5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. in the heavenly places," not as many, but as one; that is to say, not as sects, nor even as local communities, but as one body of Christ. Possibly, we may say, though certainly we must be careful not to make too much of the concession, that, even while many, it is as one, through the indwelling of the 'one Spirit.' Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. The call is one; the hope is one. Various as may be all that which is incidental in Christian experience, there are elements of such experience in all cases of true conversion which are identical. The gospel addresses each subject of the "call" in the same invitation, whatever the language in which it is expressed. The motive is always the same, the 'hope set before" the soul always embracing the same objects of desire and centering in the same realities; while it is the one Spirit by whom invitation and motive, and all means of persuasion and of the later growth in grace, are made effectual. Herein is that essential 'unity' which does really prevail over the much in human nature and in the conditions of gospel propagation that makes for division; prevails so far, at all events, as to secure among real Christians of all names and times a measure, at least, of essential unity. The 'calling, and the 'one hope' of the calling under the ministry of the 'one Spirit,' are the uniting principle of the 'one body.' 66 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. By the 'one Lord,' he must be meant to whom Christian allegiance is directly due. By the 'one faith' must be meant the faith essential to salvation. The truth upon which this faith fixes, and which it holds as truth, must also itself be 'one,' since truth in any one of those forms in which it addresses itself to human faith has an identity which it always preserves. But especially is the faith itself one; it finds in the truth as received that essential thing which makes the faith efficacious, above all the one Person there revealed, who is the all in all. We may say, therefore, that however various the accompanying incidents and conditions, the 'faith' by which men are saved is 'one.' The mention of the 'one baptism' in this connection is a striking indication of the 5 ye were called in one hope of your calling; one 6 Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. 7 But unto each one of us was the grace given, accord significance belonging to this act of Christian obedience. Among all the many things required, this is selected for express mention. Of the two ordinances enjoined for perpetual observance, this one is named. The reason must be that while baptism is once for all in a Christian's life, it is that act of obedience in which he binds himself in terms of lasting allegiance to the 'one Lord,' in a profession of the 'one faith.' Its symbolism, besides, imparts to this act of outward profession a peculiar significance; and just because of this symbolism the 'baptism' must be in the form and manner of it, 'one.' It can never be made to appear that simply the use of water in any preferred way is baptism; because that symbolism (compare Rom. 6:4; Col. 2: 12) in which all the significance of the action lies, requires the use of water in a certain way, while failure in this invalidates the whole. There are not many baptisms, but one baptism.' 6. One God and Father of all. "Climactic reference," as Ellicott says, "to the eternal Father, in whom unity finds its highest exemplification." Who is above (over) all, and through all, and in you all. Not in 'you' all, but ‘in all.' We seem to have here three characteristics of that manifestation in which God makes himself known to men. The first is sovereignty over all'; the second providence, 'through all'; the third pervasive energy, 'in all.' Each of these is true of him in a spiritual as well as in a natural sense. So that the thought in this verse comes into true relation with that in the verses immediately preceding. The ultimate source of that unity of which the writer speaks, is in God, whose sovereignty controls all, whose gracious interpositions direct all, and whose divine indwelling pervades and animates all. Just i.. proportion as all this is true of Christians throughout the world, they are 'one body and one spirit.' 7. But unto every one of us is given grace. In this unity there is, after all, diversity. The verb for 'given' is in a past tense, and must be rendered was given. We cannot therefore take the meaning as altogether the 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. same as in those many other places in the New Testament which promise present supplies of grace' for every present "time of need." The word 'grace,' besides, must be understood in the light of what is said below of our Lord's ascension 'gifts.' Some allusion may also be in the word to that which the apostle has already said of himself (3: 8), speaking of the grace given to him that he "should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." The privilege of service and the endowment for service are alike to be viewed as 'grace' shown by our Lord to his people, and thus not simply in incidental ways, but in accordance with methods of dispensation, of