Analytical Notes On Matthew
27:52-53 And Ephesians 4:8
I. Matthew 27:52-53
(American Standard Version)
"And the tombs were
opened; and many bodies of the saints that had fallen
asleep were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after
his resurrection they entered into the holy city, and
appeared unto many."
1. There is nothing
said in the scripture as to what happened to the foregoing
afterwards, which should preclude dogmatism in connection
with any of the possibilities, which seem to be no more
than three, as follows:
(a)
That they died
again, as we suppose from Colossians 1:18 that
others did that had been raised back to life, as the
widow’s son at Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus. An
example of that view:
"They were
subject to death a second time, as was Lazarus,
presumably" (James Burton Coffman, Commentary on
Matthew).
(b) That they remained on
earth without dying again:
This seems most
unlikely, and nobody is on record either as claiming to
be such individuals, or as claiming to have seen such,
or of even believing such, so far as I have either
heard or read.
(c)
That they were
received up into heaven. Examples of that
view:
"We have no
positive information, but the natural supposition is
that they ascended into heaven" (McGarvey, Commentary on
Matthew; McGarvey and Pendleton, Fourfold
Gospel).
"We are not
told what happened to the saints between the Lord’s
death and his resurrection, nor what happened to them
afterwards. Presumably their graves remained empty and
they were translated to heaven." (The New Bible
Commentary, by Davidson, Stibbs, and
Kevan.)
"We do not know which
saints arose (the account says many), nor do we
know whether they continued in resurrection as bodies
and eventually died again and were buried. Verse 53
makes it appear that they came out of the graves
after
the resurrection of Christ and entered into the city of
Jerusalem where they appeared to many people. Matthew
Henry suggest that these resurrected saints ascended
with Christ to glory, although this is simply an
inference." (Annotation of Harold Linsell, in
Harper’s Bible
Study, Revised Standard Version.)
Matthew Henry’s
precise words are: "But it is more agreeable, both to
Christ’s honor and theirs, to suppose, though we
cannot prove, that they
arose as Christ did, to die no more, and
therefore ascended with him to glory. ... These saints
that arose, were the present trophies of the victory of
Christ’s cross over the powers of death, which he
thus made a
show openly. Having by death destroyed him that
had the power of death, he thus led captivity
captive, and glorified in these re-taken prizes,
in them fulfilling the scriptures, I will ransom them from the
power of the grave." (See Hosea
13:14.)
2. It is obvious that
Matthew Henry and maybe others of the foregoing in (c)
think in terms of "leading captivity captive" in Ephesians
4:8. The latter passage will now be noted in regard to
possible if not probable relevance to the saints raised
after Christ resurrection.
II. EPHESIANS 4:8
(AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION).
"Wherefore he saith, When
he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave
gifts unto men." The King James Version reads exactly the
same way, but has a note, saying, "or, a multitude of
captives" instead of "captivity captive."
1. Other
translations:
(a) New International
Version: "When he ascended on high, he led
captives in his train, and gave gifts to
men."
(b) New English Bible:
"He ascended into the heights with captives in his
train; he gave gifts to men."
(c) Revised English
Bible: "He ascended into the heights; he took captives
into captivity; he gave gifts to men."
(d) Revised Standard
Version: "When he ascended on high he led a host
of captives, and he gave gifts to men."
(e) New Revise Standard
Version: "When he ascended on high he made
captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his
people."
(f) New American Bible:
"When he ascended on high, he took a host of captives
and gave gifts to men."
(g) Berkley Version:
"As he ascended oh high, He led the captives away in
captivity; He gave gifts to men."
(h) Goodspeed: "When he
went up on high, he led a host of captives, And gave
gifts to mankind.
(i) Williams: "He led a
host of captives, when He went up on high, And granted
gifts to men."
(j) Moffatt: "When he
ascended on high he led a host of captives and granted
gifts to men."
(k) Barclay: "He
ascended on high, after he had taken his prisoners
captive, and gave gifts to men."
2. Lexical Notes on "he
led captivity captive
(a) In the Greek
text, "he led captive" is one word,
echmaloteusen, 3rd person singular, aorist 1.
indicative, of the verb aichmaloteou; and
"captivity" is another word, aichmalosian,
accusative singular of the noun airchmalosia.
The latter may be used either abstractly of concretely.
When employed abstractly, it means the state of
captivity or of being captive; but when used
concretely, as in Ephesians 4:8, it means persons in a state
of captivity. In English translation, however, we have
to insert the noun "captivity in the midst of the verb
"led captivity," so that it reads "led captivity captive."
