Ephesians 4:10

He that descended, &c. As if to say, "Yes, He once descended, as a step in the process, a means to the great end; but now we have to dwell on the result; this Descender has now become by consequence the Ascended One, giving gifts from the Throne." Both parts of the statement are emphatic, the fact and wonder of the Descent, and the triumph and result of the Ascent; and they are in deep connexion. But the main stress is on the latter.

far above all heavens Lit., all the heavens. Cp. Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 7:26; where the ascended High Priest is revealed as "having passed through the heavens," and as "become loftier than the heavens." Scripture gives no precise revelation as to the number or order of regions or spheres of the upper world, the unseen universe of life and bliss. But its frequent use of the plural in regard of it, as here, whatever the origin of the usage, sanctions the thought that the Blessed (angels and glorified men), while from other points of view eternally concentrated and in company, and doubtless able, under their spiritual conditions of existence, to realize and act upon their unity to a degree unimagined by us, are yet distributed, classed, and ordered. "The Rabbis spoke of two heavens, or seven" (Smith's Dict. of the Bible, under the word Heaven;and see Wetstein on 2 Corinthians 12:2). St Paul himself speaks (2 Corinthians 12:2) of a "third heaven," meaning, apparently, the immediate presence of God; possibly with a reference to the twofolddivision mentioned just above, and which, if so, is to some degree favoured by Scripture. The plain meaning of the present passage, in any case, is that the Lord passed through and beyond all regions of created blessedness into the region of the Throne. That Throne (we can only use the language of figure, permitted by the Scriptures,) is as truly "far above" the highest sphere of created life as it is "far above" the lowest. To both it stands in the mysterious relation of the uncreated to the created. Cp. Psalms 113:5-6. See further above, note on Ephesians 1:21. From another point of view, He who is "far above" the heavens is (like His Father) "in heaven" (below, Ephesians 6:9). In this view, heaven includes the whole state of blessed existence, uncreated and created alike.

that he might fill Possibly, "fulfil" ;i.e. every prophecy, of humiliation and glory. But St Paul's usage favours the other version. He ascended that He might, not only in possibility but in act, "fill all things," "with His presence, His sovereignty, His working by the Spirit; not with His glorified body, as some have thought" (Alford). "There is here no reference to a diffused and ubiquitous corporeity, but to a pervading and energizing omnipresence … Christ is perfect God, and perfect and glorified Man; as the former He is present everywhere, as the latter He can be present anywhere" (Bp Ellicott).