Forgive me, but are you saying that the "captives" being spoken here are the LORD's children, and not the spoils of the war (satan, sin, death etc defeated at the cross) that were led away as the fruit of the victory?
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:15
As I understand it, that passage signifies that Jesus Christ had achieved a complete victory; he had led all his foes captive. In ancient times, conquered kings and generals were usually tied behind the chariot of the conqueror - bound to it, bound together, and walked after it, to grace the triumph of the victor. Christ also gave the gifts of the Holy-Spirit to the Church.
There are profuse scriptures that show that Satan's kingdom is the realm of death and destruction. We are trapped in this world of sin. In Judges 5:12; 2 Chronicles 6:37,38; Jeremiah 29:14; and Amos 1:6, we see the context of what "captivity captive" means. When Christ came to this earth, He conquered Satan, and He "delivered" the captives. When Christ ascended up on High, he "led captivity captive", meaning, He brought the spoils of His war. If He did not bring the captives with Him, what spoils did He bring? None.
Captivity to sin is intrinsically tied to "death". Death is swallowed up in "victory", when? At the last trump. See Isaiah 25:8; 1 Cor 15:55. So let us not separate sin from death. Christ actually brought up the spoils of War with Him to heaven. The glorious song of His victory is sung in Psalms 24.
You have ascended on high,
You have led captivity captive;
You have received gifts among men,
Even from the rebellious,
That the Lord God might dwell there.
Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah Psalm 68:18-19
Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. Judges 5:12
Correct. All this proves my point.
He ascend up on high, he lead his captives and brought the spoils of war with Him to heaven, THEN He gave the gifts of the Holy Spirit to men on earth, etc. etc.
No.
The dead in Christ are never referred to as "captives", it is only those who are under the hold of sin, that are called "captives". Christ came to earth for that very reason; to set us free from the chains of captivity! So, how can you call those who have been freed, "captives" again?
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke 4:18
What are captives? Those who are attached to sin. What does sin lead to? Death.
When Christ went to heaven, did He just "deliver" the captives? No. He "led" them to heaven. He brought spoils of war to heaven.
Those saints that were resurrected during Christ's time, all died again. Only Christ has been resurrected unto eternal life, He alone is the first-fruits, and everyone else who belong to Him will be raised to immortality at the second coming of Christ.
I have already dealt with this argument. You cannot produce one scripture to prove that those who resurrected ended up dying again. History nor scripture supports this. I already explained what "first" means as well.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lords word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Christ will bring with Him, those who are DEAD in Him.
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But this is not what the text says.
The subject are those in their graves, not those who are in heaven. Paul is directing the sentence from God's location, that "God will BRING with Jesus those who have fallen asleep". Bring them where? To heaven.
Much scholarship has unequivocally demonstrated that the subject here is not bringing their spirits down to join with their bodies. That is ridiculous. Why not just give them a body while they are in heaven? Why come down, join with their bodies, then go right back up again?
That is foolishness.
The issue is that Jesus "died and rose again". This is juxtaposed to Jesus "bringing". That means in context of "rising", it is Jesus that will come down, and bring us up to heaven.