Gifts to Men

Last year I was confused by the differences between Ephesians 4:8 and Psalms 68:18 because Paul's quotation seems opposite of what is in the Psalm. Read each verse and compare "received among" to "gave gifts too":

Last year I had three reasons to explain the differences:

1. My initial explanation was to show how "gave to" and "received among" were equivillent. Captives are property of their master, so if the master gives anything to his slaves, then he is also giving it to himself vicariously through the slave, since the master owns the slave also.
2. Paul used the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Old Testament (circa 300BC) instead of the original Hebrew, because everyone spoke greek and only the Jews spoke Hebrew. Translations by definition aren't perfect, and since Paul spoke both Hebrew and Greek, then he had a mastery over the languages that allowed Paul to clarify the Septuagint's version of Ps 68:18 that was more true to the hebrew and therefore render it as it is in Eph 4:8.
3. Paul had "Apostolic Authority" that he received directly from Jesus during his conversion on the road to Damascus and only the disciples were given this authority until now. So this means that Paul had the authority to say what was the true word of god, and to correct others. So when Paul approached Ps 68:18, he saw that this verse was actually about Jesus Christ, and not about Moses, and intentionally translated it such that it was clearly about Jesus without corrupting the original. So Ps 68:18 is correct, but Eph 4:8 is more correct.

Between these points, I felt comfortable explaining the differences but some of my friends were still unsure. I've been listening to DA Carson's lectures on the New Testament's use of the Old Testament, and I heard him say that he believed the Psalms 68:18 was refering to Numbers 18:6 (or Numbers 8:19). I've been reading numbers, and have realized that its not whether its supposed to be "gave gifts" or "received among" or an intersection of the two, but the answer is that is both "gave to" and "received among" at the same time. The answer comes by comparing Christians to the Levitical Priests. Read this verse:

Aaron was the high priest but it was impossible for him to do everything, so God gifted the sons of Levi to Aaron as a gift to help him in the temple. Not all Levites had the same responsiblities, and they were divided into three groups: Kohathites moved the ark of the covenant and holy instruments, Gershonites rolled up the tent coverings and the Merarites handled the pegs. Although the Levites who carried the tent's pegs were not as important as those who carried the ark, all Levites were necessary for the temple to be established. Conversely, only some levites handled the sacrifices in the temple, but all of the Levites kept a portion of what was sacrificed in the temple. A portion of the gifts to god ( money, food, etc.) were distributed back to the Levites to help them survive.

The problem isn't semantics at all. Ephesians 4 is about spiritual gifts and explains that all Christians in the Body of Christ have them, in the same way as the Levitical priests all had responsibilities in the temple. Christians are gifts to our High Priest Jesus, like the Levites were to Aaron. In the same way that some Levites were assigned to carry the Ark, some Christians were made Apostles, Pastors, etc. There are varying spiritual gifts, etc.

My solution from last year was right but it missed Paul's point that the Church is a body of priests, like the Levites working in the temple. When a Pastor teaches, he is exercising the gift God gave him, but when he edifies the Church it glorifies God.  So it's both "gave to" and "received among" at once.

By: Wyatt Houtz