He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father

The Text

The clause is dual: the ascension (the event, the going-up) and the session (the state, the being-seated). The two are dogmatically inseparable. The Son did not ascend in order to leave the world behind; he ascended in order to be seated at the Father’s right hand, in the position of cosmic authority and active intercession from which he reigns over the church and the world until his return. The session is the current state of the Christ confessed in the creed — the present-tense reality of who Jesus is, now, between the ascension and the second coming.

The clause is often pastorally neglected. Between the Easter narrative (which the church celebrates intensely on Easter Day) and the second coming (which the church confesses but largely defers in pastoral attention), the ascension and session frequently fall through. The catholic tradition has resisted this neglect: the Feast of the Ascension (forty days after Easter, the date specified in Acts 1:3) has been a major feast in the historic Christian calendar; the doctrine of the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father has been central to the church’s theology of intercession, mediation, and cosmic Lordship.

Translation Notes

Anelthonta / ascendit — he ascended. The verb of the upward movement. The biblical witness on the ascension is concentrated in Acts 1:9–11 (the narrative account), Luke 24:50–53 (the briefer account at the end of the gospel), Mark 16:19 (in the longer Markan ending), and the various references in the Pauline-deutero-Pauline corpus and Hebrews. The verb names a real, located event — the disciples watched Jesus go up — and the catholic tradition has held the event in its biblical particularity, while recognizing that the up is theological as well as cosmological (the ascension is to the divine presence, which is in some sense up but is properly transcendent).

Eis tous ouranous / in caelum — into heaven. The destination. Heaven is not the upper layer of a three-tiered universe but the proper dwelling of God — the realm of the divine presence and the divine reign. The ascension is therefore not a piece of cosmological geography but the entry of the risen human nature of Christ into the divine presence, in his glorified body, at the Father’s right hand.

Kathezomenon / sedet — is seated. The present-tense state. The verb is dogmatically rich. In the ancient world, the seated position was the position of settled authority — the king on his throne, the judge on his bench, the teacher on his cathedra. The Son seated at the Father’s right hand is the Son in the position of settled cosmic authority — not on a campaign or a journey, but enthroned. The present tense is significant: the Son is now seated, and the cosmic authority is now exercised. The clause is not a piece of past tense history; it is the present-tense confession of who Jesus is right now.

En dexia tou Patros / ad dexteram Patris — at the right hand of the Father. The position of honor and active rule. The phrase is drawn from Psalm 110:1 (The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool”), the most-quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. The position is not literal-spatial (the Father does not have a body; the Son’s risen human body does not occupy a literal seat next to a literal divine throne) but theological-relational. The Son is in the position of equal authority and active mediation with the Father; he is the eternal Son returned to his eternal place, but now with the assumed human nature, in the glorified humanity that he has carried up into the divine presence.

Historical Context

The clause has been stable through the textual history of the creed. The 325 Nicene text contained the substance; the 381 Constantinopolitan revision preserved it; the Latin reception has carried it forward. The Apostles’ Creed contains the parallel confession (he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty), and the two creeds together represent the catholic confession.

The ascension was a feast of major significance in the early church. The Feast of the Ascension, fixed on the fortieth day after Easter (in conformity with Acts 1:3, where Luke specifies that Jesus appeared to the disciples during forty days), was being celebrated as a major feast by the fourth century at the latest (witness in Egeria’s Pilgrimage, c. 380s), and probably much earlier. The historic Western liturgy makes the Ascension a holy day of obligation in the Roman Catholic tradition, and a principal feast in the Anglican tradition.

The doctrine of the session has done specific dogmatic work in several areas of the catholic tradition. In the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ, the session is the ongoing exercise of Christ’s high priestly office: he is, now, the eternal high priest who intercedes for his people before the Father (Heb. 7:23–25; 8:1–6; 9:24; 10:12–14). In the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ, the session is the ground of Christ’s cosmic authority: he reigns now over the church and over all things, and this reign is the present-tense reality of the gospel. In the doctrine of the eucharist, the session has been the locus of significant ecumenical division: the Reformed extra Calvinisticum (the Son’s eternal being is not exhausted by the assumed human nature, but extends beyond it; and his glorified humanity is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, not multilocally distributed in the eucharistic elements) has been disputed by the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity (the glorified humanity of Christ shares in the divine attribute of omnipresence and is therefore truly present in the eucharist).

