Ephesians 4:9
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also mdescended first into the lower parts of the earth?
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
(τὸ δέ, Ἀνέβη, τί ἐστιν εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη πρῶτον εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς;
Textual key: ‘first’ [‘he also descended first’]
m:
John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
John 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
John 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
The apostle interprets the psalmist, and concludes that David, when he foretold Christ’s glorification, or ascending up to heaven, did likewise foresee his humiliation and descent to the earth: q.d. When David speaks of God in the flesh ascending up on high, he doth thereby imply, that he should first descend to the earth.
either simply the earth, as the lowest part of the visible world, and so opposed to heaven, from whence he came down, Joh 3:13 6:33,38,41,42,50,51; or the grave and state of the dead; or both rather, implying the whole of his humiliation, in opposition to his ascending, taken for the whole of his exaltation.