Hebrews 2:14

Here the apostle proceeds to assert the incarnation of Christ, as taking upon him not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham; and he shows the reason and design of his so doing.

I. The incarnation of Christ is asserted (Heb 2:16): Verily he took not upon him the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. He took part of flesh and blood. Though as God he pre-existed from all eternity, yet in the fulness of time he took our nature into union with his divine nature, and became really and truly man. He did not lay hold of angels, but he laid hold of the seed of Abraham. The angels fell, and he let them go, and lie under the desert, defilement, and dominion of their sin, without hope or help. Christ never designed to be the Saviour of the fallen angels; as their tree fell, so it lies, and must lie to eternity, and therefore he did not assume their nature. The nature of angels could not be an atoning sacrifice for the sin of man. Now Christ resolving to recover the seed of Abraham and raise them up from their fallen state, he took upon him the human nature from one descended from the loins of Abraham, that the same nature that had sinned might suffer, to restore human nature to a state of hope and trial, and all that accepted of mercy to a state of special favour and salvation. Now there is hope and help for the chief of sinners in and through Christ. Here is a price paid sufficient for all, and suitable to all, for it was in our nature. Let us all then know the day of our gracious visitation, and improve that distinguishing mercy which has been shown to fallen men, not to the fallen angels.

II. The reasons and designs of the incarnation of Christ are declared.

1. Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he must take part of the same, and he made like his brethren, Heb 2:14, Heb 2:15. For no higher nor lower nature than man's that had sinned could so suffer for the sin of man as to satisfy the justice of God, and raise man up to a state of hope, and make believers the children of God, and so brethren to Christ.

2. He became man that he might die; as God he could not die, and therefore he assumed another nature and state. Here the wonderful love of God appeared, that, when Christ knew what he must suffer in our nature, and how he must die in it, yet he so readily took it upon him. The legal sacrifices and offerings God could not accept as propitiation. A body was prepared for Christ, and he said, Lo! I come, I delight to do thy will.

3. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, Heb 2:14. The devil was the first sinner, and the first tempter to sin, and sin was the procuring cause of death; and he may be said to have the power of death, as he draws men into sin, the ways whereof are death, as he is often permitted to terrify the consciences of men with the fear of death, and as he is the executioner of divine justice, haling their souls from their bodies to the tribunal of God, there to receive their doom, and then being their tormentor, as he was before their tempter. In these respects he may be said to have had the power of death. But now Christ has so far destroyed him who had the power of death that he can keep none under the power of spiritual death; nor can he draw any into sin (the procuring cause of death), nor require the soul of any from the body, nor execute the sentence upon any but those who choose and continue to be his willing slaves, and persist in their enmity to God.

4. That he might deliver his own people from the slavish fear of death to which they are often subject. This may refer to the Old Testament saints, who were more under a spirit of bondage, because life and immortality were not so fully brought to light as now they are by the gospel. Or it may refer to all the people of God, whether under the Old Testament or the New, whose minds are often in perplexing fears about death and eternity. Christ became man, and died, to deliver them from those perplexities of soul, by letting them know that death is not only a conquered enemy, but a reconciled friend, not sent to hurt the soul, or separate it from the love of God, but to put an end to all their grievances and complaints, and to give them a passage to eternal life and blessedness; so that to them death is not now in the hand of Satan, but in the hand of Christ - not Satan's servant, but Christ's servant - has not hell following it, but heaven to all who are in Christ.

5. Christ must be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to the justice and honour of God and to the support and comfort of his people. He must be faithful to God and merciful to men. (1.) In things pertaining to God, to his justice, and to his honour - to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, to make all the attributes of divine nature, and all the persons subsisting therein, harmonize in man's recovery, and fully to reconcile God and man. Observe, There was a great breach and quarrel between God and man, by reason of sin; but Christ, by becoming man and dying, has taken up the quarrel, and made reconciliation so far that God is ready to receive all into favour and friendship who come to him through Christ. (2.) In things pertaining to his people, to their support and comfort: In that he suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour those that are tempted, Heb 2:18. Here observe, [1.] Christ's passion: He suffered being tempted; and his temptations were not the least part of his sufferings. He was in all things tempted as we are, yet without sin, Heb 4:15. [2.] Christ's compassion: He is able to succour those that are tempted. He is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, a sympathizing physician, tender and skilful; he knows how to deal with tempted sorrowful souls, because he has been himself sick of the same disease, not of sin, but of temptation and trouble of soul. The remembrance of his own sorrows and temptations makes him mindful of the trials of his people, and ready to help them. Here observe, First, The best of Christians are subject to temptations, to many temptations, while in this world; let us never count upon an absolute freedom from temptations in this world. Secondly, Temptations bring our souls into such distress and danger that they need support and succour. Thirdly, Christ is ready and willing to succour those who under their temptations apply to him; and he became man, and was tempted, that he might be every way qualified to succour his people.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb_2:14

Himself likewise took part of the same

The mystery of godliness

Our Saviours birth in the flesh is an earnest, and, as it were, beginning of our birth in the Spirit.

It is a figure, promise, or pledge of our new birth, and it effects what it promises. As He was born, so are we born also; and since He was born, therefore we too are born. As He is the Son of God by nature, so are we sons of God by grace; and it is He who has made us such.

1. This is the wonderful economy of grace, or mystery of godliness, which should be before our minds at all times, but especially at this season, when the Most Holy took upon Him our flesh of a pure Virgin, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin. He it was who created the worlds; He it was who interposed of old time in the affairs of the world, and showed Himself to be a living and observant God, whether men thought of him or not. Yet this great God condescended to come down on earth from His heavenly throne, and to be born into His own world; showing Himself as the Son of God in a new and second sense, in a created nature, as well as in His eternal substance.

2. And next, observe, that since He was the All-holy Son of God, though He condescended to be born into the world, He necessarily came into it in a way suitable to the All-holy, and different from that of other men. He took our nature upon Him, but not our sin; taking our nature in a way above nature. It was ordained, indeed, that the Eternal Word should come into the world by the ministration of a woman; but born in the way of the flesh He could not be. How could He have atoned for our sins, who Himself had guilt? or cleansed our hearts, who was impure Himself? or raised up our heads, who was Himself the son of shame? Priests among men are they who have to offer first for their own sins, and then for the peoples; but He, coming as the immaculate Lamb of God, and the all-prevailing Priest, could not come in the way which those fond persons anticipated. He came by a new and living way, by which He alone has come, and which alone became Him. Because He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, therefore He was Jesus, a Saviour from sin. Because God the Holy Ghost wrought miraculously, therefore was her Son a Holy Thing, the Son of God, and Jesus, and the heir of an everlasting kingdom.

3. This is the great mystery which we are now celebrating, of which mercy is the beginning, and sanctity the end: according to the Psalm, Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. He who is all purity came to an impure race to raise them to His purity. He, the brightness of Gods glory, came in a body of flesh, which was pure and holy as Himself,

without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish; and this He did for our sake, that we might be partakers of His holiness. He who hath made of one blood all nations of men, so tat in the sin of one all sinned, and in the death of one all died, He came in that very nature of Adam, in order to communicate to us that nature as it is in His person, that our sinful bodies might be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most precious blood; to make us partakers of the Divine nature; to sow the seed of eternal life in our hearts; and to raise us from the corruption that is in the world through lust, to that immaculate purity and that fulness of grace which is in Him.

4. And when He came into the world, He was a pattern of sanctity in the circumstances of His life, as well as in His birth. He did not implicate and contaminate Himself with sinners. He came into the world, and He speedily left the world; as if to teach us how little He Himself, how little we His followers, have to do with the world. And while He was here, since He could not acquiesce or pleasure Himself in the earth, so He would none of its vaunted goods. He would not accept lodging or entertainment, acknowledgment, or blandishment, from the kingdom of darkness. He would not be made a king; He would not be called Good Master; He would not accept where He might lay His head. His life lay not in mans breath, or mans smile; it was hid in Him from whom He came and to whom He returned. Now all this is quite independent of the special objects of mercy which brought Him upon earth. Though He had still submitted Himself by an incomprehensible condescension to the death on the Cross at length, yet why did He from the first so spurn this world, when tie was not atoning for its sins? He might at least have had the blessedness of brethren who believed in Him; He might have been happy and revered at home; He might have had the honour in His own country; He might have submitted but at last to what He chose from the first; He might have delayed His voluntary sufferings till that hour when His Fathers and His own will made Him the sacrifice for sin. But He did otherwise; and thus He becomes a lesson to us who are His disciples. He, who was so separate from the world, so present with the Father even in the days of His flesh, calls upon us, His brethren, as we are in Him and He in the Father, to show that we really are what we have been made, by renouncing the world while in the world, and living as in the presence of God. (J. H. Newman, D. D.)

The moral significance of Christs humanity

I. THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST WAS SELF-ASSUMED.

1. His antecedent existence.

2. His power over existence.

3. His interest in human existence.

II. IT WAS SELF-ASSUMED IN ORDER TO DIE.

1. This fact is as wonderful as the former.

2. This fact can only be justified by the former.

III. HE DIED IN ORDER TO DESTROY THE TERROR OF DEATH IN HUMANITY.

1. The terror of death is an idea.

2. Christs death is suited to remove all painful ideas.

(1) It shows that death is not the end of existence.

(2) It shows that death might become the greatest blessing of existence. (Homilist.)

God translated

He took--he did not inherit, or receive--a body. It is not the language that describes the ordinary birth of a common man. How strange it would sound if we were to speak of our children as if they had a thought or volition respecting their nature, and as if they were pleased to take on them such and such a body, when they were born! It describes voluntary action. It was an act contemplated beforehand. It implies not only pre-existence, but power, dignity, and condescension. But the language clearly indicates a choice of one raised higher than all merely created beings. He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. That is, He is more than man. He is more than angel. He refused, when turning in His mind the course He should pursue, to take on Him the nature of angels, but concluded, for a good and sufficient reason, to assume even a lower place, and become a man. Is He less than God, that is more than man and more than angel? Did He create, and does He sustain, the world in which we dwell? The first chapter of Johns Gospel unequivocally declares that fact. It is also unequivocally declared in the Hebrews. The practical result, then, of this exposition is this: Christ is presented to us as the comprehensible form of God. He is God translated. They that worship God as a mere spirit worship under the most difficult circumstances in which it is possible for the human mind to worship. It is the Scriptural remedy to worship the Father through Christ. And they that worship Christ as very God are enabled to worship under circumstances which make it very easy. For Christ is God present to us in such a way that our senses, our reason, and our affections, are able to take a personal hold upon Him. It is just the difference between a God afar off and a God near at hand; between a God that the heart can reach, and by its common sympathies understand and interpret, and a God which only the bead and imagination can at all reach or descry--and even these only as astronomers glasses descry nebulous worlds at so vast a distance that the highest powers cannot resolve them, or make them less than mere luminous mist. Why, then, did Christ come into the world, and take the form of man? Because men were His children, because He loved them, and because the way to take hold of them was to bring Himself down into their condition, so that they should be able to see Him and feel Him, and that by the power of sympathy God might have access to every human soul. That is the reason of the incarnation of Christ. He did the same as we do, in faint analogies. A Moravian missionary once went to the West Indies to preach to the slaves, lie found it in possible for him to carry out his design so long as he bore to them the relation of a mere missionary. They were driven into the field very early in the morning, and returned late at night, with scarcely strength to roll themselves into their cabins, and in no condition to be profited by instruction. They were savage towards all of the race and rank of their masters. He determined to reach the slaves by becoming himself a slave. He was sold, that he might have the privilege of working by their side, and preaching to them as he worked with them. Do you suppose the master or the pastor could have touched the hearts of those miserable slaves as did that man who placed himself in their condition? This missionary was but following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took on Him the nature of men, and came among them, and lived as they lived, that He might save them from their sins. Do any think that this view of God is degrading? If your God were Jupiter, it would be; but if He is the Father of the universe, it is ennobling and full of grandeur. The grandest deeds in his world are the loving condescensions of great natures to the help of weak ones. No crown so becomes a king as the service of low and suffering natures by these that are high and happy.

1. In view of this, I remark that, as it is by the personal power of the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the hearts of His children, that He works all goodness in them, so all attempts to live a religious life which leave out this living, personal, present sympathy of the Christ-heart with our human heart, will be relatively imperfect. Mens lives will be imperfect enough, at any rate; but when they neglect this vital inspiration, it seems scarcely possible to live at all with religious comfort. Our religious joy never springs from the conception of what we are, but of what God is. No mans life, attainments, purposes, or virtues can yield him full peace. It is the conviction that we are loved of God, personally by name and nature, with a full Divine insight of our real weakness, wickedness, and inferiority that brings peace. Nor will this become settled and immovable until men know and feel that God loves them from a nature in Himself, from a Divine tendency to love the poor and sinful, that He may rescue and heal them. God is called a sun. His heart, always warm, brings summer to the most barren places. He is inexhaustible in goodness, and His patience beyond all human conception.

2. All those views of God which lead you to go to Him for help and strength are presumptively true views, and all those views of God which tend to repress and drive you away from Him are presumptively false views. Any view which presents God as a being whose justice shall make sinners, who wish to return to Him, unable to do so, is a false View. If we have done wrong, in Him is the remedy. He is the Sun that shows us, when we are in darkness, where to go; He is the bright and morning Star that makes our dawn and twilight come to us; He is our Way; He is our Staff; He is our Shepherd; he is our sceptred King, to defend us, from our adversaries: He is all in all, to all!

3. Those states of mind, then, in us, which bring us nearest to God, and which bring us to Him most confidingly, are such as honour Him most and please Him most. There are a great many who wish they could please God, and would give anything if they could only be prepared to please Him. Most will you please Him when you confide in Him! If earthly parents can lift themselves up into feelings of holy sympathy for a repentant child, what must be the feelings of God when His children come to Him for help to break away from sin, and to lead lives of rectitude? Read the fifteenth chapter of Luke, and find out what Gods feelings are; and then say, I will arise and go to my Father. (H. W. Beecher.)

Christs assumption of human nature

I. AN IMPORTANT FACT IN REFERENCE TO THE SAVIOUR.

1. He assumed true human nature.

2. He did this for the welfare of mankind.

II. THE GREAT OBJECT AND DESIGN CONNECTED WITH THIS FACT,

1. Death is that to which all mankind are subject.

2. Death is placed in the power of the great adversary of man.

3. The prospect of death exposes men to a fear amounting to mental bondage.

4. Christ delivers mankind from this bondage.

Because Christ has made an atonement, Satan has no longer power over men to keep them in bondage. It only remains that we make an application of this atonement by faith, and then over us death has no more power. (J. Parsons, M. A.)

The Christians protector

In a sermon from this text the Rev. Evan Harris, of Merthyr, makes the following divisions.

1. The children.

2. He also.

3. The devil.

I hear some timid disciple say, Ah, I see the devil lurks in that text. Yes, he does; but remember that He also is there too. Fear not, timid one, for it cannot fare badly with the children if He also Himself is between them and the devil. The secret of safety is in being near Him.

Destroy him that had the power of death

The devils possession of the power of death

Sundry are the respects wherein the devil may be said to have the power of death.

1. As he is the executioner of Gods just judgment. He is in this regard as an hangman, who may be said to have the power of the gallows because he hangeth men thereon.

2. As he is like an hunter, fisher, fowler or falconer. He hunteth, fisheth, and fowleth for the life, not of unreasonable creatures only, but also of reasonable men.

3. As he is a thief and continually layeth wait for blood, and seeks the precious life of mans body and soul.

4. As a continual tempter to allure or drive men into sin, and thereby to death. Herein he spared not Christ Himself (Mat_4:1, &c.).

5. As he is an accuser of men and as an adversary to press Gods just law against men, and to call for judgment against them.

6. As he is a tormentor: for when he hath drawn men to sin he affirighteth them with the terror of death and damnation. In general nothing is more terrible than death. In this respect death is called the king of terrors Job_18:14). This kind of power, namely of death, attributed to the devil

(1) Showeth wherein his strength especially lieth: even in doing mischief and bringing men to destruction. His power is to hurt men. In this respect he hath names of destruction given unto him--as in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon (Rev_9:11), and he is styled a murderer Joh_8:44).

(2) It manifested the vile slavery and woful bondage of the devils vassals. They serve him who hath the power of death, and doth what he can to bring all to death. What can any expect from him but death? The task that he puts on them is sin: the wages that he gives is death (Rom_6:23).

(3) It is an incitation unto those to whom this kind of power is made known to be more watchful against Satan, more manful in resisting him, and the better prepared against his assaults.

(4) It warneth all of all sorts to renounce the devil and all his works, to come out of his Babel: to come into and abide in the glorious liberty of the sons of God, which Christ has purchased for us: and to renounce Satans service. As the devil hath the power of death, so Christ hath the power of Joh_6:39-40).

(5) It amplifieth both the glory and also the benefit of that conquest which Christ hath gotten over him that hath the power of death. Tile glory of that victory appeareth herein, that he hath overcome so potent an enemy as had the power of death. The benefit thereof herein appears that he hath overcome so malicious and mischievous an enemy as exercised his power by all manner of death. Hence ariseth the ground of this holy insultation, O death, where is thy sting? (1Co_15:55). He who had the power of death, being destroyed, death now can have no more power over them that are redeemed by Christ. (W. Gouge.)

The death of death

We fear death with a double fear. There is, first, the instinctive fear, shared also by the animal creation, for the very brutes tremble as the moment of death draws near. Surely this fear is not wrong. It is often congenital and involuntary, and afflicts some of Gods noblest saints; though doubtless these will some day confess that it was most unwarrantable, and that the moment of dissolution was calm, and sweet, and blessed. The child whose eyes feast upon a glowing vista of flower and fruit, beckoning it through the garden gate, hardly notices the rough woodwork of the gate itself as it bounds through; and probably the soul, becoming aware of the beauty of the King and the glories of its home, is too absorbed to notice the act of death, till it suddenly finds itself free to mount, and soar, and revel in the dawning light. But there is another fear of death, which is spiritual.

1. We dread its mystery. What is it? Whither does it lead? Why does it come just now? What is the nature of the life beyond?

2. We dread its leave-taking. The heathen poet sang sadly of leaving earth, and home, and family. Long habit endears the homeliest lot, and the roughest comrades; how much more the truehearted and congenial; and it is hard to part from them.

3. Men dread the afterdeath. The sting of death is sin. How can mortal man be just with God? How can he escape hell, and find his place amid the happy, festal throngs of the Golden City? All these fears were known to Christ. And He knew that they would be felt by many who were to be closely related to Him as brethren. If, then, He was prompted by ordinary feelings of compassion to the great masses of mankind, He would be especially moved to relieve those with whom He had so close an affinity, as these marvellous verses unfold. But in order to do it, He must die. He could not be the death of death, unless He had personally tasted death. He needed to fulfil the law of death, by dying, before He could abolish death. But He could only have died by becoming man. Perhaps there is no race in the universe that can die but our own. Others die because they are born; Christ was born that He might die.

I. BY DEATH CHRIST DESTROYED THE POWER OF DEATH. Scripture has no doubt as to the existence of the devil. And those who know much of their own inner life, and of the sudden assaults of evil to which we are liable, cannot but realise his terrible power. And from this passage we infer that that power was even greater before Jesus died. He had the power of death. It was a chief weapon in his infernal armoury. The dread of it was so great as to drive men to yield to any demands made by the priests of false religions, with their dark impurities and hideous rites. Thus timid sheep are scared by horrid shouts and blows into the butchers shambles. But since Jesus died, the devil and his power are destroyed. Destroyed! Certainly. Not in the sense of being extinct. Still he assails the Christian warrior, though armed from head to foot; and goes about seeking whom he may devour, and deceives men to ruin. Yet he is destroyed. Are we not all familiar with objects which are destroyed without being actually ended. Destroyed as objects of dread, though they linger in an attenuated and impotent existence. Satan exists as a strong man; he is no longer armed, and is the attenuated shadow of his former self.

II. BY DEATH CHRIST DELIVERS FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. A. child was in the habit of playing in a large and beautiful garden, with sunny lawns; but there was one part of it, a long and winding path, down which he never ventured; indeed he dreaded to go near it, because some silly nurse had told him that ogres and goblins dwelt within its darksome gloom. At last his eldest brother heard of his fear, and after playing one day with him, went with him to the embowered entrance of the grove, and, leaving him there terror-stricken, went singing through its length, and returned and reasoned with the child, proving his fears were groundless. At last he took the lads hand, and they went through it together, and from that moment the fear which had haunted the place fled. And the memory of that brothers presence took its place. So has Jesus done for us. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)

The destroyer destroyed

In Gods original empire everything was happiness, and joy, and peace. If there be any evil, any suffering and pain, that is not Gods work. God may permit it, overrule it, and out of it educe much good; but the evil cometh not of God. The devils reign, on the contrary, containeth nought of good; the devil sinneth from the beginning, and his dominion has been one uniform course of temptation to evil and infliction of misery. Death is a part of Satans dominion, he brought sin into the world when he tempted our mother Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, and with sin he brought also death into the world, with all its train of woes. Since that time Satan hath ever gloated over the death of the human race, and he hath had some cause of glory, for that death has been universal. There is something fearful in death. It is frightful even to him that hath the most of faith. It is only the gildings of death, the afterwards, the heaven, the glory, that maketh death bearable even to the Christian. Death in itself must ever be an unutterably fearful thing to the sons of men. And oh I what ruin doth it work! Now, this is Satans delight. He conceives death to be his masterpiece, because of its terror, and because of the ruin which it works. The greater the evil, the better doth he delight in it. And death is very lovely to the devil for another reason--not only because it is his chief work on earth, but because it gives him the finest opportunity in the world for the display of his malice and his craft. Usually with many of the saints, if not in the last article of death, yet some little time before it, there is a ferocious onslaught made by the great enemy of souls. And then he loves death, because death weakens the mind. The approach of death destroys some of the mental power, and takes away from us for a season some of those spirits by which we have been cheered in better days. It makes us lie there, languid and faint and weary. Now is my opportunity, says the evil one; and he steals in upon us. Hence I believe for this reason he is said to have the power of death; for I cannot conceive that the devil hath the power of death in any other sense but this, that it was originated by him, and that he at such time generally displays the most of his malice and of his power.

I. BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST THE DEVILS POWER OVER DEATH IS TO THE CHRISTIAN UTTERLY DESTROYED. The devils power over death lies in three places, and we must look at it in three aspects.

1. Sometimes the devil hath power in death over the Christian, by tempting him to doubt his resurrection, and leading him to look into the black future with the dread of annihilation. But by the death of Christ all this is taken away. If I lie a-dying, and Satan comes to me and says, Thou art to be annihilated, thou art now sinking beneath the waves of time, and thou shalt lie in the caverns of nothingness for ever; thy living spirit is to cease for ever and be not, I reply to him, No, not so; I have no fear of that; O Satan, thy power to tempt me here faileth utterly and entirely. See there my Saviour! He died, for His heart was pierced; He was buried; but, O devil, He was not annihilated, for He rose again from the tomb. And now, O Satan, I tell thee, thou canst not put an end to my existence, for thou couldst not put an end to the existence of my Lord. But now for a more common temptation--another phase of the devils power in death.

2. Full often the devil comes to us in our life-time, and he tempts us by telling us that our guilt will certainly prevail against us, that the sins of our youth and our former transgressions are still in our bones, and that when we sleep in the grave our sins shall rise up against us. Thou pretendest that thou art one of the Lords beloved: now look back upon thy sins: remember on such a day how thy rebellious lusts arose, and thou wast led if not quite to indulge in a transgression, yet to long after it. Recollect how often thou hast provoked Him in the wilderness, how frequently thou hast made His anger wax hot against thee. But now see how through death Christ has taken away the devils power. We reply, In truth, O Satan, thou art right; I have rebelled, I will not belie my conscience and my memory; I own I have transgressed. O Satan, turn to the blackest page of my history, I confess all. But O fiend, let me tell thee my sins were numbered on the scape-goats head of old. Go thou, O Satan, to Calvarys Cross, and see my Substitute bleeding there. Behold, my sins are not mine; they are laid on His eternal shoulders, and He has cast them from His own shoulders into the depths of the sea. Once more, you may suppose a Christian who has firm confidence in a future state. The evil one has another temptation for him.

3. It may be very true, saith he, that you are to live for ever and that your sins have been pardoned; but you have hitherto found it very hard work to persevere, and now you are about to die you will be sure to fail. O fiend, thou temptest us to think that thou wilt conquer us; remember, Satan, that the strength that has preserved us against thee has not been our own: the arm that has delivered us has not been the arm of flesh and blood, else we had long since been overcome. Look thou there, fiend, at Him that is Omnipotent. His Almightiness is the power that preserves us to the end; and therefore, be we never so weak, when we are weak then we are strong, and in our last hour of peril we shall yet overcome thee.

II. But now I want to show you that not only has Christ by His death taken away the devils power in death, but HE HAS TAKEN AWAY THE DEVILS POWER EVERYWHERE ELSE OVER A CHRISTIAN. He hath destroyed, or overcome, him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Death was the devils chief intrenchment: Christ bearded the lion in his den, and fought him in his own territory; and when He took death from him, and dismantled that once impregnable fortress, He took away from him not only that, but every other advantage that he had over the saint. And now Satan is a conquered foe, not only in the hour of death, but in every other hour and in every other place. He is an enemy, both cruel and mighty; but he is a foe who quakes and quails when a Christian gets into the lists with him; for he knows that though the fight may waver for a little while in the scale, the balance of victory must fall on the side of the saint, because Christ by His death destroyed the devils power. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Christ, the destroyer of the devil

We take as the works of the devil those which this malignant spirit hath performed in order to the overthrow of the holiness and the happiness of mankind; and we must endeavour to consider or to ascertain how the effects of the atonement so counterbalanced the effects of the apostacy, that our Redeemer, in dying, may actually be said to have destroyed the devil and him works. Now, the effects of the apostacy may justly be considered under two divisions; physical and moral effects: those whose subject is matter, and those whose subject is spirit; and if the Son of God destroyed the works of the devil, He must, in some way or other, have nullified both these effects, so that, physically and morally, He provided a fall remedy for a disorganised creation.

I. LOOK FIRST AT THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF ADAMS SIN. Every pain to which flesh is heir, every sickness--the decay, and the dissolution of the body, are to be referred to sin as their first origin; and the temptation to sin having been of Satan, they are to be classed among the works of the devil. And above these consequences existing in ourselves, there are others to be observed in creation around us, whether inanimate or animate. We admit that death is not yet destroyed in the sense of having ceased to possess power; but death no longer reigns by right; it reigns only by sufferance. It is allowed to remain as an instrument for the advancement of certain purposes of the Almighty; but not as a tyrant in whom is vested an undisputed authority. Nay, death succeeded by a resurrection, is not in truth to be designated death. We can gaze on that spectacle of the grave--not the proprietor, not the consumer, not the destroyer, but just simply the guardian of the dust, of human kind, and confess that the resurrection will give overwhelming attestation to the annihilation of death. And if this resurrection is referred to the energies of the atonement it will demostrate to the conviction of all orders of being that the Son of God effected in dying what the text announces as the great end proposed--that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. We go on to observe, that similar statements may be applied to all those other effects which we designate the physical effects of rebellion. It is quite true that pain and sorrow are allowed to continue. But it is true that evil is at length to be wholly extirpated from the earth; and that not in consequence of any fresh interposition of God, or any new mediation of Christ, but simply through the effects of that expiatory sacrifice which was offered ages back upon Calvary. Then, when righteousness shall clothe every province of the globe, and happiness, the purest and most elevated, shall circulate through the hearts and homes of all the worlds families, and the lustre of an untarnished loveliness shall gild the face of every landscape, then shall our text be accomplished; then shall it be put beyond doubt that there was a virtue in the atonement to counteract all the physical effects of apostacy.

II. We have now to consider what we term THE MORAY. CONSEQUENCES OF APOSTACY, and we own it more difficult to prove their destruction than that of the physical. We shall fasten at once on the hard point of the question. Beyond all doubt the grand work of the devil is the everlasting destruction of the human soul. If it were the work of the devil to bring mankind to share his own heritage of woe; and if, in spite of the interposition of Christ, a vast multitude of our race shall be actually his companions in anguish, can it fairly be contended that there has been any direct counteraction of the works of the devil, or that the effects of redemption are at all commensurate with the effects of apostacy? May we not exclaim in the language of the prophet--Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? We desire to meet this question fairly. We observe, then, that it is quite possible to charge too much on the devil, and to make excuses for men by throwing blame on the tempter. You say, if a man perish, his perdition is the work of the devil; but we are at issue with you here. The man is a redeemed man, and can be destroyed only through destroying himself. The devil does not destroy him. The devil, indeed, may put engines of destruction in his way; it is the man himself who makes use of those engines, and when he dies it is by suicide, and not by the blow of another. After all, it was not the devil that destroyed Adam. The devil tempted him; he could do nothing more. He did as much to Christ; and the destruction lay not in the being tempted, but in the yielding to temptation. And though Satan tempts, it is man who yields. Unless men perish through their own act, they are punished for what was unavoidable, and then their punishment is unjust. We contend, therefore, that it is far from essential to the complete destruction of the devil and all his works that all men should be saved. We will take this case first. We will call a fallen man Satans work, and we think to show you, by a few brief remarks, that this work is far more than destroyed by the redemption, without the salvation of all. Satans work is twofold--he has fastened on me death for original sin, and corrupt propensities which are sure to issue in actual sin. Hence, the devils work is destroyed, if arrangements have been made by which I may escape the death, and resist the propensities. But as interested in the obedience and sacrifice of Christ The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world--life, eternal life, is within my reach; and this destroys the first part of the work. The Holy Spirit is given me for overcoming evil, and this destroys the second part of the work. Satans work made death inevitable, and rendered me at one and the same time certain to sin and hopeless of pardon. Christs work, on the contrary, made death avoidable, and rendered me, though not proof against sin, yet sure through repentance and faith of forgiveness. Does not then the one work actually destroy the other? What has Satan done in procuring my fall which has not been balanced by what Christ did in effecting my redemption? (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Christ overcoming the devil by death

This God ordered

1. To accomplish that ancient promise to the seed of the woman, which was Christ; and threatening against the serpent, which was the devil Gen_3:15). It shall bruise thy head, that is, Christ should utterly vanquish the devil.

2. To deliver man by satisfying justice. Had the devil been by an almighty power vanquished, justice had not thereby been satisfied.

3. To magnify the power of the conquest the more; for Divine power is made perfect in weakness (1Co_12:9).

4. To bring the greater shame upon the devil; for what greater ignominy than for an enemy to be vanquished in his own kingdom, and that with his own weapon. The strongest and sharpest weapon that Satan had was death, and by it he did most hurt. Christ dealt in this case as Benaiah did with an Egyptian; he plucked the spear out of his hand, and slew him with his own spear (2Sa_23:21).

5. To take away the ignominy of the Cross of Christ, Jews, Pagans, and all infidels scoff at our crucified God, but this glorious victory which Christ by His death obtained, showeth that it is a matter of much glory and much rejoicing. The apostle apprehended so much hereof, as comparatively he would glory in nothing saving the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal_6:14).

6. To put a difference betwixt Christs death and the dearth of all others, even of the best of men. The death of others is only a freedom from troubles of soul and body, and an attaining unto rest and glory, which is by virtue of Christs death. Christs death is a conquering death, a death that tends to the advantage of all that believe in Christ.

7. To take the old wily serpent in his own craft, Satan laboured at nothing more than to bring Christ to death: he used Scribes, Pharisees, priests, rulers, and people of the Jews, yea, Judas, Pilate and his soldiers, as his instruments herein. They thought all sure if Christ might be put to death; but Christs death proved Satans destruction. (W. Gouge.)

Power of death--not of life

When Coecilia was brought before the judge Almachius, he said, Knowest thou not that I have power of life and death? Not of life, she said, but thou canst indeed be a minister of death.

The power of death destroyed

Archbishop Land on the scaffold thus addressed his Saviour: Lord, I am coming as fast as I can. I know I must pass through the shadow of death before I can see Thee. But it is but umbra morris, a shadow of death, a little darkness upon nature; but Thou, Lord, by Thy goodness, hast broken the jaws and the power of death. As Dr. Neale remarks on this, Yes, our Lord passed through the valley of death; we through the valley of the shadow of death. He tasted of death that we might never taste it; He died that we might fall asleep.

Through fear of death … subject to bondage

The only effectual antidote to the dread of dissolution

Of all the passions that have place in the human mind, there is not one that takes a stronger hold of it than fear; and of all the objects that operate on that passion, there is not one that does so more strikingly and more impressively than death. Nor is this to be wondered at. For what is death? That from which there is no escape. That which not unfrequently comes when least expected. That which terminates every earthly relationship, acquisition, anticipation, enjoyment. Not only does it do what it does with all the eagerness of willinghood, but also with all the callousness of insensibility. Dwellings it disinhabits, families it scatters, and ties the most endearing it dissolves, without any compunction or regret. But much though death be the object of natural fear, the fear of it is in no slight measure increased when that which is natural has superadded to it that which is slavish. For though, like others, sinners fear death on account of what death is in itself, yet their fear of death, arising as it does from a consciousness of ill-desert, is rendered trebly fearful by the inward bitings of remorse, and by a sense of merited wrath. Is there no remedy for their dismay? The text answers the question. It were a mistake to infer that the power of the devil in reference to death is absolute. Such power, whether in reference to death or in reference to anything else, is not possessed by any finite being. It is the exclusive, the incommunicable prerogative-of Him, and of Him alone, who is infinite; of Him who, as occupying in His own right the throne of the universe, has the keys of death. The power of the devil in reference to death is simply permitted power. But though the power of the devil in reference to death be simply permitted power, it is not limited to temporal death. It extends to, and, as here spoken of by the apostle, embraces more particularly, eternal death; in other words, the state of misery to which the term is applicable in its most aggravated signification. It is awful to think that there is in the universe a being possessed of such power, as. the power of death; of power not only to tempt to sin, the wages of which is death, but to render the sinner the instrument of his own exposure to misery through all everlasting! It would be still more awful were that being invincible, indestructible. And how by His death has Jesus done this, in order that His death might be an antidote to the fear of death?

I. BECAUSE BY HIS DEATH HE TRIUMPHED OVER HIM WHO HAD THE POWER OF DEATH. For this He became incarnate; for had He not become incarnate, He could not have been the surety of the guilty, nor as their surety could He have died. By it the violated law was magnified and made honourable; for the obedience of which it was the consequence was the obedience not only of a Divine Person, but of a Person absolutely faultless. Such was the result of the death of Jesus, because by His death sin was substitutionally expiated, by the expiation of which the devil lost his power of death, the loss of which was his own destruction. What a triumph I Never was triumph like it; for though He who conquered fell, by His fall He conquered. What, then, have they to fear from death who trust in Jesus, the destroyer by death of the destroyer?

II. BECAUSE BY HIS DEATH HE DIVESTED DEATH ITSELF OF ITS STING. Death has been represented as coming in the order of nature; and hence it has been called the debt of nature, as if our original destiny could not have been carried into effect without its payment. For what is the fact, and therefore the teaching on this subject, that is credible? Is it that death is the work of nature? On the contrary, is it not that death is not the work of nature, but the work of sin? While he was sinless, was not man deathless? And is sin merely the procuring cause of death--that to which death owes its existence and prevalence? Were this all, it would be evidential in no slight degree of the deadly tendency of sin. But this is not all. Not only in having originated it does sin lead to death as its moral consequence; but it is that from which death derives all its painfulness, all its hatefulness. Well, then, may sin be denominated not only the cause, but the sting of death. If this, then, be what sin really is; if it be that which renders death indescribably deadly, can language too strong be employed to express our sense of obligation to Him who died for sin? His death being sacrificial and propitiatory, by the stroke which slew Him, death lost its sting. The last arrow in the quiver of death was spent. The very dregs of the cup of trembling were wrung out. The malignant fury of the curse of the broken law was exhausted. So that now death may be a blessing, but can never be a curse, to those who trust in Him who died for sin. What, then, have they to fear from death? The waters of Jordan have applied to them a misnomer when they are called by the name Marah, for the bitterness of the curse is removed. There is no lion in the dark valley, neither does any ravenous beast walk therein. The dart of death is pointless, its wound must be harmless.

III. BECAUSE BY HIS DEATH HE PURCHASED THE RIGHT TO REDEEM FROM DEATH THOSE TO WHOM DEATH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN THE PATHWAY TO ETERNAL MISERY. It is much that Jesus should have stooped to combat with him who had the power of death, it is still more that He should have submitted to the endurance of the sting of death itself; but His experience of the one, and His triumphing over the other, would have failed to accomplish the object He had in view, were the bestowment of the good problematical or uncertain, which He thus sought and gained for those whom He represented. Their enjoyment, however, of that good depends not on a peradventure; their being put into possession of it is exposed to no jeopardy, and can be hindered by no casualty. As indicative of the high authority with which as their successful surety He is invested, He says, I will redeem them from death. Having been the originator of the life that has been taken away, is there anything incredible in His being its restorer? If not, then, instead of having uncertainty attached to it, the future resurrection of the body is considered aright, when it is considered not as questionable, but as positively certain. What, then, have they to fear from death who trust in Jesus? To them, death is not to be the entire extinction of their corporeal, any more than it is to be a cessation of their spiritual being. What, then, have they to fear from death? Trusting in Jesus, they trust in Him who is the resurrection and the life. In short, trusting in Jesus, they trust in Him who died that they might live, and who lives that they may never die, but live. Where? Where there shall be no death, where the darkness of the tomb shall be for ever excluded by the light of life, where the night of the grave shall be for ever lost in the day of immortality. (Alex. Jack, D. D.)

The fear of death

Of a sentiment so powerful and so general, it is natural to inquire the use and object. Of a terror so painful it is desirable to know the origin and the remedy.

I. One beneficial effect, which the fear of death extensively produces, IS INDUSTRY IN OUR RESPECTIVE OCCUPATIONS.

II. Another beneficial effect of the fear of death is TEMPERANCE.

III. Another beneficial effect of the fear of death is THE PREVENTION OF MURDER.

IV. If the love of life restrain us from doing violence to others, it must restrain us still more forcibly FROM DOING VIOLENCE TO OURSELVES; and the prevention of self-murder will be another beneficial effect of the fear of death.

V. The fear of death produces its beneficial effects still more extensively, AS IT RESTRAINS THE VICIOUS PROPENSITIES OF THE HEART IN GENERAL, AND PROMOTES THE SENTIMENTS AND THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION.

VI. The fear of death, however, produces the most important of its beneficial effects, and indeed, lays the foundation of all the rest, BY

SUGGESTING ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS THE MOST INTERESTING AND USEFUL REFLECTIONS TO THE MIND. (W. Sparrow, LL. D.)

Why men fear death

I. It is one reason why we are so much afraid of death, that WE EXPECT IT WILL BE PAINFUL. We see the dissolution of our fellow creatures attended with paroxysms of pain. But these torments it is in a great measure, in our own power to prevent. The common parent of disease is intemperance.

II. Death, again, is rendered awful BY THE GLOOMY CEREMONIES THAT ATTEND IT. Take away the pomp of death, and you take away half its terrors.

III. Death might be considered As THE MEANS OF GRATIFYING THAT INCESSANT DESIRE OF NEW INFORMATION, which nature implanted in the human mind; which is always innocent and laudable, while directed by prudence and moderation; and which, in the present instance, ought to be united with humility and reverence, in proportion to the solemnity of the subject.

IV. It is another obvious reason why we are so much affected by the scenes of death, THAT WE DO NOT FREQUENTLY BEHOLD THEM. Were we daily to witness the dissolution of a neighbour, we should soon lose those powerful emotions of fear.

V. Upon the same principle we may be assured that DEATH WOULD LOSE A LARGE PROPORTION OF ITS TERRORS, DID WE MAKE IT, AS WE OUGHT, THE FREQUENT SUBJECT OF OUR MEDITATIONS. Not only every instance of mortality, but every appearance of nature, might suggest the subject to our thoughts. Scarcely a day passes over us, but an animal or a vegetable perishes before our eyes.

VI. Lastly, and above all, DEATH WOULD BE NO LONGER FEARED, WERE IT CONSIDERED ONLY AS THE END OF OUR LABOURS. The grave would appear no longer gloomy, could we but look upon it as our passage to eternal glory. Jesus Christ is the basis on which we must build our virtues and our courage. The shield that must defend us against all the terrors that death can assume. (W. Sparrow, LL. D.)

How Christ takes away fear of death

I. CHRIST TEACHES US THAT DEATH IS NOT THE END OF OUR BEING.

II. CHRIST TEACHES US THAT THE SOUL DOES NOT WAIT IN THE GRAVE FOR THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

III. CHRIST TAKES AWAY OUR FEAR OF DEATH, BY TEACHING US, IF WE ARE WILLING TO BE TAUGHT OF HIM, HOW WE MAY MEET OUR MAKER WITHOUT FEAR, IN THE GREAT DAY WHEN HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD.

IV. CHRIST REVEALS TO THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO BE TAUGHT OF HIM, THE REST AND THE BLESSEDNESS OF HEAVEN, AND GIVES TO EACH SOUL AN INWARD ASSURANCE THAT IT SHALL ETERNALLY SHARE IN THEM. (R. S. S. Dickinson)

Deliverance by Christ from the fear of death

I. WHAT OF DEATH IT IS, BY WHICH THE PERSONS SPOKEN OF IN THE TEXT ARE KEPT IN FEAR AND BONDAGE.

1. Sin, the cause of death, operates in producing this effect.

2. The law which threatens death.

3. Afflictions, the harbingers of death.

4. Satan, who had the power of death.

5. Death itself. He knows not how rudely the last enemy may handle him, when he arrives. He is well aware that he is a merciless tyrant, that he knows not how to show pity.

II. HOW DOES CHRIST DELIVER THEM FROM THIS FEAR AND BONDAGE?

1. By assuring them that He has made satisfaction for their sin, and will preserve them from its guilt and power.

2. By making known to them their deliverance from the law as a covenant.

3. By giving them to understand that their afflictions are all, to their souls, blessings in disguise.

4. By reminding them of the glorious victories which He hath obtained over Satan, their great enemy.

5. By promising them His presence at the hour of death.

III. A FEW THOUGHTS CALCULATED TO GUIDE AND ENCOURAGE BELIEVERS WHEN SUFFERING AND DYING.

1. Keep a steady eye on the rod with which God corrects you, and you will see that He never gives it wholly out of His own hand.

2. Rest assured that all the afflictions measured out to you are the fruits of your heavenly Fathers love.

3. Remember, that in being visited with affliction you are not singular. This is the discipline of your heavenly Fathers house.

4. Live under the firm persuasion that your trials shall all issue well. They may, indeed, be numerous and horrific; but so soon as they cease to be necessary, they shall cease to be administered.