which particulars appear in verses below, especially ver. 11 and 12. According to the measure of the gift of Christ. "The gift is measured," says Eadie, "and while each individual receives, he receives according to the will of the Sovereign Distributer." The language used, in its applications to those assignments of service which the various needs of the one service as a whole require, makes it impossible for us to view calling, or position, or the diverse conditions of the service as incidental things, or even as matters of independent choice. As appears in what is said below, the ordering of all that should concern administration and service in the spiritual kingdom of our Lord was committed to him in his ascension, and this he through the Spirit distributes "to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor. 12: 11.) 8. Wherefore he saith. No subject appears in the Greek for the verb (λéye) translated 'saith.' Some difference of opinion exists, in consequence, as to the word which should be supplied; whether "God" (ô cós) or "the Scripture” (ǹ ypaþń). The opinion of most recent commentators that the context appears to require the former is probably correct, and will make the phrase mean simply that the words used in the quotation which follows are words divinely inspired. When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. It is agreed that the quotation is from Psalm 68: 18, which in the Revision, as preferred by the 8 ing to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore And gave gifts unto men. American Company of Revisers, is as follows: "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led away captives, Thou hast received gifts among men." Prof. C. H. Toy's translation is: "Thou didst go up on high, thou didst lead captives captive, thou didst receive gifts among men.' Prof. C. A. Briggs ("Messianic Prophecy," p. 434) translates: "Thou hast gone up on high, thou hast led captives captive, Thou hast taken gifts of men." The authorities we consult, with the exception of the American Company of Revisers, preserve in the translation of the Hebrew the peculiar expresion in our present text, or its equivalent, 'led captivity captive.' In the Greek, according to Ellicott, the word for "captivity" (aixμadwoíav) is used for that denoting "those taken captive" (aixuaλúrovs); so the Greek, like the Hebrew, will mean 66 'led captives captive," not 'captivity' in any abstract sense. The expression is thus made in some degree more intense. Boise would more freely render, "took captive a company of captives." These “ captives," in our present passage, it is now substantially agreed, are those hostile powers to subdue whom was so much the purpose of our Lord's mission; namely, sin, Satan with all his host, and death itself. It is simply, as will be seen below, a Messianic picture of the triumph won in Redemption. The use made by the apostle of the passage which he quotes suggests some points of criticism upon which writers are by no means agreed. These are principally three: (1) The historical setting of the words quoted; (2) that the 'captivity' in the one case is so unlike that in the other; (3) the fact that while the passage in the Psalms reads "received gifts," as quoted by the apostle, it is made to read ‘gave gifts.' As to the first of these, Dr. Briggs ("Messianic Prophecy," p. 428) places the date of the Psalm at the time of the restoration of Israel under Cyrus. This, of course, denies its Davidic authorship. Dr. Toy (“Quo 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also 9 (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? taking, an act of giving is implied by antici- simply the tations in the New Testament," p. 197) views in which, besides the action of receiving or the Psalm as "apparently written for some temple celebration; describing in its first half the march of Yahwe before Israel into Canaan, from Sinai to Mount Zion, which God chose in preference to other hills, as the place in which he would dwell forever." These two views may be taken as the latest conclusions of the "higher criticism." 'Very many expositors," says Eadie, "among them Stier and Hofmann, have adopted the view that it [the Psalm] was composed on occasion of the removal of the ark to Mount Zion, and the view | of Alford is the same. But the frequent introduction of martial imagery forbids such a hypothesis. What the campaign was at the issue of which this pæan was composed, we cannot ascertain." Ellicott thinks that "with high probability" the Psalm "may be deemed a hymn of victory in honor of Jehovah, the God of battles, of high originality, and composed by David on the taking of Rabbah," at the close of the Ammonite war. (2 Sam. 12: 26.) In this he follows Hengstenberg, and it is probably as nearly a positive ascertainment of the date as can now be reached. (2) The leading of 'captivity captive' simply recognizes the Messianic element in that ancient song of victory. "Our position is," says Eadie, "that the same God is revealed as Redeemer both under the Old and the New Testament, that the Jehovah of the one is the Jesus of the other, that Psalm 68 is filled with imagery which was naturally based on incidents in Jewish history, and that the inspired poet, while describing the interposition of Jehovah, has used language which was fully realized only in the victory and exaltation of Christ. Not," he says, "that there is a double sense; but the Jehovah of the theocracy was he who, in the fullness of time, assumed humanity, and what he did among his people prior to the incarnation was anticipative of nobler achievements in the nature of man." (3) Perhaps the most serious difficulty of all is the change made in the quotation of "received gifts among men' to 'gave gifts to men.' Meyer, in the explanation he proposes, calls attention to the fact that the Hebrew word translated " 'received" has often "a proleptic signification," 9. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first. The word for 'first' is now omitted by the best authorities, not being found either in the Sinaitic or the Alexandrian manuscript. It is believed to have been inserted as an explanatory gloss. The parenthetical argument in this and the following verse seems intended as an identification of Christ as fulfilling the conditions of the Messianic passage just quotedChrist, not simply as one divine, but as one who had taken upon himself humanity. Such an ascension could not be declared of any mere man. The very fact of such ascension implies, as going before, what could be nothing less than the descent from the same heavenly region of one having pre-existence, and accordingly a higher nature than that of hu 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended | 10 descended 1 into the lower parts of the earth? He up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 1 Some ancient authorities insert first. manity. This is what we know to be true of rently, that the use of the comparative 'lower' our Lord, and authorizes us to see in him one (Kaтwтepa) may have reference to that condition in whom the Messianic conditions are fulfilled. of lowliness and humiliation in which our But neither could such ascension be affirmed Lord was born, and especially the conditions of God, whose omnipresence makes such a under which his earthly life came to a close. statement inconsistent. The ascension could “Reproach, scorn, and contumely followed be true only of one who, originally in heaven, him as a dark shadow. Persecution at length had in the fulfillment of some purpose, de-apprehended him, accused him, calumniated scended' to earth, and, the purpose accomplished, had ascended "up where he was before." (John 6:62.) All this we find in the divine-human "Son of Man," the Messiah and Redeemer. Into the lower parts of the earth. That the word 'parts' should appear in the translation is agreed, although some critics, like Ellicott, seem to think the corresponding Greek word (uépn) to have been inserted in the original manuscript as explanatory." As it is approved, however, by such very ancient authority as manuscripts 66 A B C, there seems no good reason for rejecting it in the text. Considerable difference exists as to the meaning that should be given to the words 'lower parts of the earth.' Commentators of the Church of England, influenced evidently by the traditional belief in that body as represented in the Prayer Book and in the "Apostle's Creed," regarding our Lord's "descent into hell," would view this as, by implication at least, a proof-text on that point. Some ancient writers, like Tertullian, Irenæus, Jerome, and others, influenced by similar beliefs then current, give the same interpretation. Meyer, Alford, and Ellicott, among modern commentators, prefer this view of the passage. Such exposition assumes the Greek for 'of the earth' (Tŷs yês) to be a partitive genitive, which Winer and Thayer do not admit, making it an appositional genitive "to the lower parts, that is, of the earth, or which constitute the earth." (Winer 59: 8, a.) Eadie names a long list of expositors, older and more recent, who give this simpler and far more likely interpretation of the words in question. Among these are Thomas Aquinas, Calvin, Grotius, Michaelis, Bengel, Harless, De Wette, and Hodge. With this view Eadie himself agrees. He thinks also, appa him, scourged him, mocked him, and doomed the 'man of sorrows' to an ignominious torture and a felon's death. His funeral was extemporized and hasty; nay, the grave he lay in was a borrowed one. He came truly to 'the lower parts of the earth.'"' Whether this be accepted or not, two plain facts are to be kept in mind: (1) That the terms of contrast in this passage are evidently not "hades" and heaven, but the earth and heaven. As Thayer says: "Paul is endeavoring to show that the passage he has just before quoted must be understood of Christ, not God, because 'an ascent into heaven' necessarily presupposes a descent to earth (which was made by Christ in the incarnation), whereas God does not leave his abode in heaven." Clearly there is no suggestion in the leading thought of the passage of any portion of the universe save earth and heaven. (2) It is a fact that, save in that passage of doubtful meaning in 1 Peter 3: 19, there is nothing whatever in the New Testament to warrant or even suggest such a meaning as the one supposed in the words before us. 10. He that ascended is the same also that descended. "The