The 1633 Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 53 gives the classic Reformed articulation of the session’s threefold ministry: Christ was exalted, in his sitting at the right hand of God, in that as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with God the Father, with all fullness of joy, glory, and power over all things in heaven and earth; and doth gather and defend his church, and subdue their enemies; furnisheth his ministers and people with gifts and graces, and maketh intercession for them.

Lines of Interpretation

Patristic

Tradition: Irenaeus, Against Heresies; Athanasius, On the Incarnation §§32–34; Augustine, Sermons on the Ascension (Sermons 261–265); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John; Leo the Great, Sermons on the Ascension (Sermons 73–74); the Apostolic Constitutions

The patristic settlement on the ascension and session is rich and integrated. The Fathers articulated the doctrine under multiple integrated heads.

Athanasius’s On the Incarnation §§32–34 reads the ascension as the raising of humanity into the divine presence. The eternal Son took on human nature; this human nature has now been carried up into the divine presence at the right hand of the Father; therefore the entire human race, in solidarity with the assumed humanity of Christ, has been raised into a new ontological condition. The ascension is therefore not the Son’s departure from humanity but the exaltation of humanity in him.

Augustine’s Sermons on the Ascension press the dialectic of presence and absence. The ascension makes Christ absent in the mode of bodily-visible presence, but present in the mode of universal-spiritual presence: where two or three are gathered in his name, he is in the midst of them; he is no longer confined to one place in Palestine. The dialectic of presence-in-absence is the foundation of the Christian practice of the eucharist (the bodily Christ is at the right hand of the Father, but he is also in some way present in the eucharistic elements through the Spirit) and of the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit (the Christ who is bodily absent sends his Spirit, by which he is present everywhere).

Leo the Great’s Sermons on the Ascension (Sermons 73–74) give the classic Western patristic articulation. Leo’s famous claim: what was visible in our Redeemer has passed over into sacraments. The bodily presence of Christ has been transferred from the visible-historical encounter (which was, by its nature, available only to a few in one time and place) into the sacramental encounter (which is available to the whole church, in every time and place, through the means of grace). The ascension makes the church possible.

Strengths

• The patristic integration of presence and absence is permanently valuable
• Athanasius’s reading of the ascension as the raising of humanity is one of the great patristic insights
• Augustine’s dialectic of presence-in-absence grounds the church’s sacramental life
• Leo’s what was visible has passed over into sacraments is a foundational catholic claim

Weaknesses

• Some patristic articulations drifted toward speculative refinement of the celestial geography
• The polemical context occasionally produced sharper articulations than required

Scholastic

Tradition: Anselm, Why God Became Human; Peter Lombard, Sentences III; Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III.57–58 (on the ascension and session); Bonaventure, Sentences III

The scholastic tradition received the clause and articulated it under the doctrine of Christ’s threefold exaltation (resurrection, ascension, session) and Christ’s threefold office in the state of exaltation (prophet, priest, king). The session at the right hand of the Father is the kingly aspect of Christ’s exaltation, but it includes also the continuing priestly aspect (the heavenly intercession).

Aquinas’s treatment in ST III.57–58 gives the comprehensive scholastic articulation. The ascension is fitting (the glorified Christ should not remain in the place of his humiliation); necessary for our salvation (the entrance of the assumed humanity into the divine presence opens the way for our own entry); and the cause of our hope (the believer’s hope of bodily resurrection and exaltation is grounded in the bodily exaltation of Christ).

The medieval iconographic tradition developed a rich Ascension iconography, with the ascending Christ sometimes shown only by his feet at the top of the visual frame (as in the celebrated Anglo-Saxon manuscript illuminations) — the iconographic confession that Christ has risen above the visible-historical encounter and entered into the divine presence.

Strengths

• Aquinas’s articulation of the threefold exaltation is permanently useful
• The integration with the doctrine of Christ’s threefold office (prophet, priest, king) is helpful pastorally
• The scholastic precision on the integration of ascension and session is exemplary

Weaknesses

• Some scholastic speculation on the celestial geography outran the biblical witness
• The Aristotelian-essence vocabulary requires translation

Lutheran

Tradition: Luther, Sermons on the Ascension; Formula of Concord VIII (on the communicatio idiomatum); the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity

The Lutheran tradition has held the clause in catholic form, with a particular doctrinal development on the communicatio idiomatum. The Lutheran articulation: in the one person of the incarnate Christ, the divine and human natures share their proper attributes; the glorified humanity of Christ therefore shares in the divine attribute of omnipresence; therefore the glorified Christ is truly present in his glorified humanity wherever he chooses to be, including in the eucharistic elements (the Lutheran doctrine of real presence) and in the world generally (the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity).