5. Submit to the will of God in all things. Sharp may be the stroke of His hand, but the way of duty is plain and obvious. Endeavour, in His strength, and spirit, and grace, to exercise patient resignation, and quiet submission. (John Jardine.)

Deliverance from the fear of death

I. CONSIDER THE FEAR OF DEATH, which is mentioned as one great evil from which we are delivered by Christ.

1. What is that fear of death from which Christ delivers? Fear in the general is a flight from evil, or the aversion of the mind from what we apprehend hurtful. The fear of death may be distinguished into two sorts

(1) There is a natural fear of death. Death is an enemy to nature, a rending asunder the two parts of our constitution, so closely united and long continued together. This is not a sinful fear and is useful. It is planted in our nature by the God of nature, and is the necessary consequence of self-love, and self-preservation. It is the rising of nature against its mortal enemy; the reluctance of sense against what would hurt and destroy it, without any reasoning or consideration about it. It is universal, and common to all men: it is fixed in human nature. From this fear Christ does not deliver us; for that would be to divest us of our sensible nature, and love of ourselves; though there is a great difference of degrees in different persons very much according to their natural temper, as some have greater natural courage, and others are more tender and easily impressed. Or according to their more eminent attainments in the Divine life, or more lively exercise of their faith, which very much weakens their natural fear, and sometimes carries them much above it.

(2) There is a moral, or rational fear of death. Death, in the moral consideration of it, is a change of our state, a passage out of one world into another. It is a final determination of our main state, and a decisive turn for eternity. In this consideration of it, death appears more terrible, and is apt to raise a greater fear. Wherever there is a just apprehension of the evil of sin, and of the Divine displeasure upon the account of it, it cannot but make the thoughts of death more terrible, and add weight to the natural fear of it. Besides, there is the love of this world. And wherever the love of the world prevails above the love of the Father; wherever there is an inordinate desire of life, and a carnal frame of mind; there the thoughts of death will be most uneasy. Besides, there are the certain consequences of dying. Death transmits them to the other world, and consigns them over to judgment. Add to this the uncertainty of their minds about their future state.

2. What is that bondage to which the fear of death does subject? It is a servile spirit, under the constant awes of displeasure and dread of punishment; when the natural fear prevails, and the rational fear is heightened, and both concur in all their circumstances to give a dread to the mind, and fix it in a state of slavish bondage. Now here it will be proper to consider the evil of this temper of mind, which the apostle represents by bondage, to be the more sensible of our deliverance from it by Christ.

(1) It is a disparagement to the gospel-state, and unsuitable to the genius and design of it. The gospel is a state of liberty and freedom, in distinction from that of the law.

(2) It is highly injurious and hurtful to ourselves. For example, it destroys the peace and comfort of our minds. It gives a sting to all the miseries of life, and renders them doubly grievous. The sickness and disorders of nature are more burdensome; it gives an accent to every groan, and quickens the sense of the sharpest pain. It makes the heart sick, under all the sickness of the body. It abates the relish of the best enjoyments, and damps the joy of the most prosperous state. The fear of death disturbs the mind in the performance of holy duties, and affects every service of life, as well as every enjoyment of it. It is an enemy to gladness of heart, and flatly inconsistent with the noble exercises of love, and joy and praise. Besides, it brings us into slavery to the devil, and is a powerful snare of sin. It gives the devil a great advantage over us. It is certain no man will be a martyr for Christ, or love Him more than his own life, which yet the gospel requires of every disciple of Christ, who is under the servitude of the fear of death. To conclude with one instance more, it sometimes leads to despair. A strange contrast this, that though they are afraid to die, their fear makes them unwilling to live, and the torment of fear makes them unable to bear the burden of life.

II. CONSIDER OUR DELIVERANCE BY CHRIST FROM. THE FEAR OF DEATH, How far, and by what means, we are delivered from it. There is a fundamental deliverance, when the foundation of it is laid, and the just ground of our fear is removed, so that if we are not actually delivered, yet there is a sufficient foundation laid for it in due time, and in a proper way. And our actual deliverance is begun in this world, and commences with our faith, or hearty subjection to the gospel of Christ. The dominion of fear is broken at the same time with the dominion of sin, and it is no longer a governing principle or prevailing temper.

1. He lays the foundation of our deliverance in His own person, and by what He has done Himself for us.

(1) By His death. This is directly referred to in the context. The influence of the death of Christ to this purpose is variously represented in the Scripture. For example, by His death He made atonement for sin, and procured the forgiveness of it (Isa_53:10-11; 1Jn_2:2; Heb_2:17). Besides, by His death He destroyed the devil, who had the power of death. When God the supreme judge is satisfied and reconciled, the devil loses his power to hurt them. Again, He has conquered death itself, and destroyed the power of it. It is no longer to be considered as a victorious conqueror, which lays waste all about it, and defies all control; it is a conquered enemy, though it is an enemy still. So the apostle says, He has abolished death. When He rose from the dead, lie visibly triumphed over all the power of death, and gave a sensible evidence of the acceptance of His performance and His complete victory over all His enemies. And as He conquered it in His own person, so lie will utterly destroy it at last, for the last enemy which shall be destroyed is death. The whole empire of death will cease, and there will be no more any death. Add to all this, that He has changed the nature of it, and make it quite another thing. It was the execution of the Divine vengeance upon guilty rebels, but it is now a messenger of peace, and forerunner of the greatest good. It was a gloomy vale, which led down to the blackness of darkness; but it is now a passage to glory.

(2) He lays the foundation of our deliverance by the gospel revelation, which was confirmed by His death. This is one of the peculiar glories of the gospel doctrine. It reveals the glorious resurrection of the body at last. It reveals the immortal life of the other world.

2. He actually delivers from the fear of death by the influence of His grace, or the assistance and reliefs of the gospel dispensation. When we are sanctified by His spirit, we are justified by His blood, and there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. If we are reconciled to God, and in a state of favour, we are delivered from the curse of the law, and have nothing to fear from the power of death. Besides, it is by subduing the inordinate love of life, and of all present and sensible good. So we are crucified to the world by the Cross of Christ, and the world is crucified unto us. It loses the charms and influence it had before; and no more affects us than two dead bodies lying together affect one another. Further, it is by working suitable dispositions of mind to the heavenly state; or making us spiritually and heavenly minded. A prevailing love to God and heaven will expel the torment of fear; for perfect love casteth out fear, and so in a proportionable degree to the measure of our love. The love of Christ will make us willing to die that we may be with Him, and inspire a noble confidence of mind under the greatest dangers and terrors of death. To conclude this matter, it is by clearer prospects, and present foretastes of the future blessedness. Lessons:

1. How unreasonable are the fears of good men. Art thou afraid of the dissolution of nature? It argues great weakness of mind, and involves great absurdity to fear that which we know beforehand cannot be avoided, which is the condition of our nature, and settled by a Divine decree. Or art thou afraid of changing worlds? But why, if it be to a better world, and to a state of blessedness, should we fear a change to so great advantage? or leaving a state of guilt and imperfection.

2. How great are our obligations to Christ! How admirable was the love of our Redeemer to partake of our flesh and blood, and submit to die for us, that He might deliver us from the fear of death! How should this endear

Him to us, and recommend the gospel to our value and esteem? (W. Harris, D. D.)

Deliverance from the fear of death

I. FROM WHAT FEAR OF DEATH ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD DELIVERED BY JESUS CHRIST.

1. Not from the natural fear of death, which in itself is a sinless infirmity, like sickness or weariness. Our Lord Himself sometimes expressed an aversion to death (Joh_12:27; Mat_14:35).

2. From a slavish fear of death, which hath torment in it (1Jn_4:18), and unfits them for the duties of their particular callings, and disables them from prosecuting the things that belong to their peace and welfare.

II. BY WHAT MEANS AND METHODS ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD DELIVERED BY CHRIST FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH?

1. I shall show you what Christ hath already done to deliver or free the children of God from the fear of death. The death of Christ hath made death to look with another face than formerly it had. The death of Christ must needs sweeten the forethoughts of death to the chosen of God, because that He died in their stead: He did not only die in their nature, but in their room; not only for their good, but also in their stead.

(1) Christ by His death hath taken away the true reason of the fear of death; that is, the curse and condemnation of the law of God (1Co_15:56).

(2) Christ by His death hath deprived the devil of the power of death; and by this means also He hath delivered the children from a servile fear of death.

2. Let me proceed to show you what He continues still to do, in order to the freeing and delivering the children of God from the fear of death, and the bondage that ensues thereon.

(1) He worketh and increaseth those graces of His Spirit in them which are destructive hereof, and opposite hereunto.

(2) He delivers them from it by convincing and persuading them that they shall not be losers, but gainers, yea, great gainers, thereby.

(a) It consists in a freedom from all evil. Which is subdivided into the evil of sorrow, and the evil of sin.

(b) It consists in the fruition of all good. Believers, when they die, they enjoy God Himself, who is the chiefest good.

(3) Christ delivers believers from the slavish fear of death, by giving them some real foretastes of heaven and of eternal life. Application: I would exhort you to prize and improve this great privilege.

1. You must be earnest with God, that He would apply to you this benefit of His Sons death by His blessed Spirit.

2. You must give all diligence to the attaining of a greater measure of faith, love, and hope.

3. You must resist the devil, and withstand His temptations, not only to other sins, but to the sin of despondency in particular. (R. Mayo, M. A.)

Deliverance from the fear of death

I. THOSE WHOM CHRIST CAME TO DELIVER ARE REPRESENTED IN THE TEXT AS PARTAKERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD, AS OBNOXIOUS TO DEATH AND IN BONDAGE THROUGH FEAR OF IT ALL THEIR LIVES. Let us contemplate the feelings of a man approaching death with no well grounded hope of salvation through Christ.

1. In the first place, he experiences great losses, and finds no alleviations under them. Death comes to him in the character of an unmixed evil; to take from him all his earthly enjoyments, and to send him destitute into the invisible world.

2. This man approaching death with no hope in Christ is surrounded with fearful darkness, and sees no light before him. The ocean spreads before him vast and dark, but he knows not to what shore it is bearing him.

3. The man approaching death with no hope in Christ anticipates terrible evils, and sees no way of escape.

II. THE DELIVERANCE WROUGHT OUT BY CHRIST FOR THOSE WHO ARE HELD IN THIS FEARFUL BONDAGE. This is of a nature exactly adapted to the condition of those whom Christ came to deliver, and is comprised in three particulars.

1. Christ the Redeemer, mighty to save, furnishes for the children of His grace the most abundant alleviations under the losses of death. The Saviour is with them, their light and their salvation.

2. Christ having Himself risen from the dead, has poured the light of immortality over the darkness of the grave, and given assurance--that all who die in Him shall also rise to eternal life and blessedness.

3. Christ delivers His people from all the anticipated evils of death in the future world.

III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THIS DELIVERANCE IS EFFECTED. The text declares that it is by death. In conclusion, I am led to remark

1. That infidelity is not more to be rejected on account of its falseness, than abhorred on account of its hostility to the dearest hopes of man. What does it do for its disciples in that hour when the soul most needs support?

2. Believers in Christ ought to enter more experimentally and practically into the design of His mediation and death.

3. In view of this subject let all be persuaded to take refuge in Him who alone can deliver them from the fear of death and the bondage of condemnation. (J. Hawes, D.D.)

Deliverance from the slavish fear of death

I. WHAT THERE IS IN DEATH TO EXCITE SUCH FEAR AS MAY JUSTLY BE TERMED A BONDAGE.

1. Death is an object of fear, from the bodily pains with which it is preceded and attended.

2. Death is an object of fear, because of the consequences which it visibly produces.

3. Death is an object of fear, because it is an event, the precise nature of which is unknown to us.

4. Death is a change which we undergo alone; that is, without the company of earthly friends.

5. Death is an object of fear, inasmuch as it separates the worldly man from all the present sources of his happiness.

6. Death is an object of fear, chiefly because we are Blinkers, and because by it we are introduced into the more immediate presence of the God whom we have offended.

II. THE DELIVERANCE WHICH CHRIST HAS ACCOMPLISHED FOR HIS PEOPLE. (James Clason.)

The fear of death removed

This text represents unto us two things:

I. THE SAD CONDITION OF SUCH AS ARE UNDER THE POWER OF SATAN. The sad condition is an estate of perpetual slavery and fear of death.

1. And this is a grievous slavery and bondage, not only because it is perpetual, but because of the great danger. For by fear of death may, by a metonymy, be meant the danger of death. For the proper cause of fear is danger once apprehended; for it is true that man may be in danger, and yet without fear, because the danger is not seen.

2. And the bondage of perpetual fear is woful, if not intolerable.

II. Though this be a sad condition, YET THERE IS DELIVERANCE FROM THIS CONTINUAL DANGER, THIS PERPETUAL FEAR WHICH IS THE GREATEST SLAVERY OF ALL OTHER.

1. The beginning of comfort is to know that there is a possibility of freedom, and that the danger is avoidable or removable. The first degree of this deliverance is in Christs death, whereby Divine justice was satisfied and freedom merited.

2. That the power of the devil was destroyed; for whilst it continued, the fear could not be removed.

3. This freedom and liberty is more complete, when upon faith in Christs death sin is pardoned, and the cause of this fear is taken away. Then this slavery is changed into a blessed liberty, fear into hope, and the sorrow of death into the joy of life. (G. Lawson.)

Bondage through fear of death

It is not meant by the inspired writer, that when men are not thinking of death, they are still pressed down by its yoke. Death as yet is only in the future, and to oppress and harass it must of course occupy the thoughts. Those are no exception to the remark who fear not death because they do not allow themselves to dwell upon it: such persons it does not contemplate. And yet after all, perhaps, on closer examination the persons thus denied to be exceptions to the sentiment of the text may be fairly considered not exceptions to it, but examples of it. How comes it, it is reasonable to ask, that these men do not think of death? Are there not mementoes enough all around them? With these aids to reflection, if they still think little about the subject, is it not natural to infer that the subject has been so long avoided that the habit is complete, and the mind turns from it with an acquired as well as natural instinct? But supposing this the case, how forcibly does it prove the doctrine of the text? Does the mind fear death so much, that it dare not look it in the face, and hold free communion with it? Beyond all doubt, that mind is in bondage. Without running into the extravagances of Stoicism, others have made representations of death, which might lead us to suppose that they did not regard it as an evil. With a kind of poetical philosophy, they would represent it as the glorious sunset of life, as needed repose after sublunary toils, as the retiring of the satisfied guest from the banquet! Now in answer to this it is freely admitted that all the circumstances of our dissolution are not unfavourable. Death does not wear, always or even generally, the most fearful aspect that it might put on. Nature in many respects makes a way for us, and smooths our passage to the other world. But after all allowances, the truth returns again with a force which nothing can resist, that death is the greatest of all evils. Instinct, reason, observation, all tell us this; and we are aware also that it is the Scripture representation. In Scripture it is called the wages of sin, the curse, the king of terrors; and because it is the most dread calamity which man here witnesses, it is put by a common figure of speech for all the misery which he inherits, or bring upon himself in this world or the next. To this decisive authority may be added, if not for confirmation, yet for the impression which it is calculated to make, the acknowledgment of Rochefoucault. This man, who might not unaptly be called the priest of godlessness, freely admits that death and the sun are not to be looked at steadily. The glory of dying resolute y, he remarks, the hopes of being regretted, the desire of leaving a fair reputation, the assurance of being delivered from present miseries and freed from the caprice of fortune, are alleviating reflections, but by no means infallible. All, adds he, which reason can do for us is to teach us to avert our eyes and fix them on some other object. But let us come home to our own selves. On what principle can we justify attention to any thing, if not to this? Of all the interests of man the highest are involved in death, and the most reasonable self-love requires us to weigh it well. The question therefore recurs again, why is it that we think of it so seldom and so slightly? I know of no satisfactory answer, but that furnished by the text. It is the fear of death which banishes it from our thoughts. The subject is obvious, meeting us at every turn. It is important, for eternity hangs upon it. It is personal, for it is appointed unto all men once to die. It is interesting--full of thrilling interest, of tragic interest, in its circumstances, nature and consequences. Now, whether this is a correct representation we all can determine for ourselves. If I mistake not we shall find on examination, treat our minds recoil from death because it is a subject associated with no good to us, on the contrary connected with much evil. But it is vain, as already intimated, merely to avert the eyes. The wise man will seek relief some other way. Do we desire peace at the last? Would we count it a privilege to be able to take a near view of death, looking fully at all its horrors without dismay? Do we covet the feelings of St. Paul, when, after a survey of death, he cried out, Oh, grave, where is thy victory? There is no way of reaching them, but by the faith of the Son of God. Present thoughtlessness and folly will not do it: they will only aggravate the evil when at last it comes. And, as to philosophy, alas! it may answer some of the lighter purposes of life but can never pillow the soul in death. Most truly has it been said, that the necessity of dying constitutes the whole of philosophic fortitude. It is a sullen, dogged silence, which utters no sorrow but feels much. It knows nothing of cheerful resignation, of lively hope. Oh, how far beyond its reach the spirit of the apostle on the eve of martyrdom: I am now ready to be offered. This is exclusively Christian privilege. None can bestow it but He who gives the Christian his name, his character, his all. (W. Sparrow, LL. D.)

Fear of death

That king of terrors, as Job calls death; that terrible of all terribles, as Aristotle. Nature will have a bout with the best when they come to die. But I wonder (says a grave divine)how the souls of wicked men go not out of their bodies, as the devils did out of the demoniacs, rending, raging, tearing, foaming. I wonder how any can die in their wits, that die not in the faith of Jesus Christ. Appius Claudius loved not the Greek Zeta, because when pronounced, it represents the gnashing teeth of a dying man. Sigismund, the emperor, being ready to die, commanded his servants not to name death in his hearing. (John Trapp.)

Death near

Let us not stand in an immoderate fear of death. Death is a serpent without a sting. Though he grip us, yet he cannot hurt us. Dame, lee the Parasite extolled the magnificence of Dionysius, affirming that there was not an happier man in the world than he; wilt thou have a taste of my happiness? He caused him to be set in a chair of state, the table furnished with all delicacies, singing-men and women making melody with voices and instruments, noble attendants to wait on him; but therewithal he commanded a sharp naked sword to be hung over his head by a slender horse-hair; the which he espying, took no pleasure in that paradise, but besought him earnestly to take him out of his happiness again. So though we have the world at will, though we be gentlemen, &c., yet the sword of death hanging over our heads continually must needs quail the courage of the greatest gallant. (W. Jones, D. D.)

How did Christ through death free from the fear of death?

We, steeped in theology, would naturally reply, By offering Himself an atoning sacrifice for sin. But that is certainly not the writers thought here. He reserves the great thought of Christs priestly self-sacrifice for a more advanced stage in the development of his doctrine. What then is his thought? Simply this. Christ delivers from the fear of death by dying as a sinless one. Death and sin are connected very intimately in our minds, hence fear. But lo, here is one who knows no sin dying. The bare fact breaks the association between sin and death. But more than that: He who dies is our brother, has entered into our mortal state in a fraternal spirit for the very purpose of lending us a helping hand. We may not fully know how His death avails to help us. But we know that the Sanctifier in a spirit of brotherhood became one with us, even in death; and the knowledge enables us to realise our unity with Him in death, and so emancipates us from fear. Sinners may die, for the Sinless has died. The benefit thus derived from the death of the sinless One is but the other side of the great principle, Sanctifier and sanctified all one. For it has two sides, it applies both ways. The Sanctifier becomes one with the sanctified in brotherly love; the sanctified become one with the Sanctifier in privilege. They are mutually one in both directions in Gods sight; they are mutually one in both directions for the spiritual instincts of the believer, even before he knows what the twofold validity for God me us. In proportion as we realise the one aspect of the principle, the Sanctifier one with us, we are enabled to realise and get benefit from the other. While the Holy One stands apart from us in the isolation of His sinlessness, we, sinners, fear to die; when we see Him by our side, even in death, which we have been accustomed to regard as the penalty of sin, death ceases to appear as penalty, and becomes the gate of heaven. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)

Delivered from the fear of death

The following testimony was delivered by the Rev. Edward Deering, B.D. (author of some excellent lectures on this Epistle), shortly before his death in 1576. There is but one sun that giveth light to the world; there is but one righteousness; there is but one communion of saints. If I were the most excellent creature in the world; if I were as righteous as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (for they were excellent men in the world), yet we must all confess that we are great sinners, and that there is no salvation but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we have all need of the grace of God. And for my part, as concerning death, I feel such joy of spirit, that if I should have the sentence of life on the one side, and the sentence of death on the other side, I had rather choose a thousand times (seeing God hath appointed the separation) the sentence of death than the sentence of life.

The joy of death to the Christian

Concerning death, to them that be Gods dear children, what other thing is it than the despatcher of all displeasure, the end of all travail, the door of desires, the gate of gladness, the port of paradise, the haven of heaven, the rail of rest and quietness, the entrance to felicity, the beginning of all blissfulness? It is the very bed of down (and, therefore, well compared to a sleep) for the doleful bodies of Gods people to rest in, out of the which they shall rise and awake, most fresh and lusty, to life everlasting. It is a passage to the Father, a chariot to heaven the Lords messenger, a leader unto Christ, a going to our home, a deliverance from bondage and prison, a dismission from war, a security from all sorrows, and a manumission from all misery. So that the very heathen did in some places cause the day of their death to be celebrated with mirth, melody, and minstrelsy. And should we be dismayed at it, should we be afraid of it, should we tremble to hear of it? Should such a friend as it is be unwelcomed? Should the foulness of his face scare us from his good conditions? Should the hardness of his husk hinder us from his sweet kernel? Should the roughness of the tide tie us to the bank and shore, there to be drowned, rather than the desire of our home drive us to go aboard? Should the hardness of the saddle set us on our feet to perish by the way, rather than to leap up and endure the same a little, and so to be where we would be? (John Bradford.)

