The Spoils of War
Ephesians 4:1-16
New York sports teams haven’t won a championship since 2012.
On Feb 5, 2012, the New York football Giants flew to Indianapolis, IN to play their infamous nemesis, the New England Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium for Super Bowl LXVI (forty-six). The game set a new record as the most-viewed television program, at 166.8 million total viewers. Eli Manning completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yds., one touchdown, and no interceptions to earn the second Super Bowl MVP of his rollercoaster career. With only 57 secs. remaining, the Giants capped off an 88-yd. drive when Ahmad Bradshaw fell backward into the endzone, leaving time on the clock for the Patriots to score the go-ahead points – which they failed to do. The Giants walked away winners, 21-17.
Two days later, the team returned to Manhattan to celebrate the victory with their fans and show off their Vince Lombardi trophy in a Super Bowl parade. This victory march lasted about 1.5 hrs. and featured top-level officials, like Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo, confetti rained down on the crowds. According to Bloomberg, the event would cost the city up to $38 million, though this was likely offset by sponsors. Sadly, the victory amounted to nothing more than a lavish celebration and lots of good but temporary feelings – which is the case for any professional sports championship celebration.
As Scrooge – of Dicken’s Christmas Carol – once said of Christmas, “It’s never put a scrap of gold in my pocket.” When our sports teams win a championship, they don’t share much of the spoils with us, do they? The athletes pocket their winnings, the owners pocket their gains, and all we get for being loyal fans is temporary bragging rights, good feelings, and a chance to buy more memorabilia.
In Eph 4:7-10, Paul speaks about a major victory celebration.
He speaks about two of them actually. One of them happened in the New Testament (NT) and affects us today. The other happened in the Old Testament (OT) and is an illustration (or analogy) that helps us understand the NT victory more clearly and vividly. Neither instance was a sports celebration. The OT one was a military victory of sorts and the NT one is a spiritual victory of mammoth proportions. As far as the “winnings” are concerned, the people on the winning side received more than a ticker-tape parade.
First, Paul refers to an Old Testament celebration.
In Eph 4:8, Paul interrupts what he began to say in Eph 4:7. He refers back to something recorded in the Psalter, Psa 68:18. Poetically, King David described God’s descent onto Mt. Sinai when he revealed the Law to Moses, ratified Israel as a nation, and made a covenant with them as his special people (Psa 68:8). The psalm traces events forward to the time when David finally brought the Ark of the Covenant to rest in Jerusalem, ascending to the top of the mountain where the Temple would eventually be built.
The way David described this progression resembled the way ancient kings and military generals marched into hostile territory, waged war, emerged in victory, then ascended with a grand procession to the top of the hill or mountain where the fortified capital city was situated. This victory march procession would feature captured prisoners of war (esp. defeated soldiers) and the spoils or gifts of war which the king or captain had received and pillaged from the opponents.
After this grand display, it was customary for the king or commanding officer to distribute the spoils and winnings to their loyal leaders and soldiers who had fought valiantly for them. The soldiers would take their share of the winnings back home to settle down, meet the needs of their family, and “spread the wealth,” so to speak.
Paul referred to God’s great victory on Israel’s behalf, placing them into the Promised Land, defeating their enemies, distributing to them the spoils (the houses, lands, and wealth of the land), and placing his presence in their midst so they could serve him among the nations. With this reference, he helps us understand a greater, spiritual victory God has won for us today.
Paul describes the New Testament victory of Christ.
This more recent victory is especially important to understand because it helps us put our spiritual gifts into perspective. These gifts are not holiday gifts, as a mother gives her children at Christmastime, or the “just because” gifts of a friend. They’re the result – the winnings and the spoils – of Christ’s glorious victory when he descended to Earth to die for our sins and then resurrected and ascended back to heaven. So, these gifts cost Christ a great deal and carry great weight and significance.
How did this NT victory come about? Paul reminds us that Christ’s victory wasn’t just a “rage to riches” story. It was a story of “riches to rags and back again.” Christ didn’t just ascend to heaven from Earth. He first descended (or condescended) to the Earth from heaven. He came down from heaven to enter our tragic, horrible situation, to live the life we could not live in victory. Then he died a cruel death and appeared to be on the losing side of the ball.