The doctrine is dogmatically distinct from the Reformed extra Calvinisticum (see below). The Lutheran reads seated at the right hand of the Father not as a located state (Christ’s glorified humanity is in one place, the heavenly throne room) but as a modal state (the right hand of the Father is not a place but the condition of cosmic authority and divine presence, which is everywhere in actual operation).

The Lutheran integration of the doctrine with the eucharist has been a major dogmatic theme. The Formula of Concord VIII gives the formal articulation, and Lutheran scholastic theology (Gerhard, Quenstedt, Hollaz) has developed it at length.

Strengths

• The Lutheran reading preserves the gospel emphasis on Christ’s universal availability
• The integration with the doctrine of real presence in the eucharist is pastorally powerful
• The communicatio idiomatum is a robust patristic-Chalcedonian doctrine

Weaknesses

• The doctrine of ubiquity has not been received by the Reformed tradition and remains a point of major Protestant disagreement
• Some Lutheran scholastic articulations pressed the doctrine into refinements the New Testament does not warrant
• The Reformed critique of ubiquity (that it threatens the integrity of the human nature) is a real concern that the Lutheran articulation must address

Reformed

Tradition: Calvin, Institutes II.16, IV.17; Heidelberg Catechism QQ. 46–49; Belgic Confession Articles 26, 35; Westminster Confession Ch. 8; the doctrine of the extra Calvinisticum

The Reformed tradition has held the clause in catholic form, with a particular doctrinal development on the extra Calvinisticum. Calvin’s articulation in Institutes II.13.4 and IV.17.30: the eternal Son’s divine being is not exhausted by the assumed human nature; the divine being remains also extra (outside) the assumed nature, sustaining the universe. The glorified humanity of Christ is therefore located — it is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, not multilocally distributed in the eucharistic elements. The Christ who is present in the eucharist is present spiritually (by the Spirit, who unites the believer to the glorified Christ at the right hand) rather than substantially (by the local presence of the glorified humanity in the elements).

The Heidelberg Catechism Q. 47 gives the catechetical form: Is Christ then not with us until the end of the world, as he has promised? Christ is true man and true God. According to his human nature he is no longer on earth, but according to his Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit he is at no time absent from us. The integration of the catholic dogma of the session with the gospel of universal presence is exemplary.

The Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 53 articulates the threefold ministry of the seated Christ: he gathers and defends his church, subdues their enemies, furnishes his ministers and people with gifts and graces, and makes intercession for them. The catechetical form is pastorally powerful.

Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics IV/2 §64 articulates the ascension in modern Reformed-ecumenical register. Barth reads the ascension as the revelation that the historical existence of Jesus has cosmic-eternal significance: the Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Lord, and his historical particularity has now been vindicated, gathered up, and made universal through the ascension.

Strengths

• The extra Calvinisticum preserves the cosmological role of the eternal Son
• The Heidelberg Catechism Q. 47 gives the catechetical form its definitive Reformed shape
• The Westminster Larger Catechism’s articulation of the threefold ministry of the seated Christ is pastorally rich
• Barth’s reading of the ascension as the universal vindication of the historical Jesus is permanently valuable

Weaknesses

• The extra Calvinisticum has been criticized as risking a Nestorian separation of the natures
• The Reformed reading has sometimes treated the ascension primarily as absence, with insufficient attention to the continuing presence by the Spirit

Eastern Orthodox

Tradition: the Cappadocians; Cyril of Alexandria; John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith IV; the iconographic tradition of the Ascension and the Christ Pantokratōr; modern: Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church

The Eastern tradition has held the clause in catholic form with particular emphasis on the cosmic and iconographic dimensions. The Eastern Feast of the Ascension is a major liturgical event, and the iconography of the Ascension has had enormous influence on Christian visual theology.

The traditional Eastern Ascension icon depicts Christ enthroned in glory, ascending in a mandorla (an almond-shaped halo) supported by angels; below, the disciples and the Theotokos look up; angels speak the words of Acts 1:11 (Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?). The icon makes explicit what the creed confesses: the ascension is not a mere departure but the entry of the assumed humanity into glory.