Fear of death prophetic

Do not the wicked themselves prophesy by their fear of death a worse condition of some dreadful judgment after this life, prepared for sinners, when none but they stand in such fear of death? Why doth one wish for it, and another tremble to hear of it? If it were but a sleep, no man would fear it at all; for who feareth to take his rest when the night approacheth? If it did take away sense and feeling, and make men trees or stones, no man would fear it at all; for who would fear strokes, if he could feel no more than a stone? Or who would care for anything, if he had not sense of anything? Therefore this fear of death which you see in all but the faithful, doth presage some strange torment to those men which they begin to taste already before they die; like the spirit which persecuted Saul before his end. They desire not to be dissolved, but they fear to be dissolved; they go not to Christ, but their departure is an everlasting departure from Christ, to the devils, to hell, without either end or ease, or any patience to endure it. (Henry Smith.)

Jesus the conqueror of Death

He did not vanquish Death from afar, like some god of the ancient Olympus; He did not strike down the foe by arrows shot from heights of the empyrean. No; He Himself came down, Himself wrestled with Death; for a moment its cold hand was laid upon His heart, and then He arose, felled it to the ground by His glance; and walked our earth, as He had done before. (Madame de Gasparin.)

Christs victory

I have often asked myself what was the effect in hell when Christ gained the victory over sin and death. There is a striking picture in the Apocryphal Gospels of what it might have been. At the moment Christ died the tidings reached Beelzebub, Jesus hath died, and hath overthrown thy kingdom on earth. Then David with his harp of gold, and Isaiah, the prophet, are heard singing and shouting with joy, Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in (Psa_24:1-10.). Beelzebub replies with the haughty question, Who is this King of Glory? And the answer comes: The Lord strong and mighty: the Lord mighty in battle. Again in trembling tones Beelzebub asks: Who is the King of Glory? And again rings out the paean of triumph, The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory. Then just as the Philistines fled before David, so all the devils flee when they hear what Christ has done. That is figure, but this is fact, that through death Christ overcame him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. (H. W. Webb-Peploe, M. A.)

He also Himself

Have you ever noticed, wrote a beloved friend who was near death, the glorious redundancy of the apostles words, He also--Himself--likewise took part of the same? This friend had death before him for many months, and he found in these words the richest Divine comforts. We want a Christ that can live like us, and when we come to die we shall want a Christ that could die like us. (C. Clemance, D. D.)

Jewish conception of death

How strongly this argument would appeal to the Hebrew readers of the Epistle is clear from the Rabbinical theology, which often speaks of the fear of death and the accuser as a constant companion of mans life. In every dangerous crisis of life, on a lonely journey, or on the high seas, the Jew seemed to see the accuser pleading for his death. In this life, says the Madrash Punchuma, death never suffers man to be glad. (W. Robertson Smith, M. A.)

Fear of death

Mr. B mentioning to Dr. Johnson that he had seen the execution of several convicts at Tyburn, two days before, and that none of them seemed to be under any concern, Most of them, sir, said Johnson, have never thought at all. But is not the fear of death natural to man? said B So much so, sir, said Johnson, that the whole of life is but keeping away the thoughts of it. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)

Fear of death the means of conversion

The fear of death seldom leads to conversion, but it did in the case of Henry Townley, afterwards minister of Union Chapel, Calcutta. As a young man he was threatened with pulmonary consumption, and thought not to have long to live. Dissatisfaction with his own life and opinions led him to a thorough investigation of the evidences of Christianity, and then came not only intellectual belief, but the consecration of his entire nature to God. His distress of mind was great, and he had not in the circle of his acquaintance a single religious person to assist him towards right. After much mental conflict it came thus. He was looking on Blackfriars Bridge at the setting sun, on a bright, calm evening, and prayed that the Sun of Righteousness might shine on his dark, perplexed state, and immediately the answer came in the melting of his soul towards God and the possession of unspeakable peace. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)

Deliverance from the fear of death

As far as my experience has gone, I have found that young Christians and timorous Christians really die more triumphantly. There are exceptions, however. I will tell you how this is. It is the Lords kindness. He does not let the devil have a shot at them at the last, because they could not bear it. Do you remember how John Bunyan describes this? He says that when Mr. Fearing went to cross the river of death, the water was lower than ever it was known. So it is with those who are like Mr. Fearing; but when you see that there is a fight when old people come to die, you may conclude that they are getting their last victory. They are getting the serpents head under their heel; and they will take their last leap from the serpents head to the throne. (S. Coley.)

Death like going into another room

In the quiet watches of the night Dr. Bushnells wife asked him how death looked to him. Very much like going into another room, was the answer. (Dr. Bushnells Life.)

Why fear death

When Sir Henry Vane was condemned and awaiting execution, a friend spoke of prayer that for the present the cup of death might be averted. Why should we fear death? answered Vane. I find it rather shrinks from me than I from it. (Littles Historical Lights.)

Fear of death

There are some that are like what is fabled of the swan. The ancients said the swan never sang in his lifetime, but always sang just when he died. Now, there are many of Gods desponding children, who seem to go all their life under a cloud; but they get a swans song before they die. Tile river of their life comes running down, perhaps black and miry with troubles; and, when it beans to touch the white foam of the sea, there comes a little glistening in its waters. So, though we may have been very much dispirited by reason of the burden of the way, when we get to the end, we shall have sweet songs. Are you afraid of dying? Oh i never be afraid of that: be afraid of living. Living is the only thing which can do any mischief; dying can never hurt a Christian. Afraid of the grave? It is like the bath of Esther, in which she lay for a time to purify herself with spices, that she might be fit for her lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

No fear in death

Among the few remains of Sir John Franklin that were found far up in the Polar regions there was a leaf of the Students Manual, by Dr. John Todd--the only relic of a book. From the way in which the leaf was turned down, the following portion of a dialogue was prominent:--Are you not afraid to die? No. No! Why does the uncertainty of another state give you no concern? Because God has said to me, Fear not. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. This leaf is preserved in the Museum of Greenwich Hospital, among the relics of Sir John Franklin: (Baxendales Anecdotes.)

Death of a believer

Old Mr. Lyford being desired, a little before his death, to let his friends know in what condition his soul was, and what his thoughts were about that eternity to which he seemed very near, he answered with a cheerfulness suitable to a believer and a minister, I will let you know how it is with me; and then, stretching out a hand that was withered and consumed with age and sickness--Here is, said he, the grave, the wrath of God, and devouring flames, the just punishment of sin, on the one side; and here am I, a poor sinful soul, on the other side; but this is my comfort, the covenant of grace which is established on so many sure promises, has saved me from all. There is an act of oblivion passed in heaven. I will forgive their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more. This is the blessed privilege of all within the covenant, among whom I am one. (T. Rogers.)

Peace in death

The late Mr. Young, of Jedburgh, was once visiting the death-bed of an aged member of his congregation, who was hourly looking for his last change. Well, my friend, said the minister, how do you feel yourself to-day? Very weel, sir, was the calm and solemn answer, very weel, but just a wee confused wi the flittin. (Childrens Missionary Record.)

No death for the Christian

Shall we ever quite fully realise the mighty and joyful truth that there is no death for the Christian? In his beautiful tribute to the quaint old town of Nuremburg. Mr. Longfellow makes this mention of its peerless artist:

Emigravit is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies:

Dead he is not, but departed--for the artist never dies.

But how much grander the thought that Emigravit may most fittingly be the inscription on every Christians tombstone I--not dead, but only gone before to that blessed land of peerless beauty, where blossom unfading flowers, and everlasting fountains flow. Why should we not give up the use of the word death as applied to the Christian?--for death is the alienation of the soul from God, not the quitting of earth for heaven.

No danger in death for the good

I want to talk to you about heaven, said a dying parent to a member of his family; we may not be spared to each other long; may we meet around the throne of glory, one family in heaven! Overpowered at the thought, his beloved daughter exclaimed, Surely you do not think there is any danger? Calmly and beautifully he replied, Danger! my darling. Oh! do not use that word. There can be no danger to the Christian, whatever may happen. All is right. All is well. God is love. All is well--everlastingly well--everlastingly well. (J. Stevenson.)

Which death

Are you afraid of death? said a friend to a German pastor. Which death do you mean? replied the dying man. Jesus my Saviour saith, He that believeth in Me hath eternal life. He that believeth in Me shall not see death. Why should I be afraid of what I shall not even see? The real death is past. Outward death, separation of body and soul, we have to endure, and God gives us grace and strength in this last trial; but the sting of death has been taken away. (A. Saphir.)

A death scene

The late Rev. Mr. Innes, of Gifford, after a life prolonged beyond the days of most men, literally fell asleep; through life a truly peaceful man, his latter end was peculiarly so; without the suffering of disease or any acute pain, the pins of his tabernacle seem to have been gently loosed. Some days before, one of his parishioners, a farmer, called, and seeing him cheerful, said he was glad to see him so well, and that, as mild weather was at hand, he would soon get better, and be visiting them again. He replied, No; I wish no such flattery. You see here a poor old man on his death-bed, but without alarm: I tell you that. Hear, and tell all your neighbours, my parishioners, that my comfort now, and hope for eternity, is just the gospel of Christ I have preached to them sixty years, and there is no other. He was wonderfully composed at all times. But a week before his death one called, and, seeing a book of small type before him, asked him if he saw to read without his glasses. He said, Oh, no; I cannot read even my Bible without glasses: but, strengthening his voice, I am thankful that I have a Bible that I have read; and I can mind some texts that I can see and feel now as I never did before. Oh, it is a precious book!

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 2:14-15. Forasmuch then as the children — Believers, who are Christ’s spiritual seed; are partakers of flesh and blood — Of human nature with all its infirmities; he also took part of the same — See on Php 2:8; that through his own death, he might destroy the tyranny of him that had — By God’s permission; the power of death — The power of bringing death on all mankind by tempting our first parents to sin. Hence he is called a murderer from the beginning, and a liar, and the father of it, Joh 8:41. It is observable that the power of death, ascribed to the devil, is called κρατος, and not εξουσια, because he had no right to it. It was a power usurped by guile. And all the baneful effects of this power Christ at the resurrection will remove, as far as they relate to the righteous. The word καταργηση, rendered that he might destroy, properly signifies, that he might render ineffectual. “Since the Son of God is said to have partaken of the flesh and blood of the children in the same manner that they themselves partake of these, namely, by being born of a woman; and since he was born into the world in that manner, to render him capable of dying, that through his death in the flesh he might frustrate the malicious contrivance of the devil, who first introduced death into the world; we are thereby taught that he is the seed of the woman, which at the fall was promised to bruise the head of the serpent; and that the serpent who deceived Eve was not a natural serpent, but the devil, who, because he assumed the form of a serpent on that occasion, is called (Rev 20:2) the great dragon, or serpent; and that old serpent, the devil. See on 2Co 11:3. The intention of the devil, in seducing our first parents, was to destroy them, and thereby put an end to the human species. This malicious design the Son of God rendered ineffectual, by assuming our nature, and in that nature dying as a sacrifice for sin.” — Macknight. And — By his death making atonement for their sins, and procuring for them pardon and holiness; that is, both justification and sanctification, both a title to heaven and a meetness for it, and also an earnest of it by the Holy Spirit in their hearts, he delivers them — Even all who are made God’s children by faith in him; who — Before they received this deliverance; were all their life-time, through tormenting fear of death, subject to bondage — In a slavish uncomfortable state of mind. And every man fears death, more or less, who is not savingly acquainted with, and united to Christ; who is not justified through faith in his blood, and regenerated by the influence of his Spirit, and therefore is not begotten again to a lively hope of a heavenly inheritance. Death is unwelcome to him if he knows what death is. But he delivers all true believers from this bondage.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

V

The incarnation renders the Son of God susceptible of suffering and death, and thus fitted to become a high-priest with God, for the redemption of mankind

Heb_2:14-18

14Forasmuch then as the children are [joint] partakers of flesh and blood [of blood and flesh]7, he also himself likewise [in a similar manner, παραπλησίως] took part of [in] the same; that through death8 he might destroy [bring to naught, render impotent, καταργήση] him that had [hath] the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16For verily he took not on him the nature of angels [For it is not assuredly (οὐ γὰρ δή που) angels whom he rescueth (ἐπιλαμβάνεται)]; but he took on him [he rescueth] 17 the seed of Abraham. Wherefore [whence, ὅθεν] in all things it behooved him to be made like [to be assimilated, δμοιωθῆναι] unto his brethren, that he might be [become γένηται] a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, [in order] to make reconciliation [propitiation] for the sins of the people. 18For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted [or, hath suffered by being himself tempted], he is able to succor them that are tempted.

[Heb_2:14—ἐπεὶ οὖν, since, inasmuch, then.—κεκοινώκηκεν, have participated, and still participate, the perfect marking the permanent condition, in contrast with the Aor. μετέσχεν, took part in, participated in, as a historical act.—παραπλησίως, similarly, in like manner.—τὸν τὸ κράτος ἕχοντα, the one having=him who was having, who had, or, him who is having, who has. It is better here to take the participle as describing a general and abiding attribute of the devil, him who has, etc., the Potentate of Death.

Heb_2:15.—τούτους ὅσοι. Eng. ver., them that. This rendering does not quite adequately represent the original, which is=these, these persons, as many as, describing mortals who, as a class, are victims of death.—τοῦ ζῆν=τοῦ βίου, but used here, doubtless, in sharper antithesis to θάνατος.—ἔνοχοι δουλείας, held under, obnoxious to, bondage. Mat_5:22, ἔνοχος τῆ κρίσει, held under, obnoxious, liable to the judgment, scarcely adequately rendered by in danger of. Mat_26:66, ἔνοχος τοῦ θανάτου, liable to death; Eng. ver. guilty of death.

Heb_2:16.—οὐ γὰρ δήπου, for not you see doubtless, πού, I suppose, perhaps, softening δή—ἀγγέλων without art, as a class, and emphatic in its position before the verb=for not, indeed, is it angels whom he rescues, etc.—ἐπιλαμβάνεται, not as Eng. ver., “to take on him the nature,” but “to lay hold upon for succor, to rescue.” The former; once the prevailing rendering but it is now generally rejected. See Moll’s note. Ἐπί has reference not to the subject of the verb, but to its object, “to lay hold upon.”

Heb_2:17.—ὁμοιόω, to make like, to assimilate; ὁμοιωθῆναι, to be made like, to be assimilated.—ἴνα γένηται, that he might (strictly, may) become, not be, as so often in Eng. ver.

Heb_2:18.—May be very variously rendered, as “for being himself tempted in that wherein he hath suffered;” or, “being tempted in that wherein he hath himself suffered,” etc. Moll renders, “For in how far he hath suffered as one that was himself tempted.” The rendering of the Eng. ver. is, perhaps, as good as any. See note below.—K.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Heb_2:14. Since, therefore, the children have common share in flesh and blood.—Share, i.e., not with their ancestors (Volkmar), but with one another. The children (παιδία) are those mentioned in the verse preceding, who possess not merely a common spiritual nature from a like divine source, but, as real men, have a common earthly nature, which, as is customary, is designated by its two leading sensuous constituents—flesh and blood; the blood, however, being first mentioned with a half latent reference, probably, to the subsequently-mentioned atoning death of the Redeemer. The connectives, ἐπεὶ οὖν, however, show that the link of connection is by no means the mere word “children” (Hofm.); while, on the other hand, there is no ground for Lönemann’s assertion, springing from the false idea that Heb_2:11-13 are merely incidental, and that Heb_2:14 returns to the main thought in Heb_2:10—that οὖν, while grammatically belonging to the protasis, “since the children,” etc., belongs, logically, to the apodosis, “he himself took part,” etc. The clause with ἐπεί, rather, keeping before our eye the constant principle of natural relationship (partaker of flesh and blood) carries us over from the typical relation, by no means incidentally touched, to the relation which exists in Christ; the οὖν, showing that the thought is regarded as inferential, inasmuch as it is a fact (the author would say), that the “children”—not children generally, but the children in question—are not ideal forms, but actual men, it follows that the incarnation of the Son of God, which renders Him susceptible of suffering, is the appropriate and essential means for attaining the divine purpose of transferring, by means of redemption, men, become subjects of bondage, into a true filial relation to God.

2. He also himself, in like manner, took part in the same.—The aor., μετέσχεν, points to the assuming of human nature as a thing belonging absolutely to the past, while the perf. κεκοινώνηκεν indicates the permanent condition springing from the act of κοινωνεῖν (here having its regular classical construction with the Gen.) Παραπλησίως is certainly not a weakened ὁμοίως; for the author says, Heb_2:17, κατὰ πάντα (Hofm., Del.); and he holds to no mere analogy of the life of Jesus to a real human life, or a general similarity in some individual points, generating a quasi kindred relation. His object is rather to assert the true and complete humanity of the Son of God. But the adv. is not, therefore, with de Wette, to be rendered “in like manner,” nor with Bleek, “in equal measure;” but expresses at once the actual approximation, and yet the never-to-be-forgotten or overleaped distinction of Jesus Christ, from all other men, as at Rom_8:3; Php_2:7. Ὁ λόγος οἱονεὶ σὰρξ γίνεται. Orig. c. Cels., IV., 15.

That by means of death he might destroy him, etc.—The doing away of death in the kingdom of the Messiah, is matter of prophecy, Isa_25:8; Hos_13:14; Dan_12:2-3. Κράτος τοῦ θανάτου is not the power of putting to death, which belongs to God alone. Nor is κράτος to be taken absolutely, nor τοῦ θανάτου as Gen. Subj. (Ebr.) with the too artificial and far-fetched thought that the phrase refers to the tyrannical dominion of death (1Co_15:5-6), which, by means of original sin, the devil has obtained and perpetually exercises, Wis_2:24; Rom_5:12. “He holds this dominion not as a Lord, but as an executioner” (Quenstädt). The expression may, perhaps, with Thol., be explained from the author’s blending the idea of Death and of Hades, both together personified as Rulers (Rev_1:8; Rev_1:6; Rev 8:20, 14), and representing the devil at the same time as Lord of Hades, of whose keys the Redeemer has obtained possession (Rev_1:18). At all events the “devil” is not here identical with the angel of death (who is not in Jewish Angelology confounded with Sammael), but he is the murderer of men, ἀνθρωποκτόνος, from the beginning (Joh_8:44), whose dominion stands in essential and causative connection with all death (Del.). “The will of Satan is always unjust, his power never! for his will he has from himself, his power from God.” (Greg. Magn at Job I. 11). Καταργεῖν with the classics=to render impotent, is employed by Paul for the complete putting down of hostile powers (1Co_15:24), and specially of death (1Co_15:26; 2Ti_1:10). The word occurs with Paul twenty-eight times, elsewhere in the New Testament only here and Luk_13:7. It stands Ezr_4:21; Ezr_4:23; Ezr_5:5; Ezr_6:8, as rendering of the Aramæan בַּטֵּל. Substantial parallels in thought, are found Gen_3:15; Isa_25:8; 1Jn_3:8. Θανάτου is not to be specialized by supplying αὐτοῦ, his death. This would mar the thought which is correctly given by Primasius: “Arma quæ fuerunt illi quondam fortia adversus mundum, hoc est mors, per earn Christus illum percussit, sicut David, abstracto gladio Goliæ, in eo caput illius amputavit, in quo quondam victor ille solebat fieri.” “It is death itself, and as such, which Jesus has made the means of annihilating the ruler of death. In the person of Jesus there has commenced a life of humanity, which triumphs over the deadly power of Satan, after this power had brought that life (a life of blood and flesh similar to ours), in which Jesus becomes subjected to it, into a death which has rather proved the death of death” (Hofm., Schriftb., II., 1, p. 274).

Heb_2:15. And deliver these who—were subject to bondage.—The discussion proceeds now to designate the subjects of the incarnation and death of Christ. These great acts have reference not to beings exempt from death, but to beings who are held under bondage to the fear of death (Del.). It is mankind, as a class, strikingly characterized by this language, as distinguished from angels or demons, that are the objects of redemption. The limitation is expressed by the prefixed τούτους, these, while the subjoined ὅσοι, as many as, whosoever, intimates that within the sphere of this limitation, the totality of the members of the class are included. Grammatically δουλείας might be constructed with ἀπαλλάξη, and φόβῳ with ἔνοχοι, as by Böhme and Abresch, inasmuch as ἔνοχος may be equally well constructed with the Dat. as with the Gen. But the position of the words is adverse to this construction. [The rendering then would be, “and deliver those as many as, through their whole life, were held under the fear of death, from bondage.” This gives to ἀπαλλάξη such a Gen. as might very naturally follow it, instead of leaving it to stand absolutely; but on the other hand, Alf. following Bleek, remarks that ἔνοχοι with the Gen. has rather the force of a noun the subjects of; with the Dat. that of a participle, liable to, and therefore would here be better conjoined with the δουλείας, “subjects of bondage,” than with the φόβῳ θαν.—On the whole, the ordinary construction seems preferable.—K. ]. “Φόβος and δοῦλος are interchangeable ideas (Rom_8:15), as fear of death, and consciousness of guilt; when the latter is removed, comes in childlike boldness (παῤῥησία), and the state of bondage has disappeared.” (Thol.).

