Ephesians 4:10
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He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
all heavens--Greek, "all the heavens" (Heb 7:26; Heb 4:14), Greek, "passed through the heavens" to the throne of God itself. might fill--In Greek, the action is continued to the present time, both "might" and "may fill," namely, with His divine presence and Spirit, not with His glorified body. "Christ, as God, is present everywhere; as glorified man, He can be present anywhere" [ELLICOTT].
Open source ↗We have gone through the former part of this epistle, which consists of several important doctrinal truths, contained in the three preceding chapters. We enter now on the latter part of it, in which we have the most weighty and serious exhortations that can be given. We may observe that in this, as in most others of Paul's epistles, the former part is doctrinal, and fitted to inform the minds of men in the great truths and doctrines of the gospel, the latter is practical, and designed for the direction of their lives and manners, all Christians being bound to endeavour after soundness in the faith, and regularity in life and practice. In what has gone before we have heard of Christian privileges, which are the matter of our comfort. In what follows we shall hear of Christian duties, and what the Lord our God requires of us in consideration of such privileges vouchsafed to us. The best way to understand the mysteries and partake of the privileges of which we have read before is conscientiously to practise the duties prescribed to us in what follows: as, on the other hand, a serious consideration and belief of the doctrines that have been taught us in the foregoing chapters will be a good foundation on which to build the practice of the duties prescribed in those which are yet before us. Christian faith and Christian practice mutually befriend each other. In this chapter we have divers exhortations to important duties. I. One that is more general (Eph 4:1). II. An exhortation to mutual love, unity, and concord, with the proper means and motives to promote them (Eph 4:2-16). III. An exhortation to Christian purity and holiness of life; and that both more general (Eph 4:17-24) and in several particular instances (Eph 4:25 to the end).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.
By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.
After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,