Paul says that he didn’t just descend to the Earth, but he descended “into the lower parts of the earth” (Eph 4:9). This indicates that he went as low as possible, to the farthest degree, to the inner depths of the Earth “below ground”, to the netherworld – or as I like to call it, to the underworld.
In the early centuries of church history, some teachers suggested that this described Jesus going to “Abraham’s bosom” (Lk 16:22-23) and “paradise” (Lk 23:43) to lead OT believers back to heaven. Yet the language of Paul here doesn’t support this interpretation. It doesn’t say he “released his people from captivity,” it says he “led captivity captive,” which describes a procession of defeated enemy soldiers.
Who were these enemy soldiers he paraded in victory? Let’s take a look at something Peter had to say (1 Pet 3:18-20). According to Peter, when Christ died physically, he remained alive spiritually and before he resurrected, he descended into the underworld where “spirits” (a reference to fallen, disobedient angels – demons, see Jude 6) were imprisoned, declaring his victory over sin, death and the entire fallen spiritual world.
It’s also helpful to get some first-century cultural background perspective here:
Underworld themes were prominent in Ephesus and western Asia Minor, where a variety of underworld deities were worshiped. Most prominent was the goddess Hekate, the goddess of witchcraft and sorcery. Revered as the goddess of the underworld, Hekate wielded “the keys of Hades.” In fact, the priestess at her cult sanctuary in Asia Minor was called “the key bearer” (κλειδοφόρος). Statues of Hekate sometimes depict her carrying keys. … It is striking, then, that in [Revelation] addressed to churches in western Asia Minor [including Ephesus] that Christ is praised as the one who bears “the keys of death and Hades” (Rev 1:18). With language that converts from the local religions would have quickly grasped, Paul speaks powerfully to affirm Jesus’ lordship over the powers of darkness. In popular belief, veneration of the underworld deities Artemis, Hekate, Selene, and Ereschigal (as well as Demeter and Kore and Hades himself) was the only way to gain protection from evil spirits and have their fears partially alleviated. The proclamation that Christ has not only descended to the underworld but has ascended victoriously to his heavenly throne would have brought tremendous comfort to the readers.[1]
So, like a military general and victorious, conquering king, Christ announced his victory over the spiritual realm, the powers of darkness in the underworld. Yet as we know, he didn’t stay in the underworld. He resurrected in victory with a spiritual, eternal body, the same kind we’ll also receive for eternity – a body that will never die.
Christ ascended from the grave and back to heaven, too.
This was where he came from and where he had existed as God for eternity (Mk 16:19; Acts 1:9). Christ descended to the lowest possible place and ascended to the highest possible place, not just in the material, but in the spiritual realm, too. In this way, he showed the full extent of his victory over sin, death, hell, and whatever spiritual beings exist – even the bad ones.
Paul says, “He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens” (Eph 4:10). Peter says, “Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him” (1 Pet 3:22). As another preacher and close friend of mine, Ken Burkett, describes, from “the lowest depths of hades to the highest heights of heaven, Christ’s victory was proclaimed and acknowledged in the spiritual realm.”
The scope of Christ’s victory for the church is universal.
It’s not just regional as it was for Israel (Eph 4:8-10; cf. Psa 68). From the underbelly of the underworld to the extreme heights of the heavens, his victory has been declared and displayed. But what is the result?
Paul says, “that he might fill all things.” This most likely refers to Christ extending his victorious triumph throughout the world today through the church – through the people he’s saved from sin and death, by grace through faith – his people, like you and me, and through congregations like at Ephesus and Faith Baptist Church. That’s why we should “be witnesses” for him “to the end of the earth,” announcing his victory and reign wherever we can for his victory extends to everywhere (Acts 1:8).
That’s where the opening statement comes in, the one Paul started with in the first place: “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” When Christ ascended to the heavenly throne of God victorious, he distributed the gifts (or spoils) of his victory to us, to those whom he saved.