Heb_2:16. For it is not assuredly angels whom he, etc.—The correct interpretation of ἐπιλαμβ. τινος (=to lay hold of one in order to secure him for oneself, here, to lay hold of in aid, to succor), was, according to Thol., first expressed by Castellio in his translation, 1551, and stigmatized by Beza as execranda audacia. The whole ancient Church, followed by Erasm. and the Reformers, in the 17 cent, the Reformed Moresius and the Luth. Scherzer, Calov, Seb. Schmidt and Chr. Wolf, explained it erroneously of the assumption of human nature; Camero defended the correct rendering in the most thorough manner; the Socinians (except Socinus himself) immediately accepted it; the Catholic Ribera (1606) chose rather to confess that he did not understand Paul than reject the interpretation of so many Fathers, and even Rich. Simon censured the admission of the change into the version of the Port Royal. Ebrard also overlooks the Pres. tense, and the δήπου (=‘I think,’ ‘I should suppose;’ or, ‘surely perhaps,’ ‘surely I suppose,’ Hart, Partikellehre, I., p. 285), and thinks (as did formerly Hofm.) that the author appeals to the well-known fact that God entered not with angels into a gracious covenant relation, but with the seed of Abraham. But the train of thought by no means suggests (as που in Heb_2:6) any special passage of the Old Testament, although the erroneous nusquam of the Vulgate has been followed by Luther and many early expositors. Nor is the Present to be understood as pointing to an ever ready help of a general character, but to the aid which Christ renders in redemption, and which is as such perpetually existing. Bleek, de Wette and Lün. assume a discrepancy between this passage and Col_1:20; but with no good reason. For the special and exclusive objects of redemption are men of flesh and blood, not purely spiritual beings; while among them the angels have no need, and the devil is incapable of redemption. The absence of the article shows that not individuals are spoken of, but classes. The expression ‘seed of Abraham,’ however, neither, on the one hand, contradicts Paul’s wider statement of the purpose of the Gospel (although, as de Wette justly remarks, Paul would not have thus expressed himself, and hence the language is not to be explained purely from the nationality of the reader), nor, on the other, as we look at the terms τοῦ λαοῦ, of the people, Heb_2:17, and τὸν λαόν, the people, Heb_13:12, are we at liberty to take the expression for a designation of mankind in its spiritual relation (as believers are called “the seed of Abraham”) as is maintained by Bengel, Böhme, Klee, Stier, Wieseler. The term rather proceeds upon and suggests the view, so familiar to the Hebrews, that the whole redemptive and religious history of humanity has its central point in the seed of Abraham. “As in the purpose of God respecting the sending of Christ, so in His purpose respecting salvation in Christ, and in respect of their relation to other nations, the Israelites have a certain priority, not to say, superiority. It is only because the moral conditions have remained unfulfilled by them, that salvation has been taken from them. But the compassion of God, which embraces all, will, therefore, yet again extend itself to them.” (Kluge). Fricke gives too narrow an application of the words, when he explains them of the “Believers of all nations.” To make with Dav. Schulz, death, (ὁ θάνατος) subject of the verb: “for death lays not hold of angels,” makes an entirely different construction, grammatically, indeed, admissible, but logically untenable, since Heb_2:17 stands closely connected with Heb_2:16, and Christ is the natural subject of Heb_2:17, as well as of Heb_2:14-15 (Lün.). To this view, moreover, the term ‘seed of Abraham,’ is in no way adapted. Ebrard rightly remarks that Heb_2:17 so repeats the thought already expressed, that at the same time a new perspective opens, viz., a glance at the thought that Christ is not merely the most perfect organ of God’s revelation to man, not merely a messenger of God elevated above all messengers and angels, even above the angel of Jehovah, but that he is at the same time the perfect high-priestly representative of humanity in its relation to God.

Heb_2:17. Whence it behooved him in all things to be assimilated to his brethren.—The un-Pauline ὅθεν (but frequent in our Epistle, and found also in Act_26:19), deduces from the purpose of Christ’s incarnation given Heb_2:16, the obligation which that purpose involved: for ὤφειλεν denotes the obligation springing from the object which was undertaken, as ἔδει would have shown the necessity as matter of purpose and decree (Luk_24:26), and ἔπρεπεν as matter of intrinsic fitness and propriety (Heb_2:10). Ὁμοιωθῆναι in a kindred sense, Act_14:11. The idea of likeness is emphasized by Lönemann.

That he might become a merciful and faithful high-priest in things pertaining to God.—The order of the words seems to favor the rendering of Luth.: “that he might become compassionate and a faithful high-priest,” etc., favored also by Grot., Böhm., Bl., de W., Stein, Thol., Lün. But the ἵνα γένηται, that he might become, declares assuredly what Jesus, when thus assimilated to humanity, was to become, and in this connection the declaration that He was to become compassionate, might suggest the idea that He previously was not so. [Yet to this it might be replied that γίγνομαι implies frequently, not absolutely to become, but to prove ones-self, as Rom_3:4.—K.]. True, the author has hitherto emphasized rather the arrangement of God in the work of salvation, than the self-devotion of the Saviour; yet from the preceding it is still clear enough that the incarnation originated in compassion toward men exercised equally on the part of Him who submitted himself to it (Del.). On the contrary, the thought is entirely pertinent that the Incarnate One is, as such, to become a high-priest, in whom the two characteristics essential to this calling, expressing His proper relation alike to man (‘compassionate’) and to God (‘faithful’) come forth into view in the actual conduct and experiences of His life. Bengel followed by Cram., Storr, Ebr., Hofm., Del., remarks, in regard to the inversion of the words, that ἐλεήμων (the compassionate element having received sufficient prominence) recedes into the background, while the faithful high-priest (πιστ. ἀρχιερ.), with its two-fold conception, yet to be unfolded, takes the foreground of the picture. The adverbial phrase τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, in things pertaining to God, belongs not merely to πιστός (Klee), or ἀρχιερεύς (Bl.), but qualifies the entire statement. Nor does πιστός denote reliableness, but, as shown Heb_3:2, fidelity in the work He has undertaken. And utterly without ground is the statement of de Wette, that the idea of ἀρχιερεύς comes in abruptly, with nothing preceding to pave the way for it. For the mention of purification from sin (Heb_1:3), of sanctification (Heb_2:11), of saving mediation (Heb_2:16), of the death of Christ as a death on behalf of men (Heb_2:9), is a sufficient preparation, apart from the immediately following account of the functions to which he was appointed.

To make expiation for the sins of the people.—In the classics ἱλάσκεσθαί τινα appears only in the sense of propitiating some one, of which propitiation Deity or even men may be objects, but never inanimate things. But neither the LXX. nor the N. T. use the term of any process of rendering Jehovah graciously disposed; but employ it either of the independent gracious determination of God in which the Pass. and Mid. signification run into each other, or, disregarding its reflex middle force, they apply it to one who performs an act, the object of which is sin, and the effect of which is that sin shall cease to awaken God’s wrath toward men. The LXX. construct ἱλάσκεσθαι with the Dat. of the person or thing for which propitiation is sought=propitium fieri; ἐξιλάσκ., on the contrary, frequently with the Acc., or, with περί of the person to be atoned for=expiare. It is true that in regard to man’s relation to man we find ἐξιλάσκεσθαι τὸ πρόσωπόν τινος, Gen_33:20, and θυμόν, Pro_16:4. But no where, not even 2Sa_21:3, does God or His wrath appear as object of ἐξιλ., but sin, 1Sa_3:14. Expiation interposes between wrath and sin, so that the latter is covered over, Num_17:11 ff. Christ, then, is a propitiation for our sins (ἱλασμὸς περὶ τ. ἁμ. ἡμῶν, 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10), and appointed by God as our ἱλαστήριον, Rom_3:25. As this expiation refers objectively to the sins of the whole world (1Jn_2:2), τοῦ λαοῦ is employed under the point of view before designated. Del. misconceives the reference of the term in explaining: “He officiates now as high-priest amidst a ransomed Church, which, in the O. T., is called the People, i.e., the people of God; and what, as propitiating high-priest, He accomplishes, is designed to prevent the sin still adhering to His Church from marring the loving and gracious relation which has been once for all established.”

Heb_2:18. For in that he himself hath suffered, etc.—The language alludes not to the efficacy of the sufferings of Christ as rendering satisfaction to the Divine law, and thus as the meritorious ground of His Priesthood (Hofm.), but (with Del.), to the moral fitness which these sufferings gave Him for the office. And it is not barely in the circumstance that Christ has suffered, but in the relation of these sufferings to His personal character, as one who has been subjected to actual temptations, that we recognize His capacity to aid all who are from time to time exposed to temptations. (Observe the force of the Present Participle). The rendering, “Wherein,” or, “in the sphere in which” (Luth., Bl., Ebr., and others), restricts His power to the too narrow sphere of like circumstances, of suffering and temptation (Lün.). Ἐν ᾦ is to be resolved into ἐν τούτῳ ο͂τι, in this thing that, on the ground that, in so far as, or, since (Bernh. Synt., p. 211). [It may be doubted if ἐν ῳ ever means strictly and in itself since, or because, but it undoubtedly may have the force of in this that=in the fact that, hence nearly=on the ground that. Thus it may be resolved either into wherein (in the sphere in which), or in that (on the ground that). There is, in fact, here, I think, but little difference; for the rendering “wherein, in the sphere in which,” is in reality only apparently more restricted than the other. Because if the personal suffering of Christ is a necessary condition of His sympathizing succor, then the extent of His temptations and sufferings must be really the measure of His ability to render sympathy and succor; so that to say, “wherein He hath suffered He is able,” and “in that He hath suffered He is able,” amount practically to the same thing. If He could not sympathize and succor only in that He had suffered, then He can sympathize and succor only wherein He has suffered. Aside from this, the passage may be variously rendered. It may be resolved in several different ways, according as we take ἐν ω as in that, or wherein, and according as we connect αὐτός with πέπονθεν, or πειραθείς. The principal are these:—

1. “In that (because) He hath Himself suffered, being tempted, He is able,” etc.

2. “Wherein He hath Himself suffered, being tempted, He is able,” etc.

3. “In that He hath suffered, being Himself tempted.”

4. “Wherein He hath suffered, being Himself tempted.”

5. “Being tempted in that He hath Himself suffered.”

6. “Being tempted wherein He hath Himself suffered.”

7. “Being Himself tempted in that He hath suffered.”

8. “Being Himself tempted wherein He hath suffered.”

Of these the English Ver. and Bib. Union adopt the first; Delitzsch adopts substantially the seventh; Alford, substantially, with Ebrard, the eighth (having been Himself tempted in that which He hath suffered); Moll substantially the third. Fortunately it makes little difference as to the main sense which construction we adopt, and among them all I prefer the first or second as the more obvious and simple, although the construction adopted by Alford is nearly or quite unobjectionable.—K.].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. “The children of God, allied in their dispositions to the Son of God, have become in need of succor (ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι), of assistance (βοήθεια). This redemption, however, is the result of no determination formed in time, after the occurrence of the Fall, but an eternal purpose of God simultaneous with His purpose to create man (Eph_1:4; 2Ti_1:9; Rom_16:25; 1Pe_1:20). The idea of the perfect God-man had thus of necessity to actualize itself, for the salvation of the children of God who were to be led to their goal.—The Redeemer was of necessity to become a member in the diseased organism of humanity, to assume humanity with its susceptibility to suffering, only without sin, Heb_4:15. The end and goal was the overcoming of death” (Thol.).

2. That Divine help which has been bestowed in Christ, and is being continually bestowed, relates, not to the removal of outward sufferings as such, but relates directly to human sufferings in so far as they are either judicial consequences of sin, as wall of that of the race as of that of the person, or in so far as they have a character which tempts to sin. The aid, therefore, rendered to humanity has as well an ethical as a soteriological significance.

3. In order to become for us the true, all-sufficient and actual Saviour, the eternal Son of God has entered not merely into a fellowship with us of internal and spiritual life, but into a participation alike in respect of nature and of race, in our outward and historic life. As, however, He has not, by this entrance into the fraternal relation, impaired His Divinity, there remains to be acknowledged a distinction never to be done away between His and our nature—a distinction having its ultimate ground partly in our creatureliness, partly in our sinfulness. Under the restrictions imposed by this distinction, human nature has, in its full extent, been made historically His nature, and an actual nearness to God, in a living and personal form, has been thereby imparted to the race.

4. The actual human nature of Jesus Christ renders possible His susceptibility of suffering and death, and this again conditions that perfect carrying out of His high-priestly calling, which is the means of accomplishing that salvation, for the sake of which the eternal Son of God has become man. “On account of the love which He bare to us, Jesus Christ our Lord has shed His blood for us according to the will of God, and given His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our soul” (Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 49).

5. Death and sin spring from one common root. Both involve in their essence a separation, a rupture, so to speak, in contravention of the Divine purpose, and have their origin in a sundering of the creature’s fellowship with God. But death is the revelation or laying bare of this state of things in the form of punishment, and as a consequence of God’s previously threatened judgment. Sin, on the contrary, is the voluntary and willing movement of man in the relation of estrangement from God. Precisely for this reason can the fear of death be predicated of sinners, and the power of death be predicated of Satan; and from both of these Christ alone is able to redeem us, in that He identifies Himself with humanity in its nature, its sufferings, its temptations, yet without sin, and offers up His holy life as an expiation for sin. It is at the same time clear from this how God, as Creator and Judge of the world, can directly and positively take part in the death of man, but not in his sinfulness; while the devil is at the same time the author of sin, and the tempter and the murderer of man.

6. Death, which, under the influences of sin, is the essential means of our enslavement by Satan, became in Christ the essential means of our deliverance. “The devil, as he who had the power of death, delighted in death; and that in which he delighted, the Lord held out to him. Thus His cross became a snare for the devil” (Augustine Sermons, 263). “The Scripture has announced this, viz., that one death devoured the other (1Co_15:54): death has been turned into derision. Hallelujah!” (Luth. Easter Hymn of year 1524). Dominus itaque noster ad humani generis redemptionem veniens velut quemdam de se in necem diaboli hamum fecit. Hujus hami linea illa est per evangelium antiquorum patrum propago memorata—in cujus extremo incarnatus Dominus id est hamus ista ligaretur—Hamus hic raptoris fauces tenuit et se mordentem momordit.—Ibi quippe inerat humanitas, quæ ad se devoratorem adduceret; Ibi divinitas, quæ perforaret; ibi aperta infirmitas, quæ provocaret; ibi occulta virtus quæ raptoris faucem transfigeret” (Gregor. Magn. ad Job_40:19).9

7. The death of the God-man, who despoiled Satan of his power, is neither a merely passive enduring of hostile assaults of man or of Satan, nor a merely active surrendering of Himself to the conflict. It is neither a bare punishment of sin, called forth by the wrath of God, nor an exclusive attestation of Christ’s moral power of will, under the aspects of trust in God, fidelity to His calling, and fulfilment of His obligation. It unites inseparably in itself moral and religious features; presents the active and the passive elements which enter into it, as perfectly and mutually interpenetrating each other, and can be rightly understood only as belonging to a historically developed scheme of salvation. Being in its import a sacrificial death for the expiation of sin, it presupposes the perfecting of the life of the God-man by active obedience; has the reconciliation of the world with God as its consequence; and is in its nature vicarious, or substitutionary, by means of suffering obedience.

8. Deliverance from the fear of death is wrought not by a new doctrine of immortality, which changes our conceptions of the future world, but by our transition into a new relation, in which the sting of death, the wounding, rankling consciousness of guilt is removed, (1Co_15:17; 1Co_15:55). Christ is the Prince of Life (Act_3:15), who conquers death and Hades, and secures for us both the knowledge and possession of life, (2Ti_1:10; Joh_5:24; Joh_11:25; Joh_14:19), who not only holds in his hands the keys of Death and of Hades, (Rev_1:18; Rev_20:14; Rev_21:4); but by His resurrection has begotten believers by a lively hope, (1Pe_1:3-4); produces in them the certainty of a glorious resurrection and eternal life, Rom_5:21; Rom_6:23; and Himself brings this life at His glorious appearing, Joh_17:10; Col_3:3; Php_3:21, in that His Spirit creates in believers, first a spiritual and then a bodily renovation, Rom_8:11. “The death of Christ has become, as it were, a root of life, an annihilation of corruption, a doing away of sin, and an end of wrath. We were laden with a curse, and in Adam had been brought under the sentence of death. But since the Word that knew no sin, made Himself to be called a Son of Adam, and the debts incurred by the first transgression have been cancelled by Him, human nature has in Christ been manifestly restored to soundness, and this His sinlessness has delivered the dwellers upon the earth.”—(Cyrill. Alex.).

9. There is an old controversy whether the author makes the high-priestly office of Christ commence with His return to the Father, (Schlicht., Griesb., Schultz, Bl.) so that, as maintained by the Socinians, His High-priesthood coincides in origin essentially with His sovereignty, and His death on the cross corresponds not to the offering, but only to the slaughtering of the victim; or whether in our epistle Christ’s offering of Himself on the cross is regarded as the proper High-priestly act (Winzer de Sacerdotis officio quod Christo tribuitur, comm. I. 1825, and nearly all recent writers). In favor of the latter view we may urge that the author places the voluntary offering of Jesus Christ, and His entrance with His own blood, into the heavenly sanctuary, regarded as two inseparable parts of the same transaction, on a parallel with the well-known Jewish rite, and that the expiation of the sins of men is referred to the sacrificial death of Christ, Heb_2:14; Heb_7:27; Heb_9:11-14; Heb_9:26; Heb_9:28; Heb_10:10; Heb_12:14; Heb_13:12. The unquestionable emphasis laid on the heavenly character of Christ’s high-priesthood, is explained from the author’s design to set forth the higher and unconditioned excellence of the Christian high-priest, in contrast with those who exercised their priestly function on earth, in the typical sanctuary at Jerusalem. The intercession on behalf of men, which is made, in the presence of God by the transcendently exalted Redeemer, is but the continued exercise of a high-priestly office, upon which He had already entered. (Lün.) The scene which transpired with the sin offerings in the outer court on the great day of atonement, finds its perfect counterpart and realization in Christ’s offering of Himself once for all on earth. Between the slaughter of the victim in the outer court, and the sacrifice on the altar of the outer court, took place that act of solemn significance, the carrying of the blood into the Holiest of all; and of this act the antitype and fulfilment takes place exclusively in heaven. (Del.)

10. From that moral decision which, in the grand crisis of life, determines its entire direction, and with this its collective destiny, we are to distinguish partly those moral decisions made upon the basis of this, and running through the whole life, and partly those acts of will which precede and prepare for this capital decision. So also the trials appointed by God, are not to be confounded with the temptations wrought by Satan, although both may concur in the same circumstances, and by this concurrence prove doubly dangerous. Especially do sufferings bear this two-fold character.

11. In all these relations Jesus hag been assimilated to us, and in the most various situations and forms, has subjected Himself, according to the will of God, to personal and actual temptations, only with the distinguishing trait that sin has neither potentially nor actually shown itself in Him, and hence there were to be overcome in His person no conditions of corruption, and no proper lustful impulses (Jam_1:14). Precisely for this reason has He become a second Adam, the founder, in the old race of sinners, of a new race of children of God.

12. The existence and the agency of the devil are, according to the tenor of the doctrine of this epistle, as well as of Scripture elsewhere, to be recognized as real, and his agency is to be conceived as consisting in temptation to sin, and in bringing sinners into bondage to death, in the Biblical sense of this word—a sense in which are united natural, spiritual and eternal death. But this agency of the devil, Christ victoriously encounters, a succorer of those who are tempted, and a deliverer from the deadly dominion of the devil. The means of achieving this result are found in His temptations and His sufferings, by which He Himself was perfected for glory.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Christ became man 1. as to nature and quality in real assumption of our flesh and blood; 2. as to purpose, in order to become susceptible to suffering, temptation and death; 3. as to final object, in order to ransom us from the power of sin, of death, and of the devil.—The death of Jesus Christ is to be regarded 1. as the proof of His true humanity, and of His divine love; 2. as the end of His sufferings; 3. as the culminating point of His temptations; 4. as the instrument of His victory; 5. as the means of our redemption.—Our redemption is a work of God’s grace for our salvation; for it Isaiah 1. a breaking of the power a. of sin, b. of death, c. of the devil; 2. a redemption by the sinless yielding up of the Son of God into the fellowship a. of our nature, b. of our temptations, c. of our sufferings; 3. a deliverance into the fellowship, a. of divine sonship, b. of triumph over the world, c. of a perfected and glorified life.—The expiation of the sins of the people reminds us; 1. of the prevailing, a. bodily, b. spiritual corruption of our race; 2. of our pressing, a. universal, and b. personal indebtedness of guilt; 3. of God’s righteous, a. present, b. future retribution; 4. of the ever ready succor of Jesus Christ as the a. compassionate, b. faithful high-priest with God; 5. of that fellowship a. with God, b. with the children of God, which binds us to the imitation of Jesus.—Wherein, amidst all our lowliness, consists the preëminence of our race above the angels? 1. we are fallen, but not necessarily lost; 2. we can suffer, but by triumphing over sin, have precisely herein fellowship with Christ; 3. we must die, but are able in death to attain to a higher stage of life.—Whither are we to look in sufferings and temptations?—1. To the peril which threatens us, a. in the heaviness of the assault, by the union of sufferings and temptations; b. on account of the origin of our temptations, in

the agency of the devil; c. in respect of the consequences of our succumbing, by which we are more ignominiously enslaved; 2. to the weakness which cleaves to us, and a. brings to light our connection with sin, b. makes us sensible of our natural helplessness, c. awakens, intensifies and guides our healthful longing after the deliverer; 3. to the succor which we can obtain in Christ, a. as the Son of God, who has become like to us men, b. who has suffered as one that was tempted, c. but by death has wrested his dominion from the devil.—In Christ Jesus is imparted to us genuine divine help: since 1. His incarnation shows that the purpose of God to render us His children, God Himself adheres to; 2. His struggle with temptation shows the possibility of a victory over sin; 3. His suffering of death, as the compassionate and faithful high priest, effects, on our behalf, the expiation of our sins, and the overthrow of the dominion of the devil.—Our Christian obligation demands, 1. that we do not fear death and the devil; 2. that we avoid sin; 3. that we take Christ as our helper in our temporal and spiritual needs.—To the greatness of our misery corresponds the greatness of our guilt, and also the greatness of the divine compassion and faithfulness in Christ.—Suffering presses heavily; more heavily temptation; most heavily guilt: but Christ assists us to bear suffering, to overcome temptation, to obliterate and wipe out guilt.—Our text places in contrast before us the worst enemy and the best friend; the greatest weakness and the mightiest strength; the bitterest misery, and the surest, nearest and sweetest aid.—Christ has become, in all respects, like us, and yet remained exalted infinitely above us, whether we look 1. at His person, or 2, at His walk, or 3, at His final withdrawal from His temporal life.