The Christ Pantokratōr icon in the dome of the Eastern Orthodox church is the iconographic confession of the seated Christ. The Pantokratōr is seated, holding the gospel book, raising his hand in blessing; his gaze meets the gaze of the worshippers below. The icon is the present-tense confession that the seated Christ is now the cosmic ruler whose authority is now exercised and whose blessing is now available to those who worship him.

The Eastern integration of the ascension with the eucharist follows the patristic line. The eucharist is the means by which the seated Christ becomes present to the gathered church; the church’s anaphora (eucharistic prayer) makes the present-tense confession that the same Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father is the Christ who is now here, on the altar, in the bread and cup.

Strengths

• The iconographic tradition makes the doctrine visible in the liturgy
• The Pantokratōr in the dome is one of the great Christian visual confessions
• The integration with the eucharist is pastorally powerful
• The cosmic emphasis is permanently valuable

Weaknesses

• The detailed iconographic-theological vocabulary requires translation for cultures unfamiliar with the tradition
• Some modern Russian sophiology has pressed the doctrine in directions the catholic tradition has not received

Wesleyan

(See Wesleyan Voice below.)

Modern Ecumenical

Tradition: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/2 §64; T. F. Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection; Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia; Andrew Burgess, The Ascension in Karl Barth; Gerrit Dawson, Jesus Ascended; Julie Canlis, Calvin’s Ladder

The modern theological recovery of the ascension has been substantial. After a long period of relative neglect in 20th-century theology (in which the resurrection received the bulk of dogmatic attention, with the ascension treated as a kind of postscript), a major literature on the ascension has emerged in late-20th and early-21st-century theology.

Douglas Farrow’s Ascension and Ecclesia (1999) is the major recent treatment, reading the ascension as the dogmatic foundation of the doctrine of the church. The church is the people who live in the present moment between the ascension and the second coming, and the ascension’s particular character — the bodily, located Christ at the right hand of the Father, present to the church by the Spirit — shapes the church’s actual existence.

T. F. Torrance’s Space, Time, and Resurrection (1976) and Gerrit Dawson’s Jesus Ascended (2004) both press the dogmatic weight of the ascension against its modern neglect: the ascension is not a piece of Christology but is integral to the whole, and the believer’s actual life is shaped by living in the ascended Christ, who is now the eternal high priest at the right hand of the Father.

Julie Canlis’s Calvin’s Ladder (2010) reads Calvin’s theology through the lens of the ascension and argues that the doctrine is central to Calvin’s vision of the believer’s participation in Christ.

Strengths

• The modern recovery has restored the ascension to its proper dogmatic place
• Farrow’s Ascension and Ecclesia is the major recent ecclesiological articulation
• Dawson’s Jesus Ascended is a substantial Reformed-pastoral treatment
• The ecumenical convergence on the centrality of the ascension is remarkable

Weaknesses

• Some modern reconstructions have pressed the ascension in directions that risk separating it from the resurrection
• The continuing pastoral neglect of the ascension in much American Protestantism is a significant pastoral problem

Wesleyan Voice

Wesley’s confession of the ascension and session is unambiguous, deeply pastoral, and characteristically integrated with the doctrine of the intercessory work of Christ. The Methodist Articles of Religion (1784), Article III — Of the Resurrection of Christ — names the doctrine in continuity with the resurrection: Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature; wherewith he ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth, until he return to judge all men at the last day. The article integrates resurrection, ascension, and session as a single dogmatic substance, with the until he return pointing toward the second coming (clause 15).

What is distinctively Wesleyan is the integration of the session with the doctrine of Christ’s intercession on behalf of the believer. Sermon 24, “Sermon on the Mount, Discourse IV,” and Sermon 22, “Sermon on the Mount, Discourse II,” both press the doctrine: the believer’s prayer is offered through the intercession of the seated Christ, who is the eternal high priest mediating between the believer and the Father. The doctrine of Christian prayer is grounded in the doctrine of the session.

Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament on Hebrews 7–10 expound the priestly-intercessory dimension at length. The seated Christ is the eternal high priest; his intercession is now effective for the believer; the believer’s confidence in approaching the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) is grounded in the present-tense reality of Christ’s intercession.

The Wesleyan integration of the doctrine with Christian perfection: the believer’s progressive sanctification is the work of the Spirit who comes from the ascended Christ at the Father’s right hand. Sermon 8, “The First-fruits of the Spirit,” integrates the doctrine: the first-fruits of the Spirit, who is the agent of sanctification, come from the ascended Christ who is now seated in the divine presence.