But remember that the abstract noun "captivity" is used
concretely of persons in a
state
of captivity, hence in the sense of being
"captivity."
(b) Accordingly, in
Hapers’ Analytical Greek
Lexicon we have for the noun,," captive
multitudes"; in Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament , the statement
that in Ephesians 4:8 we have the abstract for the
concrete; and Arndt & Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature, "prisoners of war"; in Liddell and
Scott, Greek-English
Lexicon, "a body of captives"; W. E. Vine,
Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words, gives the
alternate rendering in the King James Version, "a
multitude of captives," as an example of the noun being
used in the concrete sense.
(c) Incidentally, the
Greek language has also a cognate (or, related) noun,
aichmalotos, literally one taken by the spear
(from aichme, a spear, and halotos, a
verbal adjective, from halonia, to be captured),
hence denotes a captive, Luke 4:18. (Vine.) This is
being mentioned to give something more of the flavor of
the word family involved, which is taken into account
by lexicons and commentaries.
3.
Commentaries:
(a) A. E. Harvey,
The New
English Bible, Companion to the New Testament:
"Psalm 68:18 [referred to in Ephesians 4:8] runs, in
both the Greek and Hebrew versions: ‘Thou didst ascend
into the heights / with captives in thy train / having
received gifts among men.’ These words were doubtless
addressed originally to the victorious king returning
to Jerusalem."
(NOTE: The Hebrew
word rendered above as "received" is translated in the
Old Testament either as "receive" or "give," depending
on context. And Ephesians 4:8 in the New Testament
quotes it as ‘give,’ which the context there
requires.)
(b) The Cambridge Bible
Commentary on the New English Bible: "Paul
quotes the passage [Psalm 68:18] with slight
alterations, which may mean he is following a Jewish
paraphrase. ... Originally the Psalm described the
Jewish King’s triumphal procession to the newly
conquered hill of Jerusalem; he is accompanied by his
spoil and receives gifts as tribute. The ascent into
the high
mount now refers to Jesus triumphal return to
his heavenly glory when his work is completed (see also
John 17:4; Acts 1:9). The captives are now
the powers and forces opposed to God, which Jesus had
defeated (see below on Col. 2:15). Instead of receiving
gifts as tributes from men the conqueror distributes
gifts among men."
(c) Pulpit Commentary:
"As in a literal triumph, the chiefs of the enemies’
army are led captive, so the powers of darkness are led
captive by Christ (captivity, aichmalosia,
denotes prisoners); and as
on occasion of a triumph the spoils of the enemy are
made over to the conqueror, who again gives them away
to the soldiers and people, so gifts were given to
Christ after his triumph to be given by him to his
church. We must not force the analogy too far; the
point is simply this -- as a conqueror at a triumph
gets gifts to distribute, so Christ, on his
resurrection and ascension, got the Holy Spirit to
bestow on his Church."
(d) David Lipscomb,
Commentary of
Ephesians: "Captivity refers to
death, as death had held dominion over every living
thing on earth. Jesus went down into death’s inner
prison, and struggled with the powers of death ad hell;
bursting asunder the bars of death, and roes a
triumphal victor over the power of death and hell. In
his triumph he secured man’s resurrection, and won his
crown as King of kings and Lord of lords. By virtue of
his victory over death, his angelic convey, as it
approached the city of God cried: "Lift up your heads,
o ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory will come in.’ (Psalm 24:7-11.)
In his glorious ascension, convoyed by an angelic host,
he led death a captive, a conquered captive, in his
train."
NOTE: While each of
the above has something good to contribute, it seems to
me that the Cambridge Bible , Pulpit Commentary, and
David Lipscomb miss the point about Jesus "leading
captivity captive." The first says "the captives are
now the powers and forces opposed to God, which Jesus
had defeated"; the next, that they are "the chiefs of
the enemies’ army" and the last, that "captivity refers to
death."
But is it likely that
our Lord led any or all these to heaven in his train?
And, of course, the "convoy of angels" mentioned by
Lipscomb are not a part of the imagery of our text. To
me, the next two expositors are more to the point, with
one possible exception to be mentioned afterward,
perhaps in concluding remarks.