In teaching this, Paul used another word for gifts, domata, to portray the comprehensiveness of this gracious provision.[2] What was this gracious provision? It was the indwelling and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. This began on Pentecost, as Peter said: “Being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33).
Ever since then, God has given his Spirit to every person who believes on Christ for salvation as the result of Christ’s triumphal descent into the underworld and ascent to the heights of heaven.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of our triumphant king.
As Paul says, this gift of grace is given to “each one of us,” which fits with what he said before, “Keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit” (Eph 4:3-4). None of us get “more” of the Spirit than others. We all get the same Holy Spirit. In that sense, Christ gives the “spoils” of his victory to all his people equally.
Even so, Paul also says, “according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:7). Though we are unified by the same Holy Spirit dwelling within us and drawing us together in personal and spiritual equality, regardless of our personal or ethnic background, Christ has also diversified the spoils by giving us each different “measurements” of grace.
The word “measurement” is a translation of the Greek word metron from which we get our metric measurements, meter, centimeter, millimeter, and so on. It can refer to either the instrument of measurement (like a 2L bottle vs. a 1-gal. jug, or a kilometer vs. a mile). It can also refer to whatever is being measured, such as a cup of flour vs. a tablespoon of salt, or a teaspoon of ginger and a lb. of rice.
Paul will speak more later about the different measurements and portions of God’s grace he’s given us through the Spirit, so we won’t spend time talking about it now. But let’s recognize this simple fact, that the church is unified and diversified all at once. We truly are “all in one,” and not just as people from all nations of the world in one spiritual family.
We’re “all in one” because we have all sorts of gifts in one Spirit.
This doesn’t make any of us any more important than another, just different. And in our differences, we each have vital and special roles to play in the church. But here’s the question, are you doing your part? Are you dedicated and devoted to your involvement in your spiritual family, which for many who are listening is Faith Baptist Church?
You see, being involved, contributing, and serving in the church is far more than a task to accomplish or a duty to obey. It’s the proper response to the right understanding of how our spiritual gifts came about in the first place. They’re the spoils of war and the gifts of victory from Christ as the culmination of his cosmic victory from the farthest corners of the underworld to the highest heights of the heavenly world. They’re the results of Christ’s universal triumph over sin, death, hell, and Satan.
In fact, it’s our diversity of spiritual gifts and abilities to serve God that should draw us together in unity, all in one church. How? Because we each have various spiritual abilities that benefit one another and which we all need if we are going to become what Christ saved us to become and to do what he has called us to do – together.
Do we serve as though we know our gifts are the spoils of war?
- If I give you a baseball that I found lying in the grass at the local park, you wouldn’t take the gift too seriously. It didn’t even cost me anything.
- If I give you a brand-new baseball that I bought at Modell’s you’d take it a little more seriously, but not too much. At least it cost me something.
- If I give you a baseball that’s autographed by Curtis Granderson (I actually have one of those, but the ink is wearing off), you’d take it more seriously and maybe store it or display it at home.
- If I give you a baseball from one of Pete Alonso’s home runs in his record-breaking rookie season last year, you’d definitely take care of that one and show it off to others!
- If I give you the baseball Jesse Orosco threw to strikes out Marty Barrett for the Mets to win their second (and most recent) World Series in 1986, then you’d really take care of that one! Why? Because it’s the spoil of war and the result of a major victory.
Our spiritual gifts are more than a nice bonus tacked on to our salvation. They’re the spoils of war when Christ descended from the heights of heaven to the underworld of earth then ascended back again in victory over all the hordes of hell in the spiritual realm, defeating them forever. What’s more, when we put them to use in the church, we expand the awareness, outcome, and reality of Christ’s victory to the world for which he died.
So, from this, I hope that you can see that serving in the church is far more than a nice little volunteer option for when you have some time to spare. It’s an incredibly special and important step for every Christian to take. It’s the outcome of Christ’s universal, cosmic victory – and it keeps the victory parade going for his glory. It reminds us that Christ has already won the victory (otherwise he wouldn’t have passed out the spoils of war yet). It also makes us stronger and more like Christ, which we’ll learn more about in upcoming sermons.
[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 254.
[2] John F. MacArthur Jr., Ephesians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1986), 138.
