of the wicked dead. Ezekiel 26:20 uses the same kind of language for the world below. Paul’s audience would have heard the phrase and thought of the underworld.⁹ Philippians 2:10 confirms that Paul thinks in three layers: “in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Not two levels. Three.

Second, the structure of Paul’s argument demands a maximal contrast. Verse 10 says Christ ascended “far above all the heavens.” That is the highest possible point. The logic of the passage pushes the descent to the lowest possible point. If “descended” means only “came to earth,” the contrast falls flat. But if it means “went to the realm of the dead,” the arc is complete.¹⁰ Christ went from the absolute bottom to the absolute top. He fills all things (v. 10) because he has been to all places.

Third, the early church read it this way. Beilby notes that Ephesians was written to people who lived in a three-tiered world: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. Thielman puts the point sharply. In a culture built on a three-tiered world, Paul could not have used this phrase and expected his readers to hear anything other than a descent to the realm of the dead.¹¹ Tertullian, Irenaeus, Ambrosiaster, and Chrysostom all read the passage this way. The Boros study lists an impressive chain of interpreters who held this view across centuries.¹²

I should note one further point that Beilby raises fairly. Even if Paul does refer to a descent to Hades, the primary purpose of the passage is christological, not soteriological. Paul’s point is the lordship of Christ over all creation: the heavens, the earth, and the realm of the dead. This is true, and I do not want to overread the text.¹⁴ But a christological point and a soteriological one are not mutually exclusive. The fact that Christ is Lord of the dead is precisely what makes his descent redemptive. He goes there as Lord. And what does the Lord do when he arrives? He liberates.

The Captives: Defeated Enemies or Liberated Saints?

This brings us to the most striking image in the passage: “He led a host of captives.” The Greek is ᾐχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν (ēchmalōteusen aichmalōsian), literally “he captured captivity.”¹⁵ But who are these captives? Two readings are on the table.

The first says the captives are defeated enemies. Christ triumphed over the spiritual powers that held humanity in bondage, and he led them in a victory parade. This fits the Roman triumphus imagery. In the ancient world, a conquering general paraded his prisoners through the streets of Rome. Paul uses similar language in Colossians 2:15, where Christ “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame.”¹⁶ On this reading, the captives are demons, not people.

The second says the captives are the redeemed. Christ liberated those held captive by death and Hades and led them out. On this reading, the “captivity” Christ captured is captivity itself. He did not just defeat enemies. He freed prisoners. The ones he freed were the Old Testament righteous: Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets. They had been waiting in the paradise chamber of Hades for the Messiah to come and bring them home.¹⁷

I believe the second reading fits this passage better, though the first captures a secondary truth Paul may also have in mind.

Here is why. Paul’s modification of Psalm 68 is the key. He changed “received gifts” to “gave gifts.” That shift moves the whole image from tribute-collection to generosity. A conqueror who gives rather than takes is a liberator. The grammar itself supports this: Christ “captured captivity,” which can be read as “he took captivity captive.” He defeated the thing that held people captive. And the result of the victory is gift-giving. What Christ does in the descent is liberate. What he does in the ascent is pour out the blessings of that liberation on his church.¹⁸

The connection between liberation and gift-giving matters. If the captives were only defeated enemies, the link to giving gifts is less clear. But if the captives are the redeemed—freed from Hades and brought to heaven—then Christ’s victory below produces his generosity above. The logic flows: descent, liberation, ascent, gifts.¹⁹

The Patristic Witness and the Anastasis Icon

The early church read this passage as the harrowing of hell. Christ descended to the realm of the dead and led the righteous out. The tradition was widespread.

Irenaeus, writing around AD 180, declared that “the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching his advent there also.” He said Christ offered “the remission of sins received by those who believe in him” to the patriarchs and prophets who had waited for his coming.²⁰

Tertullian, writing from Carthage around AD 210, was equally direct. Christ “did not ascend into the heights of heaven,” he wrote, “before descending into the lower parts of the earth.” The purpose? To make the patriarchs and prophets “partakers of himself.”²¹

Chrysostom, in the fourth century, interpreted the κατάβασις εἰς τὰ κατώτερα τῆς γῆς (katabasis eis ta katōtera tēs gēs, “descent into the lower parts of the earth”) of Ephesians 4:9 as a descent to the dead.²²

Clement of Alexandria went further. He argued that Christ’s gospel proclamation in Hades was given for the benefit of all who were there, not only the Hebrew saints. “If the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel,” Clement wrote, “it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only.” His answer was clear: to all.²³

And Origen, responding to the pagan critic Celsus, affirmed that Christ preached to the dead and converted those who were willing to hear him.²⁴

But perhaps the most powerful witness to this reading is not found in a book. It is found on a wall.