Charles Wesley’s hymnody confesses the ascension and session with characteristic depth. Hail the day that sees him rise, / Alleluia, / to his throne above the skies, / Alleluia; / Christ, awhile to mortals given, / Alleluia, / re-ascends his native heaven, / Alleluia. The hymn is one of the great Wesleyan Ascension confessions, and it is the dogmatic substance of the present clause in hymnic form.

Rejoice, the Lord is King! / Your Lord and King adore; / mortals, give thanks and sing, / and triumph evermore: / lift up your heart, lift up your voice; / rejoice, again I say, rejoice. // Jesus, the Savior, reigns, / the God of truth and love; / when he had purged our stains, / he took his seat above. The hymn integrates the cross, the session, and the cosmic reign in classic Wesleyan form.

The pastoral Wesleyan posture: confess the ascension and session without modification; receive them as the present-tense reality of Christ’s cosmic reign and active intercession; integrate the doctrine with the believer’s prayer life (through the intercession of Christ) and with the doctrine of Christian perfection (the Spirit comes from the ascended Christ); refuse every reading that would make the ascension primarily a departure and confess instead the active presence of the seated Christ to the church in every age.

Hymnody

The hymnody on this clause is concentrated in the Ascension Day repertoire and the broader category of Christ-the-King hymnody.

“Hail the day that sees him rise” (Charles Wesley, 1739) is the great Wesleyan Ascension hymn: Hail the day that sees him rise, / Alleluia, / to his throne above the skies, / Alleluia; / Christ, awhile to mortals given, / Alleluia, / re-ascends his native heaven, / Alleluia.

“Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor” (G. H. Bourne, 1874) is the eucharistic hymn that confesses the seated Christ as the Lord of the eucharist: Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor, / first-begotten from the dead. / Thou alone, our strong defender, / liftest up thy people’s head.

“Crown him with many crowns” (Matthew Bridges, 1851; Godfrey Thring, 1874) is the great hymn of the seated Christ: Crown him with many crowns, / the Lamb upon his throne; / Hark, how the heavenly anthem drowns / all music but its own.

“At the name of Jesus” (Caroline Maria Noel, 1870) — paraphrasing Philippians 2 — confesses the exaltation: At the name of Jesus / every knee shall bow, / every tongue confess him / King of glory now.

“Rejoice, the Lord is King” (Charles Wesley, 1744) integrates resurrection, ascension, and session: Rejoice, the Lord is King! / Your Lord and King adore.

“Alleluia! sing to Jesus” (William Chatterton Dix, 1866) confesses the seated Christ in eucharistic register: Alleluia! not as orphans / are we left in sorrow now; / Alleluia! he is near us; / faith believes, nor questions how.

“Christ is the King” (G. K. A. Bell, 1931) is the major modern Anglican Christ-the-King hymn.

“Lift up your hearts” (Henry Montagu Butler, 1881) confesses the ascending and seated Christ in the language of the Sursum corda: Lift up your hearts! we lift them, Lord, to thee.

“A hymn of glory let us sing” (Bede the Venerable, 8th c.; trans. Elizabeth Rundle Charles, 1858) is the great medieval Ascension hymn brought into English: A hymn of glory let us sing! / New hymns throughout the world shall ring.

“See, the conqueror mounts in triumph” (Christopher Wordsworth, 1862) is the great Anglican Ascension hymn: See, the conqueror mounts in triumph; / see the King in royal state, / riding on the clouds, his chariot, / to his heavenly palace gate.

“Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious” (Thomas Kelly, 1809) confesses the seated Christ in his glory: Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious; / see the Man of Sorrows now, / from the fight returned victorious, / every knee to him shall bow.

“Jesus shall reign” (Isaac Watts, 1719) — paraphrasing Psalm 72 — confesses the seated Christ’s cosmic-eschatological reign: Jesus shall reign where’er the sun / doth his successive journeys run.

For the liturgical year: this clause is the dogmatic substance of the Feast of the Ascension (the fortieth day after Easter, traditionally Thursday) and Christ the King Sunday (the last Sunday of the liturgical year before Advent). Both feasts have had varying levels of observance in American Protestantism; the catholic tradition retains both as principal feasts.

Pastoral and Liturgical Use

Three pastoral tasks attach to this clause.

