THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD. (Luke 4:18-19, NASV)

When Jesus began his ministry he read from Isaiah 61:1-2. This entire chapter from Isaiah reveals aspects of the Gospel, but today I want to focus on Jesus’ release of the captives.

When most Christians consider the meaning of the Gospel they think something like this, “Jesus shed his blood for our sins and then rose from the dead and ascended on high. If we believe this, then we become reconciled to God and will one day ascend to heaven as well.” This simply states the Gospel that most Christians believe. But, it leaves out one crucial aspect of the good news, which is that Jesus first descended to hell and “captured captivity” before he ascended to heaven. This particular aspect of the Gospel has not been understood and, consequently, new versions of the Bible mistranslate passages dealing with this, further obfuscating the truth. For example, the New International Version renders two important passages as follows:

When you ascended on high,
you led captives in your train;
you received gifts from men,
even from the rebellious—
that you, O LORD God, might dwell there. (Psalm 68:18 NIV)

This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.” (Eph. 4:8, NIV)

The English Standard Version reads as follows:

You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there. (Psalm 68:18, ESV)

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.” (Eph. 4:8, ESV)

Now consider these verses in the King James Version:

Thou hast ascended on high,thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. (Psalm 78:18, KJV)

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Eph. 4:8, KJV)

Many modern versions basically translate only one of the words used in the phrase “captivity captive,” but both the Hebrew and the Greek original texts include two words.  The phrase could be rendered, “He captured captivity,” but “he led captivity captive” is close enough and means something entirely different than “he led a host of captives.” The emphasis in the new translations is obviously “the captives,” whereas the emphasis in the original is, I believe, upon “the captivity” itself. The reason for this, I think, is because the idea conveyed by “the captivity” is universal, that is, these passages would then have to apply to all bound in captivity, but if the emphasis is merely the captives themselves then one can think of them individually and thus exclude some from being led in Christ’s train. Men would evidently rather see sinners burn in eternal hell-fire than consider universal reconciliation to God and thus they mistranslated Scripture. And it may well be that they did not purposefully mistranslate in order to deceive. They simply could not conceive any rational explanation for the idea of taking CAPTIVITY captive, or capturing captivity. And yet, it is Christ’s defining act of delivering all mankind from sin and death!

(Go to Part 2: The Spirits in Prison)