8 Therefore it says , " WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH , HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES , AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN ." 9 (Now this expression, "He ascended ," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth ? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens , so that He might fill all things .)
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ephesians 4:8-10
Commentary on Ephesians 4:7-16
(Read Ephesians 4:7-16)
Unto every believer is given some gift of grace, for their mutual help. All is given as seems best to Christ to bestow upon every one. He received for them, that he might give to them, a large measure of gifts and graces; particularly the gift of the Holy Ghost. Not a mere head knowledge, or bare acknowledging Christ to be the Son of God, but such as brings trust and obedience. There is a fulness in Christ, and a measure of that fulness given in the counsel of God to every believer; but we never come to the perfect measure till we come to heaven. God's children are growing, as long as they are in this world; and the Christian's growth tends to the glory of Christ. The more a man finds himself drawn out to improve in his station, and according to his measure, all that he has received, to the spiritual good of others, he may the more certainly believe that he has the grace of sincere love and charity rooted in his heart.