“(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?”
What does 'he ascended' mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions — Paul's hermeneutical move: if Christ ascended, he must first have katabainō ('descended') to ta katōtera ('the lower parts'), interpreted variously as incarnation, descent to Hades, or the humiliation-exaltation narrative.
Church Fathers on Ephesians 4:9
“Now this, He ascended, what is it, but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended, is the same also that ascended far above all the Heavens, that He might fill all things.” When you hear these words, think not of a mere removal from one place to another; for what Paul establishes in the Epistle to the Philippians Philippians 2:5-8, that very argument is he also insisting upon here. In the same way as there, when exhorting them concerning…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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