man of sorrows" is he who has now become the Lord of glory. Far above all heavens. Bishop Pearson's paraphrase is: "Whatsoever heaven is higher than all the rest which are called heavens, into that place did he ascend." The Rabbinical notion of seven heavens cannot be alluded to. There may be a reference, however, to a usage in language common among the Greeks, by which "air" (anp) represented the lower atmosphere, "ether" (anp) the upper, and "third heaven "(тpíros oupavós) what was beyond. In another place this apostle speaks of "the third heaven," meaning, it would seem, 11 And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and he himself kept mainly in view was to make himself fully manifest and known among men as the sent of God, the Messiah and Redeemer. In some sense, we might say the purpose of his ministry as such was fully de 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; the abode of the blessed, and possibly with reference to the usage just described. In this place, however, it is quite sufficient to understand him as meaning to say that "whatever regions are termed heavens, Jesus is exalted far above them, yea, to the heaven of heavens.clared to the woman of Samaria: "I that The loftiest exaltation is predicated of him. As his humiliation was low, his exaltation is proportionately high." (Eadie.) That he might fill all things. The expression 'all things' is to be taken in its full import, not limiting it, as has been done, to what concerns the work of redemption; nor to the redeemed themselves, as Grotius; nor to the church of Jews and Gentiles. "The expression," says Ellicott, "is perfectly unrestricted, and refers, not only to the sustaining and ruling power, but also to the divine presence of Christ." The special meaning of the words looks back to what is said in ver. 7 and 8 above, as well as forward to what appears in ver. 11 and 12. Filling all things,' our Lord, out of his own divine fullness and in the 'gifts' bestowed on man, provides, as the apostle proceeds to show, for the equipment and endowment of his church. speak unto thee am he." If we bear this in mind, we shall the better understand the nature, purpose, and function of the apostolical office. The proper and due setting forth of Christian doctrine, in a way authoritative and complete, and the ordering of that which was essential in the constitution of the church as organized, officered, and equipped for its work-this was left for the chosen men whom our Lord called, taught, and endowed for this precise service. The office they bore was for them alone. It was to continue in the church only until the special purpose of it had been fully accomplished, and was then to cease. Such a thing as an "apostolical succession,' in the proper meaning of that phrase, never existed, never could exist. The following may be named as what Paul himself terms the signs of an apostle" (2 Cor, 12: 12): 1. The apostles held their commission immediately from Christ, without any human intervention whatsoever. This Paul declares of himself (Gal. 1 : 1), and evidently means to indicate by it the fundamental fact in the apostleship he claimed. 2. They were those who had been with Christ in his earthly ministry, and were prepared to bear personal testimony to his death, burial, and resurrection,-facts so essential in the au 11. And he gave. We must take the word 'gave' (ëdwke) in its strictness of meaning. It does not mean that he appointed, or set (čero), certain offices in the church. We are to keep in mind the "gift" (dwpeâs) of ver. 6 and the "gifts" (dóμara) of ver. 8. These of which the apostle is now to speak are ascension 'gifts.' He "ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things." And now, in equip-thentication of their claim in his behalf,—or ping his church with the various ministries who had experienced what was equivalent to needful to it in the work it has to do in the this. So we find Peter declaring (Acts 1: 21, 22; world, and in supplying to these ministries 2: 32); so Paul claims for himself (1 Cor. 9:1); all required endowment of grace and suffi- and so we find the apostles interpreting their ciency, he exercises that high prerogative. mission at the beginning of their ministry. The he' (aròs) is emphatic: he himself (Acts 4: 33.) 3. They were inspired men. this very ascended One. Some, apostles. illustration of this those passages should be 'Some to be apostles' expresses the full mean- consulted, in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and ing. The apostolic office had its own especial sixteenth chapters of John's Gospel, in which purpose, and its own limitation, as respects this needful endowment is distinctly promthe persons chosen and the period during ised, it being borne in mind that what is thus which it should continue. It was no part of assured to them is, in the specific terms of the the purpose of our Lord's own ministry, promise itself, an extraordinary endowment for either to set in order the church as an institu- an extraordinary service. 4. They possessed tion, or to set forth fully and in an orderly and exercised miraculous powers. Paul speci manner the doctrines of his kingdom. What fies these (2 Cor. 12: 12) in speaking with reference E In |