(d) Albert Barnes,
Notes on the
New Testament: It is language derived from a
conqueror, who not only makes captives, but who makes
captives of those who were then prisoners, and who
conducts them as a part of his triumphal procession. He
not only subdues his enemy, but he leads his captives
in triumph. The allusion is to the public triumphs of
conquerors, especially as celebrated among the Romans,
in which captives were led in chains (Tacitus,
Ann.
xii.38), and to the custom in such triumphs of
distributing presents among the soldiers; comp. also
Judg. 5:30, where it appears that this was also an
early custom among other nations (...) [Adam Clarke
also states that ‘at such times the conqueror was wont
to throw money among the
crowd’ -- that is , along the line of parade.] When
Christ ascended to heaven he triumphed over all his
foes. It was a complete victory over the malice of the
great enemy of God, and over those who had sought his
life. But he
did more [emphasis added]. He rescued those who
were the captives of Satan as a prisoner. His chains
were around him. Christ rescued the captive prisoner,
and designed to make him a part of his triumphal
procession with the attending host of those who had
been the captives of Satan, now rescued and
redeemed."
(e) W.E. Vine,
Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words:
" ... the concrete
[use of captivity’] is found in ... Eph.4:8, where ‘He
led captivity captive (mage., ‘a multitude of captives)
seems to be an allusion to the triumphal procession by
which a victory was celebrated, the captives taken
forming part of the procession. See Judg.5:12. The
quotation is from Psa. 68:18, and probably is a
forceful expression for Christ’s victory, through his
Death, over the hostile powers of darkness. An
alternative suggestion is that at his ascension Christ
transferred the redeemed Old Testament saints from
Sheol to his own presence in glory."
III. CONCLUDING PERSONAL
OBSERVATIONS.
1. In principle, it seems
that Barnes, and Vine (in his "alternate suggestion"), must
be correct. But should they mean all the Old Testament
worthies redeemed by the blood of Jesus (see Hebrews 9:15)
were led in his train to the heavenly Jerusalem, that must
be a mistake -- the "possible exception" referred to above.
For according to Peter on Pentecost after Christ’s
ascension, David had "ascended not into heavens" (Acts
2:34); and, according to Hebrews 11:39-40, none of the Old
Testament worthies mentioned in that chapter ( including
David, v.33) would receive the "promise" (of eternal
inheritance, 9:15) before we Christians do, "God having
provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they
should not be made perfect."
That being the case, they
were not to go to heaven before we do; and likely the same would be
true of Old Testament saints general, though there
might well be (a) an exception of the smaller number of
Matthew 27:52-53, just as (b) Enoch and Elijah were
individual exceptions to the rule that it is appointed unto
men[in the sense of mankind] once to die and after that the
judgment --
and salvation also for the
redeemed (Hebrews 9:27-28).
2. Moreover, leading a
smaller
number to heaven by Christ at his ascension would not in
any way conflict with the fact that his own resurrection
and ascension were a powerful exhibition of his victory
over the hostile powers of darkness, as Vine and Lipscomb
appropriately suggest, but would actually enhance it -- not only
escaping from their clutches himself, but also
snatching from them a select group of saints, and thus
demonstrating all the more his ability to fulfill his
promise of a general resurrection and the eternal salvation
of the redeemed at his second coming.
3. Finally, (a) the
foregoing represents what occurs to me as not only a
possibility, but also
as most likely what happened to
the "many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep [but]
were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after
[Christ’s] resurrection ... entered into the holy city and
appeared unto many" (Matthew 27:52-53) -- namely, that they
were taken to heaven as a part of the triumphal procession
of our Lord upon his ascension there, referred to in
Ephesians 4:8 -- but (b), in the absence of more explicit
supporting evidence, it is neither a necessary inference nor
a matter crucial to our faith, and should not be regarded
as such, however plausible it may appear.
Had more explicit
information about those saints been necessary for our
obedience of faith, and therefore our salvation, it surely
would have been supplied as was the fact of Christ’s own
ascension
as well as his resurrection. But, not
being thus necessary, to have equally elaborated of
"leading captivity captive" would have detracted from
rather than contributing to highlighting the
bestowal of spiritual gifts within the church in connection
with Christ’s "ascension on high," which was the contextual
emphasis.
Stated another way: (a)
Whereas the appearance of those saints to many in Jerusalem
after the resurrection of Christ (the decease of whom may
have been recent enough for them still to be recognized by
friends and acquaintances) would surely make all the more
credible the proclamation of the Lord’s resurrection by
chosen witnesses, and therefore serve a useful purpose in
Matthew’s account, (b) their being a part of the triumphal
procession of our Lord when ascending on high would not
have a similar bearing on or relation to his bestowal of
spiritual gifts within his church on earth.
Therefore, elaborating
upon the former would have served no particular purpose in
the context of Paul’s discussion of the latter, and its
omission says nothing one way or another as to the meaning
of Christ’s "leading captivity captive" when "ascending on
high." It can therefore be only a matter of unconfirmed
inference, however probable of
otherwise.
Cecil
N. Wright