This is not a minor tradition. The harrowing of hell was the dominant reading for more than a thousand years. It shaped liturgy, art, and creed. When modern scholars propose that Paul meant only the Incarnation, they are proposing a reading that the church fathers almost unanimously rejected.²⁶ That does not settle the debate by itself. The fathers could be wrong. But the weight of the tradition deserves respect, especially when the text itself points in the same direction.

Two Passages, One Event

In Chapter 21, we saw that 1 Peter 3:18–22 describes Christ descending to the dead and preaching to the spirits in prison. Now Ephesians 4:8–10 gives us the other half: Christ ascending and leading the captives out. The two passages illuminate each other. Peter emphasizes the descent and the proclamation. Paul emphasizes the ascent and the liberation.²⁷

Put them together, and a picture forms. Christ died. He descended to the realm of the dead. He preached the gospel there. He set the captives free. He ascended to heaven, bringing the liberated with him. And from his place at the right hand of the Father, he poured out gifts on his church. The arc is complete: from the heights of heaven to the depths of the dead, and back again, with freed captives in his train.

This is not speculation. It is what the texts say when they are allowed to speak together. And the picture they paint is the second great biblical pillar of the two-stage history we traced in Chapter 20.

The Two-Stage History Confirmed

Ephesians 4 confirms what 1 Peter 3 and the wider New Testament evidence suggests: something changed at Christ’s death, descent, and resurrection. Before Christ, the righteous dead waited in the paradise chamber of Hades. Luke 16 calls it the “Bosom of Abraham.” They were in comfort, but they were not yet home. After Christ’s descent, the paradise chamber emptied. The Old Testament saints were led out and brought to heaven. Paul’s language of captives led captive is the language of that transfer.²⁸

That is the two-stage history in a sentence. Before the cross, the righteous dead waited below. After the cross, they went home. And the mechanism of that transfer was the descent and ascent of Christ.

After the ascension, the arrangement changed. Believers who die no longer go to the paradise chamber of Hades. They go to be “with Christ” (Phil 1:23). Paul says to be “away from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). The paradise chamber is no longer needed. The two-stage history has moved into its second stage. And Christ, who once descended to the dead, now stands at the threshold of every death, meeting each dying soul as the risen Lord who has already conquered the grave.

But Was It Only Past?

Here I need to be honest about a question this passage raises for the argument of this book. Ephesians 4:8–10 describes a historical event. Paul is talking about something Christ did once, at a specific point in redemptive history. Does this mean the descent was a one-time event with no continuing significance?

I do not think so, but I want to be clear about the logic. Ephesians 4 establishes a precedent. It tells us what Christ did. It shows us his character, his reach, and his purpose. Christ is the one who goes all the way down and all the way up. Christ is the one who fills all things (v. 10). Christ is the one who does not leave captives behind.²⁹

The distinctive claim of this book is that the pattern continues. In the present age, Christ is perpetually present at every threshold of death. What he did once in his historical descent, he now does at every dying. Not a new descent each time. Rather, the risen Christ, who has already been to the lowest place and the highest, stands at the threshold of every death as the abiding result of his once-for-all work.

This is a theological extension. I want to be upfront about that. Ephesians 4 does not say it in so many words. But the extension is natural. Christ descended once because he is the kind of Savior who goes all the way down. He now fills all things. His presence reaches everywhere, not just the places we expect. If that is true, then his presence at the moment of every death is not a leap. It is a consequence.³⁰

What This Means for the Dying

Ephesians 4 gives us a Savior who does not stay above the suffering. He goes down. He enters the darkest place. And he does not enter it to observe. He enters it to liberate.

Think about what this means at the bedside. When you sit with someone who is dying, you are not sitting in a place where Christ has never been. He has been lower. He has been to the bottom of the universe. The one who descended into the lower regions of the earth is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens. He has been everywhere. He fills all things.

And the captives he once led out of Hades, he still leads. The pattern Paul describes is not a closed loop. It is the revelation of a character. This is who Christ is: the one who goes all the way down and brings people home. Every dying soul meets a Savior who has already been to the bottom and come back.

That is the hope Ephesians 4 offers. Not just that something happened once, long ago, in the realm of the dead. But that the one who did it is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he still meets people in the dark places. He still leads captives free.

In Chapter 23, we turn to the passage most often cited against postmortem opportunity: the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It is a text that deserves a careful re-reading. And the two-stage history we have built in these chapters will be the lens through which we read it.