Starke:—The devil has dominion and power over men in respect of natural, spiritual and eternal death. For after having plunged the human race by sin into spiritual death, he naturally so rules over it by sin, that by spiritual death he holds it captive, and by the natural death which thence results, leads it on to death eternal.—The power of death is ever-during fear, terror, distress, trembling and quivering before the stern judgment of God, by which the soul of man is tormented, so that it ever dies, and yet never dies, because it is immortal. This power the devil possesses; that is, he tortures and afflicts the conscience with hellish fear and terror, trembling and dismay. Satan is appointed by God as His executioner, His jailor, or, if one may so say, an executor of the curse of the law, who is authorized to demand man for deserved punishment, and to proceed against him before the court, by virtue of the claim of the law, so that God cannot, without infringing upon His righteousness, reject his demand, which is the demand of the law itself (Isa_49:24; Mat_12:29; Rev_12:10).—Christ is the sweet antidote to the bitterness of death.—No hero is naturally so bold that he is not terrified at death. But believers in Christ are such valiant heroes, that even death they do not fear nor even taste (Joh_8:51).—The law does right in disclosing to thee thy sins; but when it would condemn thee, then against law, sin, and death, appears thy Saviour, and says: I am also of flesh and blood, and they are my brethren and sisters; for what they have done I have paid the reckoning. Law, wilt thou condemn them? condemn me. Sin, wilt thou pierce and slay? pierce thou me. Death, wilt thou swallow up and devour? devour thou me. The condition of servitude is set over against that of Sonship, and is connected with a torturing fear of death, since we find ourselves so controlled by sin, and the dominion of Satan, that our own powers can never emancipate us (Joh_8:34); and this servitude is far heavier than that servitude of the Old Testament under the law and Levitical ordinances, which was rather analogous to a state of minority and pupilage (Gal_4:1-6). But the redemption wrought through Christ offers a freedom of such a nature, that we emerge by it out of all bondage and slavish fear, into true Sonship, and serve God with willing and joyful spirit, in all truth and purity. For as, by the work of regeneration, it brings to the soul spiritual life, so natural death loses its terror, and is converted into a blessing, Luk_1:74-75; Rom_8:15; Gal_5:1; 1Jn_4:18.—The fallen angels have no redemption to hope for, Mat_25:41; Mat_25:46.—The qualities of a true high-priest are compassion and fidelity; both these Christ must possess from His likeness to us. 1. Compassion is, indeed, a Divine attribute which existed in the Son of God before He became man. But as He has taken upon Himself our nature, He has Himself an actual personal perception and sense of our wretchedness. No one knows the spirit of the poor and sick like Him who has Himself been sick and poor. 2. From compassion springs fidelity. From this arises the fact that Christ has not merely been once our high-priest and pattern, but that He is still so daily, Heb_7:25.—As all kinds of suffering and distress are called temptations, 2Co_10:13, and in like manner the sufferings of Christ, Luk_22:28, we can also say that Christ has been tempted of God, yet not for evil but for good, viz., 1, in order to promote the honor of God and the salvation of men; 2, to reveal the immaculate holiness and transcendent power of Christ, that he might be the hero who should bear, without sinking under it, the wrath of God; 3, to open to him, by means of this suffering, the way to glory.—The sufferings of Christ were not only real, but meritorious, and were endured for our sake. Hence they come in our place, primarily in such a way, that they are reckoned to us for righteousness; and secondarily in such a way, that in our temptations, whether from without or from within, our high-priest comes to our aid with His instruction and His strengthening power. Temptations have been to Christ a source of great suffering; since although He had no sin and could not sin, yet it was, therefore, all the deeper sorrow to Him that sin was imputed to Him. This marked Christ’s deepest humiliation.—Console thyself, thou devout bearer of the Cross, thou who art pressed and borne down by many a need; thy brother Jesus has also tasted all this; He knows how it weighs thee down; He can help thee, He will assuredly refresh thee, 2Co_4:10; 1Pe_4:13.—After we have completely eliminated all imperfection, and all painful emotions from the compassionate sympathy of Christ in heaven, this tender human sympathy still appears in no wise incompatible with His glorified condition. And we must also know that the joy of His human nature in heaven cannot now be so great and perfect, because His mystical body is here as yet still surrounded with sorrows, and encompassed with infirmities, as it will be when, after the resurrection of the dead, all this shall have forever ceased.

Spener:—Since all the power of Satan consists in sin, by which he deals with us as slaves, according to his will, redemption from this is a grand and precious feature of our blessedness, 1Jn_3:8; Rev_5:5; Col_2:15.—Children of God are already blessed in life, because delivered from the fear of death. They think of death with tranquil heart, and overcome in faith the fear that naturally cleaves to others, Luk_2:29; 2Co_5:8; Gen_46:30.—The redemption of Christ attaches not to those who still continue under reigning sin and the power of Satan, and cannot belong to them until, by true conversion and translation into the kingdom of light, they allow themselves to be delivered from the snares of the devil, Col_1:1-13.

Berlenburger Bible:—The incarnation of Christ is historically, indeed, well known to all, but in its secret mystery to but exceedingly few, both in respect of knowledge and practice.—The kingdom of death had to be overthrown in a rightful and legitimate way, by the payment of all its just demands.—The devil, through our sin, gained, a dominion by conquest; not a legitimate and rightful sway, but a usurpation with our consent. He acquired by sin, a double prerogative, that of condemning and of ruling; both are taken from him—That terror of conscience, which springs from sin, is man’s living hell upon earth, so long as he does not take deliverance from it by grace and the spirit of divine gladness. Though a man may have had the beginnings of true repentance, he is still, by no means, exempt from fear. For then, indeed, he first feels a genuine shrinking from the wrath of God. He trembles at all God’s righteous utterances and words, and finds no true refuge and deliverance from it, so long as he fails to exercise living faith.—This fruit of sin and of the apostasy is very deeply rooted, and has pervaded our entire human nature, so that to deal with it and eradicate it, is no light and easy matter. Even believing Christians have to strive daily that they may hold this enemy under the victory of faith, although he has once already been brought under its power.—Christ takes upon Himself not the seed of an evil and malignant nature, but the seed of promise.

Laurentius:—To refrain from evil through fear of punishment, marks the slavish, not the filial spirit.—Only believers, the posterity of Abraham, are actually partakers of the redemption of Christ.

Rambach:—The devil is here described in respect, 1, of his name, as accuser and calumniator; 2, of his power; 3, of his overthrow.—O wondrous change! We were first created after the likeness of Christ, and now he is born after our likeness.—Christ can succor those that are tempted, since He, 1, has received the right and authority; 2, possesses the power to do so.

Steinhofer:—There is a wondrous war waged on the cross, and an unanticipated victory in the death of this Just and Holy One.—Compassion toward sinners, and indifference toward sin, cannot possibly coexist.—Atonement is the mighty word wherewith we would honor Jesus in His office, and continually enjoy alike His compassion and His fidelity.

Hahn:—By the compassion of Jesus we must arm ourselves against impatience, since He exacts not too much from us, and we can repose confidence in Him; and His fidelity gives us consolation, and strengthens us against all unbelief.—Jesus is faithful: for He refused not to bear the worst that might befall Him; He awaited all, and shrank from nothing; He became not weary. It is only through this faithfulness that we reach the appointed goal.

Rieger:—Every step in the ministry of Jesus was freely accepted by Him in the spirit of love; as, indeed, when about to be delivered into the hands of sinners, He said: Thinkest thou not that I could pray to my Father? But the command received from His Father, and His desire to leave nothing unaccomplished, lays upon Him the necessity to become in all things like unto His brethren.—Blessed is he to whom the Spirit of Christ so interprets this “in all things,” and so applies it to every thing, that now, in all which he has daily to do and suffer, he enjoys this light upon his way. For thy sake the Saviour has once for all placed Himself in like circumstances.

Heubner:—So far is the suffering of Christ from impairing His dignity and power as a Saviour, that it is in fact only through this that He becomes a genuine Saviour.—God is indeed in Himself already compassionate, Exo_34:6, but this compassion is revealed with entire clearness, and certainty only in the incarnation of the Son.

Stier:—The death of Christ has its significance as a suffering of death; and His suffering again only in the fact that He was tempted in that which He suffered.—In Christ’s mediatorial office, concur all these varied and opposite elements: the power of the devil, the just claim and righteousness of God, and the exigency of man.

[Owen:—Death is penal; and its being common unto all, hinders not, but that it is the punishment of every one.—According unto the means that men have to come unto the knowledge of the righteousness of God, are or ought to be their apprehensions of the evil that is in death. When bondage is complete, it lies in a tendency to future and greater evils. Such is the bondage of condemned malefactors reserved for the day of execution; such is the bondage of Satan, who is kept in chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day.—The Lord Christ out of His inexpressible love, willingly submitted Himself unto every condition of the children to be saved by Him, and to every thing in every condition of them, sin only excepted.—The first and principal end of the Lord Christ’s assuming human nature, was not to reign in it, but to suffer and die in it.—He saw the work that was prepared unto Him—how He was to be exposed unto miseries, afflictions and persecutions, and at length to make His soul an offering for sin—yet because it was all for the salvation of the children, He was contented with it and delighted in it.—All the power of Satan in the world over any of the sons of men, is founded in sin, and the guilt of death attending it. Death entered by sin; the guilt of sin brought it in.—If the guilt of death be not removed from any, the power of the devil extends unto them. A power it is, indeed, that is regulated. Were it sovereign or absolute, He would continually devour. But it is limited unto times, seasons, and degrees, by the will of God, the Judge of all.—The death of Christ, through the wise and righteous disposal of God, is victorious, all-conquering and prevalent.—Satan laid his claim unto the person of Christ, but coming to put it in execution, he met with that great and hidden power in Him which He knew not, and was utterly conquered.—Satan will fly at the sign of the cross rightly made.—The Lord Christ suffered under all His temptations, sinned in none.—Tempted sufferers not only wanted one to undertake for them, but to undertake for them with care, pity and tenderness.—Temptations cast souls into danger.—The great duty of tempted souls is to cry out unto the Lord Christ for help and relief. He is “faithful;” He is “merciful,” and that which is the effect of them both, He is “able”].

Footnotes:

[7]Heb_2:14.—Instead of the common σαρκός καὶ αἵματος, flesh and blood, we are to read here, according to A. B. C. D. E. Uffenbach, Itala, Vulg. αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, as at Eph_6:12.

[8]Heb_2:14.—The Cod. Clarom. reads ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου θάνατον καταρηγήση, τὸν τὸ κράτος κτλ. [But the θάνατον is an evident interpolation, probably the result of carelessness in copying.—K.].

[9][“And thus our Lord coming for the redemption of the human race, made, as it were, a sort of book of Himself for the, destruction of the devil. The line of this book is the succession of Ancient Fathers recorded in the Gospel …. at whose extremity this book, an incarnate God, should be fastened.…. This book held the jaws of the spoiler and consumed him who was consuming itself. Because there was a humanity which should attract to itself the devourer; there a Divinity which should pierce him; there was an open infirmity which might challenge his approach; there a concealed power which should transfix the jaws of the spoiler”].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Deliverance Effected by Christ. Heb 2:14-18

v. 14. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,

v. 15. and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

v. 16. For, verily, He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

v. 17. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

v. 18. For in that he Himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

This paragraph is closely connected in thought with the preceding argument, since it concludes the proof for the necessity of Christ’s vicarious work. It was as brethren that Christ acknowledged the believers, even in the Messianic prophecy. In connection with that thought the author argues: Since, then, the children share blood and flesh, He Himself likewise has become partaker of them, that through death He might put out of commission him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and liberate these that through fear of death throughout their entire life were subject to bondage. The brotherhood of Christ with men included incarnation and death. The children, the human brethren with whom the Son of God was willing to identify Himself according to the eternal counsel of love, were subject to the conditions brought about by their possession of flesh and blood; and their nature being impregnated with sin, they were all doomed to dissolution and death. Christ’s object, however, being that of saving men from the certain doom which awaited them, He, in a similar manner, that is, with the exception of sin, took upon Himself, joined to His divine nature, the flesh and blood of a true human nature: by His incarnation He became a true man according to body and soul. In this way the possibility was brought about for Christ to put the devil, who had the power over death, out of commission, to crush him, to render him powerless. This Christ did through His own death; by laying down His life as the price of ransom for the transgressions of the whole world, he destroyed the power of the devil. Thus did He liberate and release from their terrible slavery all men, who had been kept in bondage, held firmly chained during their entire earthly life through their fear of death. We have here, on the one hand, a picture of the natural lot and condition of all men. They are kept in the most miserable and shameful bondage by Satan. By bringing sins to the remembrance of the people, by appearing as the constant accuser of all men, he creates in them the fear of the punishment of death. Without the certainty of Christ’s redemption, this servility and fear is found in every man’s heart by nature. And he that knows nothing of Christ’s atoning death or will not accept the fact of his redemption through the blood of Jesus, has only one fate to look forward to, namely, that of everlasting damnation, in an endless, horrible death. But on the other hand, there is here a picture of wonderful beauty and comfort. For he that looks upon Christ in true faith, as his Redeemer, knows that the power of the devil is broken, and that death, formerly the strongest weapon in the hands of Satan to intimidate men and keep them in his power, has lost its terrors. We are liberated, released, redeemed through the atoning work of our Substitute, Jesus Christ. That is the meaning of Christ’s career so far as we are concerned. This redemption was possible on account of the fact that the Son of God, while still in the bosom of the Father, became our flesh and blood. As one commentator has it: "To Him who in His sinlessness experienced every weakness of mortality, without diminution of His unbroken strength of fellowship with God, death is not the dreaded sign of separation from God’s grace, but a step in His divinely appointed career: not something inflicted on Him against His will, but a means whereby He consciously and designedly accomplishes His vocation as Savior."

So the humiliation of Christ, including even the climax of His ignominious death on the cross, were fully justified by the demands of the situation. It is evident, then, what the writer further remarks: For it is assuredly not angels whom He rescues, but it is the offspring of Abraham. Neither the good angels, being sinless and spiritual beings, nor the evil angels, being spiritual beings beyond reclaim, are included in the redemption of flesh and blood as carried out by Christ. Since the letter is addressed to Jewish Christians, the writer speaks of the descendants of Abraham, as he would otherwise designate all men. See Rom 15:4-12. By undertaking and carrying out the work of redemption as He did, Christ brought everlasting help and salvation to all mankind.

The inspired writer therefore summarizes: Whence in all things it behooved Him to resemble His brethren that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things concerning God, in order to propitiate the sins of the people; for wherein He Himself suffered, being tempted, He is able to come to the assistance of those that are tempted. Because God’s counsel of love went over all men, because it was Christ’s intention to bring salvation to all without exception, therefore it was necessary for Him to become similar to His brethren, to become a true man, resembling His brethren in every single respect but this, that He was sinless. Being a true man, possessed of flesh and blood like all other men in the world, Christ could enter into the right understanding of human misery and weakness; He could become a truly merciful and faithful High Priest in all things that had to be brought before the Lord; He could make propitiation for the sins of all people. Just as the high priest of the Old Testament brought the offering of the great Day of Atonement in the name and in behalf of all the people in the entire nation, so Jesus made one sacrifice which effected a perfect, an everlasting atonement for the sins of all men till the end of time. For because He Himself suffered, bearing in His own body the suffering and the curse of all men’s sins, because He was obliged, above all, to suffer the temptations of Satan, not only in the wilderness, but in all the schemes of the hostile Jews, and especially in His last great Passion, therefore the assistance which He can render us, His brethren, is not a perfunctory and forced help, but a willing and loving service. No matter how great the temptations may be that assail us, our unfailing comfort consists in the fact that Christ, our High Priest, is now also our Advocate with the Father, urging in the face of eternal Justice the fact that He is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world, 1Jn 2:1-2. Thus the sacred writer has shown that it was indeed fitting for God to make His Son a sacrifice in this manner, that He chose the only way by which redemption could be brought to the world lost in sin.

Summary

The inspired author, continuing his argument concerning the sovereignty of Christ over all creatures including the angels, emphasizes the need of cheerful obedience to the Lord, incidentally showing that the way of salvation which God’s counsel of love decided upon was the only feasible plan.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:14-15 The death of the Son of God as a sacrifice for sin served to break the power of the devil: It made the devil’s power of death ineffective (1 Cor 15:56). • Philo, a first-century Jewish philosopher, wrote that “nothing is so calculated to enslave the mind as fearing death” (Philo, That Every Good Person Is Free 3.22). Through his sacrificial death, Christ set free those who were slaves to the fear of dying.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 2:14. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία, forasmuch then as the children) The children here, τὰ παιδία, is not a noun denoting a natural age, but is brought down from Heb 2:13. The Messiah here could not be suitably placed in the company of the children according to the flesh; He is speaking of His spiritual sons; οὖν, therefore, is an inference from Heb 2:10, etc.—κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκὸς, were partakers of flesh and blood) The past, in respect of the greater part, who had already lived at the time of the testimony given in the psalm. He mentions brethren in the psalm, children in Isaiah: in relation to that time in which David and Isaiah prophesied, many of the brethren and children were then living, and had lived, whom He was to reconcile unto God. These are not excluded but included. Κοινωνέω, with the genitive, Pro 1:11, where also, Heb 2:18, μετέχω is used with the same meaning: κοινωνήσας ὁδοῦ, Job 34:8. In this passage, however, the change of the words is elegant; so that μετέσχε may express the likeness of one to the rest [here, of Jesus to those whose nature He took part of]; κοινωνεῖν, to the likeness of many among one another. Σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα are sometimes used by metonymy for man, Gal 1:16; but here they are more properly taken in the abstract, as in 1Co 15:50: although in that passage of Paul to the Corinthians σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα include the notion of the oldness of the corrupt nature. Elsewhere, as we have just now seen, σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα, is the expression used (is the order of the words), the principal part, viz. flesh, being put first, which is also sometimes written alone: here αἷμα καὶ σὰρξ (although some have transposed the words) is the order of the words, just as in Eph 6:12, πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα. Whether the expressions are used indiscriminately, or αἷμα is put first sometimes for a certain definite reason (which may be sought for in this passage from those who write on Physics), I dare not determine. Although my commentary does not descend to such things, yet it with difficulty avoids the stigma of too curious refinement, in the estimation of those who generously weigh heavenly words.—αὐτὸς) Close after this, there sweetly follows τῶν αὐτῶν.—παραπλησίως, in like manner) παρὰ in παραπλήσιος sometimes, like the Latin sub, diminishes the signification of the compound, just as in πάρεγγυς; but here it is almost the same as presently κατὰ τάντα, in all things, Heb 2:17: ch. Heb 4:15. Therefore παραπλησίως, in like manner, serves the purpose of the apostle, as he enters upon this discussion, in the way of reverent caution (εὐλάβειαν), that he may gradually speak what he thinks; comp. Php 2:27, note: and the particle that is less significant[20] is the more convenient on this account, that the expression, without sin, is not yet added in this place. Therefore the reality of the participation remains, which is asserted by Raphelius in his annot. on Herodotus.—τῶν αὐτῶν) This is not a mere relative, as the article shows: ΤᾺ ΑὐΤᾺ, the same things, which happen to the brethren labouring under flesh and blood, without even excepting death.—ἵνα, that) Here the subject is briefly noticed: it is more fully explained, ch. Heb 5:7-9. It will be of advantage to compare both passages together, ch. 5 and 2, and seriously meditate upon them, till it be perceived how both terminate in a eulogium on the great High Priest.—διὰ τοῦ θανάτου, through death) A paradox. Jesus suffered and overcame death; the devil, wielding death in his hand, succumbed. Jesus in turn imparts to us life through His flesh and blood; John 6. He assumed our nature, that His body might be delivered up, and His blood poured out. Therefore the delivering up of the body and the pouring out of the blood are the facts which are chiefly had regard to: Joh 6:51.—καταργήσῃ, might destroy) This is an inference from the verb ὑπέταξας, thou hast subjected, Heb 2:8: comp. 1Co 15:27 with the preceding, where Paul uses the same synonyms, καταργεῖν, ὙΠΟΤΆΣΣΕΙΝ. So Psa 8:3, להשבות ΤΟῦ ΚΑΤΑΛῦΣΑΙ, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.—τὸ κράτος, power) great indeed, Mat 12:26; Mat 12:29.—ἜΧΟΝΤΑ) having [who had] by a certain law [right], namely, in so far as no injury was thereby done to the captives: comp. צדיק, Isa 49:24, where the devil does not seem to be called just, morally, but a mighty tyrant, who had ἐξουσίαν, authority, over the captives; Col 1:13; 2Pe 2:19, at the end: although here it is called power in a restricted sense, not authority. Death was the executioner and minister of the devil as a cruel master, delivering up men to him whom he led away in sin: but Jesus dying made them dying His own, Rom 14:9.—ΤΟῦ ΘΑΝΆΤΟΥ, of death) by sin.—τουτέστι, that is) His power was manifest: who it was that lurked beneath this power as wielding it, escaped the notice of mortal men.

