In Good News Translation these two verses are placed within parentheses to show that the argument moves directly from verse 8 to verse 11; this parenthetical aside is made for the purpose of proving that the passage from the psalm had to refer to Christ, since an “ascent” implies a previous “descent,” and Christ is the only one who descended (from heaven) before ascending. “He went up”: this, says the author, necessarily implies a prior he came down.
Textus Receptus has katebē prōton “he came down first”; Good News Bible and all other editions of the Greek New Testament omit prōton. Good News Translation first he came down is based on the Good News Bible text and interprets the sense of the Greek, since the ascension of Christ followed his incarnation (“descent”). Some interpreters, however (see Abbott), take the text to mean that the descent followed the ascent and consisted of the coming of the glorified Christ in the Spirit to the church (see also Barth). Most commentators, however, take the ascent to follow the descent. The question in verse 9 is a rhetorical one, since the author is not asking for information but is calling special attention to the phrase “he went up”. It may be important, therefore, to identify the quoted phrase more specifically, for example, “What, then, do the words ‘he went up’ mean?” Or else a statement may be used, as follows: “This is what ‘he went up’ means.”
There may be some complications involved in rendering first in the second sentence of verse 9, since without some qualification this might mean the first thing that he ever did. Therefore, it may be necessary to translate “these words mean that before he went up he came down.”
To the lowest depths of the earth: Good News Translation (also New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, and most others) takes this to refer to the “descent into Hades” spoken of in 1 Peter 3.19 (see also Acts 2.31). As Good News Translation margin shows, the Greek can be taken to mean “to the lower depths, the earth itself” (so Salmond; New English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), which would be a statement of the incarnation as such, while Good News Translation and the majority of other translations take the text to refer to the descent of Christ into the world of the dead, after his crucifixion and death, followed by his resurrection and ascension. That Sheol, the world of the dead, is meant seems indicated by the fact that the ascent in verse 10 is described as reaching “above all the heavens” (and not just to “heaven” as such). This “above all the heavens” serves to define more precisely what is meant by the writer when he quotes “going to the height” in verse 8. The phrase “all the heavens” seems to reflect the Jewish idea that there is a series of three or seven heavens, at the uppermost of which God himself lives.
The phrase to the lowest depths of the earth may be rendered as “to the lowest place on earth” or even “to the deepest hole on earth.” This suggests Sheol, in view of the fact that it was normally regarded as a deep hole or abyss.
The phrase above and beyond the heavens may be translated as “above and beyond the sky.” It would be wrong to use a translation of heavens which would refer to the dwelling of God himself, for this would place Christ even above God rather than seated at the right side of God.
The final purpose clause, “so that he might fill the all,” is obviously related to the phrase in 1.23 “the one filling all in all.” The meaning here would be either (1) to bring all things to perfection, for fulfillment (so Robinson, Murray, Westcott), or (2) to fill all things with his presence (Dodd; Good News Translation, Twentieth Century New Testament, and others). Beare takes it to mean bringing all into subjection to himself by his redeeming power (also Salmond). Some translations have simply “to fill the universe” (New English Bible, New International Version, and others) or “to fill all things” (Barth; Revised Standard Version; Barclay says “fill all things with his presence and himself”). New American Bible “to fill all men with his gifts” is not recommended.
The statement to fill the whole universe with his presence is almost meaningless if translated literally, since it is likely to give the impression that Christ simply poured himself out over the universe. If one wishes to maintain a relatively close approximation to the statement to fill the whole universe with his presence, it would be possible to say “in order that he could be everywhere.” On the other hand, it might be possible to translate this expression as “in order that everything everywhere could be as it should be.” This would be the concept of bringing everything to perfection or fulfillment.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .