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Eph_4:10. Result from Eph_4:9, without οὖν , but thereby coming in the more vividly and with a certain triumph; “alio gravi dicto antecedentia complectitur aut absolvit” (Dissen, ad Pind. Exc. II. p. 278).
The prefixed ὁ καταβάς has the emphasis, which is further augmented by αὐτός :[212] The one who descended, just He, He precisely (identity of the person), is also the one who ascended on high above all heavens.
ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐραν .] points back to that ἈΝΑΒᾺς ΕἸς ὝΨΟς , Eph_4:8, more precisely defining this ΕἸς ὝΨΟς as the region highest of all. The expression “above all heavens” has its basis in the conception of seven heavens, which number is not to be diminished to three (Harless: ἀήρ , ΑἸΘΉΡ , ΤΡΊΤΟς ΟὐΡΑΝΌς ; comp. Grotius, Meier, and others). See on 2Co_12:2. The ὙΠΕΡΆΝΩ (in the N.T. only here and Eph_1:21; Heb_9:5) describes the exaltation of Christ—clearly to be maintained as local—as the highest of all (comp. ὙΠΕΡΎΨΩΣΕ , Php_2:9), in such wise that He, having ascended through all heavens ( ΔΙΕΛΗΛΥΘΌΤΑ ΤΟῪς ΟὐΡΑΝΟΎς , Heb_4:14), has seated Himself above in the highest heaven, as the ΣΎΝΘΡΟΝΟς of the Father, at the right hand of God. Comp. Heb_7:26 : ὙΨΗΛΌΤΕΡΟς ΤῶΝ ΟὐΡΑΝῶΝ ΓΕΝΌΜΕΝΟς . The spiritualistic impoverishing of this concrete conception to a mere denial of all “enclosure within the world” (Hofmann, II. 1, p. 535) is nothing but a rationalistic invention. Comp. Act_7:56; Act_3:21; Act_1:9-11.
ἽΝΑ ΠΛΗΡΏΣῌ ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ ] points back to the bestowal of grace expressed in Eph_4:7, and prophetically confirmed in Eph_4:8, and that as expressing the universal relation into which Christ has entered towards the whole world by His exaltation from the lowest depth to the loftiest height; in which universal relation is also of necessity contained, as a special point, that bestowal of grace on all individuals. As intended aim, however ( ἵνα ), this ΠΛΗΡΟῦΝ ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ stands related to the previous ascension of Christ from the uttermost depth, into which He had descended, to the uttermost height of heaven; because He had first, like a triumphing conqueror (see Eph_4:8), to take possession of His whole domain, i.e. the whole world from Hades to the highest heaven, in order now to wield His kingly sway over this domain, by virtue of which He was to fill the universe with His activity of sustaining and governing, and especially of providing all bestowal of grace. This was to be the all-embracing task of His kingly office, until the consummation indicated at 1Co_15:28. It is according to this view, and from Eph_1:23, self-evident that we have to explain πληρ . τὰ πάντα , neither with Koppe (following Anselm and others), de vaticiniorum complemento, nor with Rückert and Matthies, of the completion of the redeeming work; nor yet possibly to limit τὰ πάντα to the whole Christian community (Beza, Grotius, Morus, Flatt, Schenkel, and others). Comp. rather on Eph_1:23, and observe that in our passage that ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη κ . τ . λ . of Eph_4:7 stands to this ἽΝΑ ΠΛΗΡΏΣῌ ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ in the same relation of the species to the genus, as in Eph_1:23 ΤῸ ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ ( ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ ) does to ΤΟῦ ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ ἘΝ ΠᾶΣΙ ΠΛΗΡΟΥΜΈΝΟΥ . The ubiquity of the body of Christ (Faber Stapulensis, Hunnius, and others; specially contended for by Calovius) is not here, any more than at Eph_1:23 or elsewhere, spoken of;[213] although, with Philippi, Hoelemann has still found it here, holding the conception of the purely dynamic πληροῦν τὰ πάντα as unrealizable, because Christ is in a glorified body. If this reason were valid, an absolute bodily omnipresence would result: it proves too much, and leads to a contradictio in adjecto, which could only receive a Docetic solution.
[212] οὐ γὰρ ἄλλος κατελήλυθε καὶ ἄλλος ἀνελήλυθεν , Theodoret.
[213] Wrongly are Oecumenius and Theophylact adduced as favouring this explanation. They, forsooth, very correctly refer the filling to the dominion and operation of Christ (comp. also Chrysostom), and observe with equal justice that Christ, after He had already before His incarnation filled all things by His purely divine nature, now, after having, as the Incarnate One, descended and ascended, does the filling of the universe μετὰ σαρκός (Oecumenius), i.e. so that in doing so He is in a different state than before, namely, clothed with a body, consequently as God-man.