[20] Παραπλησίως, expressing that He took part of flesh and blood in a somewhat similar manner as the children partake of flesh and blood—not in an altogether similar manner for He was without sin.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_2:14-15. The author, after the subsidiary remarks, Heb_2:11-13, returns to the main thought of Heb_2:10, now further to develop the same. To lead Christ through sufferings to perfection, was a provision worthy of God. For it was necessary, if Christ was to be the Redeemer of sinful humanity. In order, however, to be able to take upon Himself sufferings and death, He must become man as other men, and place Himself upon one level with those to be redeemed. Comp. on Heb_2:14, Zyro in the Theol. Studd. u. Kritt. 1864, H. 3, p. 516 ff.

οὖν] is the outward sign of that return to the main thought. Logically it belongs not to the protasis, with which it is grammatically connected, but to the main thesis: καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχεν κ.τ.λ. An attachment of Heb_2:14 to Heb_2:13, therefore, is effected only in so far as τὰ παιδία, Heb_2:13, has given occasion for the resuming of this word in the first clause of Heb_2:14. In a strangely perverted fashion Heinrichs (comp. also Valckenaer): Quod si homo fuit Christus, infans quoque primo fuerit omnemque in nativitate sua humanam naturam induerit necesse est.

κεκοινώνηκεν] here, as often in the case of the classics, combined with the genitive; whereas elsewhere in the N. T. the dative is used with κοινωνεῖν (Rom_15:27; 1Ti_5:22; 1Pe_4:13, al.). The persons with whom the communion or the common participation takes place are not the parents (Valckenaer, who supplies γονεῦσι), but the children themselves. One παιδίον with the other, one as well as the other, has part in blood and flesh, or possesses the same. The perfect, however, indicates the constant and definitive character of the order of nature, as this has always prevailed already, and still continues to assert its sway.

αἵματος καὶ σαρκός] The same succession of words, also Eph_6:12. Otherwise more ordinarily: σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα. Comp. 1Co_15:50; Gal_1:16; Mat_16:17; Sir_14:18; Sir_17:31. αἷμα καὶ σάρξ, the two main constituents of the sensuously perceptible outward nature of man.

παραπλησίως] is not: equally (Bleek, Bloomfield, Bisping, Delitzsch, Grimm in the Theol. Literaturbl. to the Darmstadt A. K. Z. 1857, No. 29, p. 663; Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 57, 2 Aufl.; Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 313 f.; Maier), or: likewise (de Wette),a signification which is linguistically undemonstrable,but: in a manner very closely resembling. It expresses the resemblance with the accessory notion of the diversity; in such wise that the author characterizes the human form of Christs existence, in all its correspondence with the form of existence of other men, as still different from the latter (Cameron, Owen, Akersloot, Cramer, Böhme, Zyro, Moll, Woerner). And rightly so. For Christ was no ordinary man, but the incarnate Son of God. He was distinguished from His human brethren by His sinlessness (comp. Heb_4:15). As therefore Paul, Php_2:7 (and similarly Rom_8:3), speaks of the incarnate Christ not as ἄνθοωπος γενόμενος, but as ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος, even so the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews also here places not ἐξ ἴσου, but παραπλησίως μετέσχεν τῶν αὐτῶν. Comp. also ὅθεν ὤφειλεν κατὰ πάντα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι, Heb_2:17.

μετέσχεν] The aorist. For the incarnation and the earthly course of Christ is a fact already belonging to the purely past; now Christ is already the glorified Son of God.

τῶν αὐτῶν] sc. αἵματος καὶ σαρκός. Erroneously, because without taking into account the reference imperatively required by the former clause, Bengel: eadem, quae fratribus accidunt, sanguine et carne laborantibus, ne morte quidem excepta.

διὰ τοῦ θανάτου] by means of death, the enduring of which first became possible by the taking upon Him of flesh and blood. Bengel: διὰ τοῦ θανάτου Paradoxon. Jesus mortem passus vicit; diabolus mortem vibrans succubuit.

The placing of the characteristic τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου before τὸν διάβολον is chosen, in order to gain a marked contrast to the preceding διὰ τοῦ θανάτου.

A rulers power over death,[50] however, is possessed by the devil, inasmuch as by the enticement of the devil sin came into the world of men, and sin brings about death for man. Comp. Wis_2:24 : φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον; Rom_5:12.

[50] Over-refinedly does Ebrard take τὸ κράτος absolutely, and τοῦ θανάτου as genitivus subjectivus: him who holds in his hands the power which death exerts over us.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 2:14-16 . This saving brotherhood involved incarnation and death. For, as it has ever been the common lot of the παιδία to live under the conditions imposed by flesh and blood, subject to inevitable dissolution and the shrinkings and weaknesses consequent, He also, this Son of God, Himself ( καὶ αὐτὸς ) shared with them in their identical nature, thus making Himself liable to death; His intention being that by dying He might render harmless him that used death as a terror, and thus deliver from slavery those who had suffered death to rule their life and lived in perpetual dread. κεκοινώνηκεν … μετέσχεν perf. and aor.; the one pointing to the common lot which the παιδία have always shared, αἵματος καὶ σαρκός , usually (but not always, Eph 6:12 ) inverted and denoting human nature in its weakness and liability to decay (Gal 1:16 , etc., and especially 1Co 15:50 ); the other, expressing the one act of Christ by which He became a sharer with men in this weak condition. He partook, but does not now partake. [Wetstein quotes from Polyaenus that Chabrias enjoined upon his soldiers when about to engage in battle to think of the enemy as ἀνθρώποις αἷμα καὶ σάρκα ἔχουσιν καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ἡμῖν κεκοινωνηκόσι .] This human nature Christ assumed παραπλησίως , which Chrysostom interprets, οὐ φαντασίᾳ οὐδὲ εἰκόνι ἀλλʼ ἀληθείᾳ . It means not merely “in like manner,” but “in absolutely the same manner”; as in Arrian vii. 1, 9, σὺ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὢν , παραπλήσιος τοῖς ἄλλοις , Herod. 3:104, σχεδὸν παραπλησίως “almost identical”; see also Diod. Sic., ver. 45. τῶν αὐτῶν , i.e. , blood and flesh. The purpose of the incarnation is expressed in the words ἵνα διὰ τοῦ f1θανάτου … ἦσαν δουλίας . He took flesh that He might die, and so destroy not death but him that had the power of death, and deliver, etc. The double object may be considered as one, the defeat of the devil involving the deliverance of those in bondage. The means He used to accomplish this object was His dying ( διὰ τ . θανάτου ). How the death of Christ had the result here ascribed to it, we are left to conjecture; for nowhere else in the Epistle is the deliverance of man by Christ’s death stated in analogous terms. We must first endeavour to understand the terms here employed. καταργήσῃ : “might render inoperative” ( ἄεργον ), “bring to nought”. Sometimes “destroy” or “put an end to” as in 1Co 15:26 ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος . τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου , “him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” τὸν διάβολον ( διαβάλλω , I set asunder, put at variance) used by LXX to render שֳׂטָן in Job 1:2 and Zach. 3, etc.; Σατάν is used in 1Ki 11 . In N.T. both designations occur frequently. But the significance for our present passage lies in the description “him who has the power of death”. ἔχειν τὸ κράτος is classical, and κράτος with the genitive denotes the realm within which or over which the rule is exercised, as Herod., iii. 142, τῆς Σάμου τ . κράτος . In connection with this universal human experience of death he uses his malign influence, and the striking vision of Zec 3 shows us how he does so. He brings sins to remembrance, he appears as the accuser of the brethren, as the counsel for the prosecution. Thus he creates a fear of death, a fear which is one of the most marked features of O.T. experience. Both Schoettgen and Weber produce rabbinical sayings which illustrate the power of a legal religion to produce servility and fear, so that the natural expression of the Jew was, “In this life death will not suffer a man to be glad”. Life, in short, with sin unaccounted for, and with death viewed as the punishment of sin to look forward to, is a δουλεία unworthy of God’s sons. This indeed is expressly stated in Heb 2:15 . The δουλεία which contradicts the idea of sonship and prevents men from entering upon their destiny of dominion over all things is occasioned by their fear of death ( φόβῳ , the dative of cause) as that which implies rejection by God. [Among the races whose conscience was not educated by the law, views of death varied greatly. These will be found in Geddes’ Phaedo , pp. 217, 223; and cf. the opening paragraphs of the third Book of the Republic , as well as pp. 330 and 486 B. Aristotle with his usual straightforward frankness pronounces death φοβερώτατον . On the other hand, many believed τεθνάμεναι βέλτιον ἢ βίοτος ; Hegesias was styled ὁ πεισιθάνατος , and by his persuasions and otherwise suicide became popular; and death was no longer reckoned an everlasting ill, but “portum potius paratum nobis et perfugium”. Wholly applicable to the present passage is Spinoza’s “homo liber de nihilo minus quam de morte cogitat”. Cf. Philo, Omn. sap. liber , who quotes Eurip., τίς ἐστι δοῦλος τοῦ θανεῖν ἄφροντις ὤν ;] This then was the bondage which characterised the life ( διὰ παντὸς τοῦ ζῆν ) of those under the old dispensation; the bondage in which they were held ( ἔνοχοι = ἐνεχόμενοι , “held” or “bound,” “subject to,” see Thayer, s.v.), and from which Christ delivered τούτους ὅσοι , not as if it were a restricted number who were delivered, but on the contrary to mark that the deliverance was coextensive with the bondage. ἀπαλλάξῃ , used especially of freeing from slavery [exx. from Philo in Carpzov, and cf. Isocrates οὗτος ἀπήλλαξεν αὐτοὺς τοῦ δέους τούτου . In the Phaedo frequently of soul emancipated from the body.] How the Son wrought this deliverance διὰ τοῦ θανάτου can now be answered; and it cannot be better answered than in the words of Robertson Smith: “To break this sway, Jesus takes upon Himself that mortal flesh and blood to whose infirmities the fear of death under the O.T. attaches. But while He passes through all the weakness of fleshly life, and, finally, through death itself, He, unlike all others, proves Himself not only exempt from the fear of death, but victorious over the accuser. To Him, who in His sinlessness experienced every weakness of mortality, without diminution of his unbroken strength of fellowship with God, death is not the dreaded sign of separation from God’s grace ( cf. Heb 2:7 ), but a step in his divinely appointed career; not something inflicted on Him against His will, but a means whereby ( διὰ with genitive) He consciously and designedly accomplishes His vocation as Saviour. For this victory of Jesus over the devil, or, which is the same thing, the fear of death, must be taken, like every other part of His work, in connection with the idea of His vocation as Head and Leader of His people.” In short, we see now what is meant by His tasting death “ for every man ,” and how this death guarantees the perfect dominion and glory depicted in Psa 8 . All the humiliation and death are justified by the necessities of the case, he concludes, “For, as I need scarcely say, it is not angels (presumably sinless and spiritual beings, πνεύματα , Heb 1:14 ) He is taking in hand, but He is taking in hand Abraham’s seed (the dying children of a dead father; ‘also dergleichen sterbliche und durch Todesfurcht in Knechtschaft befangene Wesen,’ Bleek). δήπου : frequently in classics, as Plato, Protagoras , 309 C. οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἐνέτυχες , “for I may take it for granted you have not met” ( Apol. , 21 B). τί ποτε λέγει ὁ θεός … φάσκων ἐμὲ σοφώτατον εἶναι ; οὐ γὰρ δήπου ψεύδεταί γε , “for, at any rate, as need hardly be said, he is not saying what is untrue”. ἐπιλαμβάνεται : “lays hold to help” or simply “succours,” with the idea of taking a person up to see him through. Cf. Sir 4:11 . ἡ σοφία … ἐπιλαμβάνεται τῶν ζητούντων αὐτήν , and the Scholiast on Aesch., Pers. , 742, ὅταν σπεύδῃ τις εἰς καλὰ ἢ εἰς κακά , ὁ θεὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπιλαμβάνεται . Castellio was the first to propose the meaning “help” in place of “assume the nature of,” and Beza having urged the latter rendering as being that of the Greek fathers, goes on to say, “quo magis est execranda Castellionis audacia qui ἐπιλαμ . convertit ‘ opitulatur ,’ non modo falsa, sed etiam inepta interpretatione, etc.”. It has been suggested that θάνατος might be the nominative which would give quite a good sense, but as Christ is the subject both of the foregoing and of the succeeding clause it is more likely that this affirmation also is made of Him. It is certainly remarkable that instead of saying “He lays hold of man to help him,” the writer should give the restricted σπέρματος Ἀβ . Von Soden, who supposes the Epistle is addressed to Gentiles, thinks the writer intends to prepare the way for his introducing the priesthood of Christ, and to exhibit the claim of Christians to the fulfilment of the prophecies made to Abraham ( cf. Robertson Smith), but this Weiss brands as “eine leere Ausflucht”. Perhaps we cannot get further than Estius (cited by Bleek): “gentium vocationem tota hac epistola prudenter dissimulat, sive quod illius mentio Hebraeis parum grata esset, sive quod instituto suo non necessaria”. Or, as Bleek says. “es erklârt sich aus dem Zwecke des Briefes”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hos. 13:14; 1 Cor. 15:55

Are made of flesh and blood which is a frail and brittle nature.

The devil is said to have the power of death, because he is the author of sin: and from sin cometh death, and for this cause he eggeth us daily to sin.

He speaketh of one as of the Prince, joining to him secretly all his angels.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

He who has thus been shown to be the "Captain (Greek, 'Leader') of salvation" to the "many sons," by trusting and suffering like them, must therefore become man like them, in order that His death may be efficacious for them [ALFORD].

the children--before mentioned (Heb 2:13); those existing in His eternal purpose, though not in actual being.

are partakers of--literally, "have (in His purpose) been partakers" all in common.

flesh and blood--Greek oldest manuscripts have "blood and flesh." The inner and more important element, the blood, as the more immediate vehicle of the soul, stands before the more palpable element, the flesh; also, with reference to Christ's blood-shedding with a view to which He entered into community with our corporeal life. "The life of the flesh is in the blood; it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev 17:11, Lev 17:14).

also--Greek, "in a somewhat similar manner"; not altogether in a like manner. For He, unlike them, was conceived and born not in sin (Heb 4:15). But mainly "in like manner"; not in mere semblance of a body, as the Docetæ heretics taught.

took part of--participated in. The forfeited inheritance (according to Jewish law) was ransomed by the nearest of kin; so Jesus became our nearest of kin by His assumed humanity, in order to be our Redeemer.

that through death--which He could not have undergone as God but only by becoming man. Not by Almighty power but by His death (so the Greek) He overcame death. "Jesus suffering death overcame; Satan wielding death succumbed" [BENGEL]. As David cut off the head of Goliath with the giant's own sword wherewith the latter was wont to win his victories. Coming to redeem mankind, Christ made Himself a sort of hook to destroy the devil; for in Him there was His humanity to attract the devourer to Him, His divinity to pierce him, apparent weakness to provoke, hidden power to transfix the hungry ravisher. The Latin epigram says, Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte tu lisset, Æternæ vitæ janua clausa foret. "Had not death by death borne to death the death of Death, the gate of eternal life would have been closed".

destroy--literally, "render powerless"; deprive of all power to hurt His people. "That thou mightest still the enemy and avenger" (Psa 8:2). The same Greek verb is used in Ti2 1:10, "abolished death." There is no more death for believers. Christ plants in them an undying seed, the germ of heavenly immortality, though believers have to pass through natural death.

power--Satan is "strong" (Mat 12:29).

of death--implying that death itself is a power which, though originally foreign to human nature, now reigns over it (Rom 5:12; Rom 6:9). The power which death has Satan wields. The author of sin is the author of its consequences. Compare "power of the enemy" (Luk 10:19). Satan has acquired over man (by God's law, Gen 2:17; Rom 6:23) the power of death by man's sin, death being the executioner of sin, and man being Satan's "lawful captive." Jesus, by dying, has made the dying His own (Rom 14:9), and has taken the prey from the mighty. Death's power was manifest; he who wielded that power, lurking beneath it, is here expressed, namely, Satan. Wisdom 2:24, "By the envy of the devil, death entered into the world."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. The children are partakers of flesh and blood] Since those children of God, who have fallen and are to be redeemed, are human beings; in order to be qualified to redeem them by suffering and dying in their stead, He himself likewise took part of the same-he became incarnate; and thus he who was God with God, became man with men. By the children here we are to understand, not only the disciples and all genuine Christians, as in Heb 2:13, but also the whole human race; all Jews and all Gentiles; so Joh 11:51; Joh 11:52: He prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but also that he should gather together in one the CHILDREN of GOD that were scattered abroad; meaning, probably, all the Jews in every part of the earth. But collate this with 1Jo 2:2, where: the evangelist explains the former words: He is the propitiation for our sins, (the Jews,) and not for ours only, but for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. As the apostle was writing to the Hebrews only, he in general uses a Jewish phraseology, pointing out to them their own privileges; and rarely introduces the Gentiles, or what the Messiah has done for the other nations of the earth.

That through death] That by the merit of his own death, making atonement for sin, and procuring the almighty energy of the Holy Spirit, he might counterwork καταργηση, or render useless and ineffectual, all the operations of him who had the power, κρατος, or influence, to bring death into the world; so that death, which was intended by him who was a murderer from the beginning to be the final ruin of mankind, becomes the instrument of their exaltation and endless glory; and thus the death brought in by Satan is counterworked and rendered ineffectual by the death of Christ.

Him that had the power of death] This is spoken in conformity to an opinion prevalent among the Jews, that there was a certain fallen angel who was called מלאך המות malak hammaveth, the angel of death; i.e. one who had the power of separating the soul from the body, when God decreed that the person should die. There were two of these, according to some of the Jewish writers: one was the angel of death to the Gentiles; the other, to the Jews. Thus Tob haarets, fol. 31: "There are two angels which preside over death: one is over those who die out of the land of Israel, and his name is Sammael; the other is he who presides over those who die in the land of Israel, and this is Gabriel." Sammael is a common name for the devil among the Jews; and there is a tradition among them, delivered by the author of Pesikta rabbetha in Yalcut Simeoni, par. 2, f. 56, that the angel of death should be destroyed by the Messiah! "Satan said to the holy blessed God: Lord of the world, show me the Messiah. The Lord answered: Come and see him. And when he had seen him he was terrified, and his countenance fell, and he said: Most certainly this is the Messiah who shall cast me and all the nations into hell, as it is written Isa 25:8, The Lord shall swallow up death for ever." This is a very remarkable saying, and the apostle shows that it is true, for the Messiah came to destroy him who had the power of death. Dr. Owen has made some collections on this head from other Jewish writers which tend to illustrate this verse; they may he seen in his comment, vol. i., p. 456, 8vo. edition.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Forasmuch then as the children, etc., or, since then the children, etc. This is an inference from the foregoing; and at the same time a fuller reason is given than what has been hitherto stated, why it behooved the Son of God to put on our flesh, even that he might partake of the same nature with us, and that by undergoing death he might redeem us from it.

The passage deserves especial notice, for it not only confirms the reality of the human nature of Christ, but also shows the benefit which thence flows to us. “The Son of God,” he says, “became man, that he might partake of the same condition and nature with us.” What could be said more fitted to confirm our faith? Here his infinite love towards us appears; but its overflowing appears in this — that he put on our nature that he might thus make himself capable of dying, for as God he could not undergo death. And though he refers but briefly to the benefits of his death, yet there is in this brevity of words a singularly striking and powerful representation, and that is, that he has so delivered us from the tyranny of the devil, that we are rendered safe, and that he has so redeemed us from death, that it is no longer to be dreaded.

But as all the words are important, they must be examined a little more carefully. First, the destruction of the devil, of which he speaks, imports this — that he cannot prevail against us. For though the devil still lives, and constantly attempts our ruin, yet all his power to hurt us is destroyed or restrained. It is a great consolation to know that we have to do with an enemy who cannot prevail against us. That what is here said has been said with regard to us, we may gather from the next clause, that he might destroy him that had the power of death; for the apostle intimates that the devil was so far destroyed as he has power to reign to our ruin; for “the power of death” is ascribed to him from the effect, because it is destructive and brings death. He then teaches us not only that the tyranny of Satan was abolished by Christ’s death, but also that he himself was so laid prostrate, that no more account is to be made of him than as though he were not. He speaks of the devil according to the usual practice of Scripture, in the singular number, not because there is but one, but because they all form one community which cannot be supposed to be without a head.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) Forasmuch then . . .—The two members of this verse directly recall the thoughts of Heb_2:10; Heb_2:9. (1) It was the will of God that salvation should be won by the Son for sons; (2) this salvation could only be won by means of death.

The children.—Said with reference to Heb_2:13.

Flesh and blood.—Literally, blood and flesh, the familiar order of the words being departed from here and in Eph_6:12. This designation of human nature on its material side is found four times in the New Testament, and is extremely common in Jewish writers.