The first is restoring the doctrine of the ascension to its proper pastoral place. For most of Christian history, the Ascension was a principal feast of the Christian year, observed on the fortieth day after Easter with full liturgical solemnity. In much contemporary American Protestantism, the Ascension has been quietly demoted: it falls on a Thursday (a weekday on which most congregations do not gather), and the Sunday after Ascension Day (the Seventh Sunday of Easter) is often used for other purposes. The pastor’s task is to restore the feast. Whether this means a Thursday-evening service, a Sunday-after-Ascension observance, or a transferred observance on Ascension Sunday (the Sunday closest to the actual fortieth day), the pastoral question is whether the parish hears the doctrine of the ascension in its actual liturgical-doctrinal weight.

The second is teaching the parish to take seriously the present-tense intercession of the seated Christ. The clause is not in the past tense. The Son is not “in the past” seated at the right hand of the Father; he is, in the present, seated there, now, exercising his cosmic authority and his priestly intercession. The pastor’s task is to teach the parish to pray with this confession in mind. Christian prayer is not offered to a divine void; it is offered to the Father, through the Son who is now the eternal high priest, in the Spirit who is sent from the Son. The doctrinal substance of the present clause is the foundation of the church’s actual prayer.

The third is integrating the ascension with the eucharist. Different Protestant traditions have articulated the eucharistic-ascension integration differently (the Lutheran ubiquity, the Reformed extra Calvinisticum, the Methodist real spiritual presence in continuity with the Reformed reading), but every Protestant tradition has held some form of the catholic doctrine that the seated Christ is, by the Spirit, present in the eucharist. The pastor’s task is to teach the parish that the bread and cup are not a mere memorial of an absent Christ but the means by which the seated, ascended, present-tense Christ is given to his people. The eucharist is the meeting of the Christ who is at the right hand of the Father with the Christ who is in our midst.

For the preacher: the Ascension Day sermon, or the Christ the King Sunday sermon, is one opportunity to preach this clause. But the clause comes around in the Sunday creed every week, and the pastor does well, occasionally, to draw out the present-tense reality of the session: the Christ we confess in the creed is not in the past tense, he is in the present, now, ruling the cosmos and interceding for his people.

Further Reading

• Psalm 110 — the Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand”
• Daniel 7:13–14 — one like a son of man… coming with the clouds of heaven
• Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50–53 — the gospel ascension accounts
• John 20:17 — I am ascending to my Father
• Acts 1:1–11 — the great ascension narrative
• Acts 2:32–36 — the seated Lord and the gift of the Spirit
• Acts 7:55–56 — Stephen’s vision of the standing-and-seated Christ
• Romans 8:34 — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us
• 1 Corinthians 15:24–25 — the seated Christ’s reign until all enemies are subdued
• Ephesians 1:20–23 — the seated Christ above all rule and authority
• Ephesians 4:8–10 — when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive
• Philippians 2:6–11 — the descent and the exaltation
• Colossians 3:1–4 — seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God
• Hebrews 1:3, 13; 4:14–16; 7:23–25; 8:1–6; 9:24; 10:12–14; 12:2 — the seated Christ as eternal high priest
• 1 Peter 3:21–22 — the seated Christ over all powers
• Revelation 3:21; 5:6, 11–14; 22:1–5 — the seated Lamb on the throne
• Irenaeus, Against Heresies III–IV
• Athanasius, On the Incarnation §§32–34
• Augustine, Sermons on the Ascension (Sermons 261–265)
• Leo the Great, Sermons on the Ascension (Sermons 73–74)
• John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith IV
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III.57–58
• Luther, Sermons on the Ascension
• Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion II.16; IV.17.30
• Heidelberg Catechism QQ. 46–49
• Belgic Confession Articles 26, 35
• Westminster Larger Catechism QQ. 52–55
• Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church (1784), Article III
• John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament on Acts 1, Hebrews 7–10
• John Wesley, Standard Sermons, Sermons 8, 22, 24
• Charles Wesley, “Hail the day that sees him rise,” “Rejoice, the Lord is King”
• Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/2 §64
• T. F. Torrance, Space, Time, and Resurrection (Eerdmans, 1976)
• Douglas Farrow, Ascension and Ecclesia (T&T Clark, 1999); Ascension Theology (T&T Clark, 2011)
• Gerrit Dawson, Jesus Ascended (T&T Clark, 2004)
• Julie Canlis, Calvin’s Ladder (Eerdmans, 2010)
• Andrew Burgess, The Ascension in Karl Barth (Ashgate, 2004)
• Peter Atkins, Ascension Now (Liturgical Press, 2001)