The emphasis of the following statement is note. worthy: “He Himself also in like manner took part of the same things.” His assumption of our nature had for its object suffering and death.

Destroy him.—Rather, bring him to nought; annul his power. The comment on these words will be found in Heb_9:15; Heb_9:26; for it was as the lord of sin, which was the cause (Rom_5:12) and the sting (1Co_15:56) of death, that the devil held dominion over death (or, as the words might mean, wielded the power possessed by death). (Comp. 2Ti_1:10; 1Jn_3:8; also Rev_1:18.) Combined with this is the thought which runs through this chapter—the assimilation of the Redeemer to the redeemed in the conditions of His earthly life. By meeting death Himself, He vanquishes and destroys death for them.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–18. A fuller statement of the moral fitness of Christ’s participation in human sufferings

14. are partakers of flesh and blood] Rather, “have shared (and do share) in blood and flesh,” i.e. are human. They are all inheritors of this common mystery. This is implied by the perfect tense. “Blood and flesh,” as in Eph_6:12.

likewise] This word furnished the Fathers with a strong argument against the Docetae who regarded the body of Christ not as real but as purely phantasmal.

took part of the same] Because, as he goes on to intimate, it would otherwise have been impossible for Christ to die. Comp. Php_2:8. The aorist implies the one historic fact of the Incarnation.

he might destroy] Rather, “He may bring to nought,” or “render impotent.” See 2Ti_1:10, “Jesus Christ … hath abolished death;” 1Co_15:51-57; Rev_1:18. The word occurs 28 times in St Paul, but elsewhere only here and in Luk_13:7, though sometimes found in the LXX.

him that had the power of death] Rather, “him that hath,” i.e. in the present condition of things. But Christ, by assuming our flesh, became “the Death of death,” as in the old epitaph,

“Mors Mortis Morti mortem nisi morte dedisset

Aeternae vitae janua clausa foret;”

which we may render

“Had not the Death of death to Death by death his death-blow given,

For ever closèd were the gate, the gate of life and heaven.”

It is, however, possible that the phrase, “the power of death,” does not imply that the devil can, by God’s permission, inflict death, but that he has “a sovereignty, of which death is the realm.”

that is, the devil] This is the only place in this Epistle in which the name “Devil” occurs. It is nowhere very frequent in the N.T. The English reader is liable to be misled by the rendering “devils” for “demons” in the Gospels. Satan has the power of death, if that be the meaning here, not as lord, but as executioner (comp. Rev_9:11); his power is only a permissive power (Joh_8:44; Rev_12:10; Wis_2:24, “Through envy of the devil came death unto the world).” The manner in which Christ shall thus bring Satan to nought is left untouched, but the best general comments on the fact are in 1 Corinthians 15 and the Apocalypse. Nor does this expression encourage any Manichean or dualistic views; for, however evil may be the will of Satan, he can never exercise his power otherwise than in accordance with the just will of God. The Jews spoke of an Angel of Death, whom they called Sammael, and whom they identified with Satan (Eisenmenger, Entd. Judenth. ii. p. 821

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And deliver them, who through fear of death,.... This is another end of Christ's assuming human nature, and dying in it, and thereby destroying Satan, that he might save some out of his hands:

who were all their lifetime subject to bondage; meaning chiefly God's elect among the Jews; for though all men are in a state of bondage to the lusts of the flesh, and are Satan's captives; yet this describes more particularly the state of the Jews, under the law of Moses, which gendered unto bondage; which they being guilty of the breach of, and seeing the danger they were exposed to on that account, were subject, bound, and held fast in and under a spirit of bondage: and that "through fear of death"; through fear of a corporeal death; through fear of chastisements and afflictions, the forerunners of death, and what sometimes bring it on; and through fear of death itself, as a disunion of soul and body, and as a penal evil; and through fear of what follows it, an awful judgment: and this the Jews especially were in fear of, from their frequent violations of the precepts, both of the moral, and of the ceremonial law, which threatened with death; and this they lived in a continual fear of, because they were daily transgressing, which brought on them a spirit of bondage unto fear: and, as Philo the Jew (o) observes, nothing more brings the mind into bondage than the fear of death: and many these, even all the chosen ones among them, Christ delivered, or saved from sin, from Satan, from the law, and its curses, from death corporeal, as a penal evil, and from death eternal; even from all enemies and dangers, and brought them into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

(o) Quod omnis Probus Liber, p. 868.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Ver. 14. Children are partakers] παιδια, little children. Christ also became a little child, the babe of Bethlehem, Isa 9:6. Catch him up, as old Simeon did; kiss him, lest he be angry, Psa 2:12. Stumble not at his weakness, but gather assurance of his love, and grow up unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, Eph 4:13.

Took part of the same] Whence they are called Christ’s partners or consorts, Heb 1:9; and they amy better say to him than Ruth did to Boaz, "Spread thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman, one that hath right to redeem," Rth 3:9.

Him that bad the power of death] As the hangman hath the power of the gallows, "to kill men with death," Rev 2:23. He hath not imperium principis, but carnificis, saith a Lapide. And that power of his also, as to the saints, is cassated, nullified, made void and of none effect, as the word καταργηση signifieth. He may roar upon them, and shake his chain at them; not ruinate them, or once set his fangs in them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forasmuch then - Since; or because.

As the children - Those who were to become the adopted children of God; or who were to sustain that relation to him.

Are partakers of flesh and blood - Have a human and not an angelic nature. Since they are men, he became a man. There was a fitness or propriety that he should partake of their nature; see the 1Co 15:50 note; Mat 16:17 note.

He also himself, ... - He also became a man, or partook of the same nature with them; see the notes at Joh 1:14.

That through death - By dying. It is implied here:

(1)That the work which he undertook of destroying him that had the power of death, was to be accomplished by “his own dying;” and,

(2)That in order to this, it was necessary that he should be a man. An angel does not die, and therefore he did not take on him the nature of angels; and the Son of God in his divine nature could not die, and therefore he assumed a form in which he could die - that of a man. In that nature the Son of God could taste of death; and thus he could destroy him that had the power of death.

He might destroy - That he might “subdue,” or that he might overcome him, and “destroy” his dominion. The word “destroy” here is not used in the sense of “closing life,” or of “killing,” but in the sense of bringing into subjection, or crushing his power. This is the work which the Lord Jesus came to perform - to destroy the kingdom of Satan in the world, and to set up another kingdom in its place. This was understood by Satan to be his object: see the Mat 8:29 note; Mar 1:24 note.

That had the power of death - I understand this as meaning that the devil was the cause of death in this world. He was the means of its introduction, and of its long and melancholy reign. This does not “affirm” anything of his power of inflicting death in particular instances - whatever may be true on that point - but that “death” was a part of his dominion; that he introduced it; that he seduced man from God, and led on the train of woes which result in death. He also made it terrible. Instead of being regarded as falling asleep, or being looked on without alarm, it becomes under him the means of terror and distress. What “power” Satan may have in inflicting death in particular instances no one can tell. The Jewish Rabbis speak much of Sammael, “the angel of death” - מלאך המות mal'aak hamuwt - who they supposed had the control of life, and was the great messenger employed in closing it.

The Scriptures, it is believed, are silent on that point. But that Satan was the means of introducing “death into the world, and all our woe,” no one can doubt; and over the whole subject, therefore, he may be said to have had power. To “destroy” that dominion: to rescue man; to restore him to life; to place him in a world where death is unknown; to introduce a state of things where “not another one would ever die,” was the great purpose for which the Redeemer came. What a noble object! What enterprise in the universe has been so grand and noble as this! Surely an undertaking that contemplates the annihilation of death; that designs to bring this dark dominion to an end, is full of benevolence, and commends itself to every man as worthy of his profound attention and gratitude. What woes are caused by death in this world! They are seen everywhere. The earth is “arched with graves.” In almost every dwelling death has been doing his work of misery. The palace cannot exclude him; and he comes unbidden into the cottage. He finds his way to the dwelling of ice in which the Esquimaux and the Greenlander live; to the tent of the Bedouin Arab, and the wandering Tartar; to the wigwam of the Indian, and to the harem of the Turk; to the splendid mansion of the rich, as well as to the abode of the poor. That reign of death has now extended near 6,000 years, and will travel on to future times - meeting each generation, and consigning the young, the vigorous, the lovely, and the pure, to dust. Shall that gloomy reign continue forever? Is there no way to arrest it? Is there no place where death can be excluded? Yes: heaven - and the object of the Redeemer is to bring us there.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That, through death, he might destroy the power of him who had the empire of death, who, by tempting men to sin, had made them slaves to him and to eternal death; so that they lived always slaves to the devil, under a miserable fear of death, and liable to eternal death. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood: the Spirit having proved the children and brethren sanctified by Christ to be men, proceeds to prove, that the Sanctifier of them was of the same nature with themselves; and so confirms what he asserted, Heb 2:11, that they were of one: forasmuch as those were chosen, born of God, and given to him, adopted into his sonship and heirship, and by this, as well as by their humanity, derived jointly with his own from Adam, his brethren, κεκοινωνηκε, these having it in common. The word imports the reality, integrity, unity, and community they all have of the human nature; they are all truly, only, and fully men, and every individual person hath this humanity. These

flesh and blood metonymically set out the whole human nature, though the body only be literally expressed by it, a body subject to many infirmities.

He also himself likewise took part of the same; God the Son himself παραπλησιως, had the next and nearest correspondent condition with theirs, even the same as to the kind of it, as like as blood is to blood, properly and truly, only freed from our sinful infirmities, as Heb 2:17; 4:15; this word diminisheth him not, but showeth his identity: μετεσχε,

took part, he became a partner with the children, and took their nature. It is not the same word as before, κεκοινωνεκε, as the Marcionites and Manichees corrupt it, as if he had this nature only in common with them, making him only man. But being God, besides his Divine nature, &c., to it he took the human, even their true and full nature, consisting of a body and a soul, and so united them, that in him they became one person; so that hence results a double union of Christ with man. By his incarnation he is of one nature with all the human race, and so is the Head of them: and by his dying for them all the human race are made salvable, which angels are not; and those who repent and believe on him, are actually sanctified and united to him, as his elect and chosen body, and shall be saved by him.

That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death: by his dying on the cross as testator of God’s covenant, and not by his power as a God, (which was most glorious to himself, but most ignominious to the devil, according to the promise, Gen 3:15), did he abolish, or bring to nought, and render powerless without any recovery, not by taking away the immortal life and being, but the κρατος, the strength and power to kill. For the εζουσια, the authority, right, and command, the keys of death, are in Christ’s hand only, and he useth the strength of this execution in it, as to his enemies; when sinners become penitent believers, then his death satisfying God’s justice for their sin, hath executed the power as to death, which the devil had by law against them: 1Co 15:56,57; The sting of death is sin, that gives him power; and the strength of sin is the law, that, unless satisfied for, takes part with sin; but Christ by dying takes away the law’s enmity, removes sin, as to guilt, stain, and power, and so brings to nought this power.

That is, the devil; the prince himself, set here collectively for all the rest of his evil spirits, Mat 25:41, who by his lies drew man into sin, and by sin stings him to death; having therefore such power to seduce to sin, he powerfully renders men obnoxious to death: and then, as executioner, having them by the law delivered into his hands, putteth forth his strength to torment and destroy them. Christ by his death doth with price and power redeem them out of his hand, and destroys all his works, takes possession of them, and brings them through death to eternal life.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Forasmuch then—This inference reverts back to close of Heb_2:11, in support of which 12 and 13 are citations. This verse reasserts the main thought, which beautifully interprets, to the dubious Christian Jew, the glory of the condescension of the eternal Son, the divine Logos, in assuming our nature that he might be capable of death.

Flesh and blood—Note, 1Co_15:50. The true reading is, blood and flesh, in which the blood, as the more immediate residence of the life and soul, is mentioned first. Both blood and flesh mean the bodily nature as impregnated with sensitivity and susceptibility to impressions, shared by both man and lower animals, whereby it becomes the basis of soul and spirit in man. This assumption of a sensitive body was in order that he might be capable of human death, and might, through death, destroy the author of death.

Destroy—The Greek word is used, as Alford says, twenty-five times by St. Paul. It often signifies, to put out of existence, (as Rom_6:6, 1Co_15:24,) and hence this might be a favourite text with those who believe in the annihilation of the devil. But it also signifies to ruin, to bring to naught, to despoil, as Luk_13:7, Rom_3:3, 2Th_2:8, where see note. The Apocryphal Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs uses the word in the phrase, “He shall destroy Belial and those serving him.”

Had the power of death—Christ (Rev_1:18) has the “keys of hell and of death,” that is, to deliver and bring forth to a resurrection; Satan has the power, through sin, of introducing death. Hence he was a murderer from the beginning. The rabbies carried this idea so far as to teach that Samael was the angel of death, inflicting it whenever a man dies. The antithesis, through death… destroy… death, strikingly expresses the work of the dying Redeemer. And not until this antithesis is completed are we brought in the sentence, with closing emphasis, to the name of the murderer—the devil. See note on Heb_2:9.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 14, 15. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of (literally, have been, made partakers of; i.e. so made as to share alike), blood and flesh (this is the order of the words, as in Eph_6:12, according to the great preponderance of authority; Delitzsch sees in it a reference to "the blood-shedding for the sake of which the Savior entered into the fellowship of bodily life with us"), he also himself likewise (rather, iv, like manner; i.e. with "the children") took part in the same; that through death he might destroy (katarghsh , equivalent to "bring to nought," "render impotent as though not existing;" the word is frequent with St. Paul) him that had (or, has) the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver (i.e. from bondage) all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hero the purpose of the Incarnation is set forth as requiring the complete association of the SON with human brethren to which prophecy had pointed. But more is now declared than the prophecies so far quoted have implied; and thus is introduced (by way of anticipation, as is usual in the Epistle) the doctrine of atonement, which is to be dwelt on afterwards. For the object of Christ"s becoming one of us is now further said to be that by dying he might effect redemption. The "children" in ver. 14 are the paidia of the type in Isaiah, fulfilled in the "many sons" to be "sanctified" and brought to glory. (We may observe, by the way, the difference between the words used of their participation in human nature and of Christ"s kekoinwke and metesce : the aorist in the latter case expresses his sharing what was not his before, and so distinctly implies his preexistence.) For understanding" the account here given of the purpose of the Incarnation, we must remember that death, originally announced (Gen_2:17) as the penalty of transgression, is regarded in the New Testament (notably by St. Paul) as the sign of the continual dominion of sin over the human race. Thus in Rom_5:12, 15 the mere fact that all men "from Adam to Moses" had died is adduced as sufficient proof that all were under condemnation as sinners. Whatever further idea is implied in the word "death such as alienation from God in whom is life eternal, or any "blackness of darkness" thereupon ensuing in the world beyond the grave of man"s subjection or liability to all this his natural death is regarded as the sign. It is to be remembered, too, that "the devil," through whom it was that sin first entered, and death through sin, is revealed to us generally as the representative of evil (o ponhrov), and, as such, the primeval manslayer (anyrwpoktonov ap archv), with power given him over death, the penalty of sin, as long as man remains in his dominion, unredeemed. Till redemption east a new light upon the gloom of death, man was all his life long in fear of it; its shadow was upon him from his birth; it loomed ever before him as a passing into darkness, unrelieved by hope. We know well how the hopeless dismalness of death was a commonplace with the classical poets, and how, even now, the natural man shrinks from it as the last great evil. But Christ, human, yet sinless, died for all mankind, and, so dying, wrested from the devil his power over death, and emancipated believers from their state of "bondage" (as to which, see below). On particular expressions in this passage we may remark:

(1) That, "having the power of death," which has been variously interpreted, may be taken in the usual sense of ecein kratov tinov , viz. "having power, or dominion, over. " Satan has had the dominion over death allowed him because of human sin. And it may be observed that elsewhere, not only death, but other woes that flesh is heir to its precursors and harbingers are attributed to Satanic agency. (cf. Joh_1:12 Joh 2:6 Luk_13:16 1Co_5:5)

(2) Christ is not here said to have as yet abolished death itself; only to have rendered impotent him that had the power of it; for natural death still "reigns," though to believers it has no "sting." In the end (according to 1Co_15:26; Rev_20:14 Rev_21:4) death itself will be destroyed. In one passage, indeed, it is spoken of by St. Paul as already abolished; (katarghsantov menaton , 2Ti_1:10) but this is in the way of anticipation: death is already vanquished and disarmed to believers.

(3) The bondage (douleia) spoken of is the condition of unredeemed man, often so designated by St. Paul. See Romans 7 and Rom 8, where man"s bondage (felt when conscience is awake) to "the law of sin in the members," and his emancipation from it through faith, are described; and especially Rom_8:15, Rom_8:16, 17 ("For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear," etc.), as elucidating

(4) The word enocov , followed this passage by the genitive (douleiav), expresses here more than liability to;" it implies present implication, equivalent to "in hold to." The A.V, subject to," expresses the idea adequately.

Vers. 14, 15. The incarnation of the Son of God. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers," etc.

I THE GREAT FACT OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same." These words suggest:

1. The reality of our Lord"s human nature. He partook of our flesh and blood. His body was real, and not merely phenomenal. His physical experiences e.g., weariness, hunger, thirst, pain, death were real, not pretended. His human soul also, with its sympathies and antipathies, was genuine.

2. A peculiarity of our Lord"s human nature. His human nature was voluntarily assumed. He partook of flesh and blood. We could not apply these words to Moses or to St. Paul without manifest absurdity. We had no choice as to whether we should be or not be, or what we should be; whether we should exist at all, or, if we were to exist, what form of existence should be ours. But he had. We were brought into this world without our will; he "came into the world" of his own will. "He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." This implies:

(1) His existence before his incarnation. "His goings forth were from of old, from everlasting.

(2) His power over his own existence. He could take upon himself what form of existence he pleased. He had power over his life. He had "power to lay it down, and power to take it again.

(3) His deep interest in human existence. "He was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor," etc.

II THE GRAND DESIGN OF THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD. "That through death he might bring to nought him that," etc.

1. Our Lord became man in order that he might die. All other men die because they are human, and their death is unavoidable; but he assumed our nature for the express purpose of acquiring the capability of death. His death was of stupendous importance. He looked forward to it; he preannounced it to his disciples; he deliberately advanced to it; he voluntarily endured it.

2. Our Lord died in order that he might vanquish death. "That through death he might bring to nought him that had," etc. He does this

(1) By the abolition of Satan"s power over death. Satan may be said to have the power of death, inasmuch as:

(a) Death, as we know it, is the result of sin, and he introduced sin into our world, and is actively engaged in propagating it. "The sting of death is sin." But for sin, it might have been "a gentle wafting to immortal life.

(b) He kindles the passions which lead on to death; e.g. anger and revenge, which often result in murder; lust of territory, which often causes war, etc.

(c) He inspires the mind with terror in the anticipation of death. The gloomy and dreadful ideas which are frequently associated with death are probably suggested by him. Our Lord died to render this power of Satan ineffective, and in this respect to bring him to nought. How his death effects this we will inquire shortly.

(2) By the emancipation of man from the thraldom of the dread of death. Men recoil in alarm from death for several reasons; e.g.:

(a) The supposed anguish of dying. A good Christian who was drawing near to the river of death said, "I have no doubt of going to heaven; but oh, the crossing, the crossing!

(b) The painful separations which death causes. Tennyson truly expresses the feeling of many in this respect"For this alone on Death I wreak The wrath that garners in my heart; He puts our lives so far apart We cannot hear each other speak.

(c) The appalling mystery as to what lies beyond death"The dread of something after death, The undiscover"d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns.

(d) The solemn judgment to which it leads. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, judgment." The dread of death, for these and other reasons, holds men in bondage, enslaves them; they cannot shake it off. Our Lord died to set them free from this thraldom. But how does his death effect this? He was "manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." As an atonement for sin, his death removes the guilt of all who heartily believe on him. Death is no longer penal to them. For them "the sting of death" is taken away. Again, since Christ died and rose again from the dead, death wears a new aspect to the Christian. It is no longer the end of our existence, but an onward and upward step in our existence. It means not repression, but development; not loss, but gain; not the way to darkness and misery, but to light and joy. Death to the Christian is no longer "the king of terrors," but the kind servant of the Lord and Giver of life. Death is the crown of life: Were death denied, poor man would live in vain; Were death denied, to live would not be life; Were death denied, even fools would wish to die. Death wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign! Spring from our fetters; fasten in the skies, Where blooming Eden withers in our sight. Death gives us more than was in Eden lost. This king of terrors is the prince of peace. (Young.)

Thus, by his own voluntary death, the Son of God brings to nought Satan"s power of death, and sets free the captives of the dread of death. Death itself remains, but its character and aspect to the Christian are completely changed. The evil of death is vanquished, and transformed into blessing. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. W. J.

Vers. 14-18. Here we have stated the sublime results of the incarnation and death of Christ in their influence upon the present temptation and death of believers. Our Lord did not assume an angelic nature, which would have necessarily set him at some distance from us, since the experiences of those sinless and exalted beings would have been to some degree inconceivable by us. He took hold of the seed of Abraham, and enshrined his Divine nature in human flesh and blood, and felt all the innocent emotions and sensations of our race. He was hungry and thirsty, he was weary and slept, and wept and rejoiced like his brethren. Then he felt the pangs of death, by which he achieved a happy and invaluable change in our views of departure from this world. Death had derived its terror from Satan, who prompted men to sin and then alarmed them with the fear of condemnation and punishment. Under the Law many regarded death with trembling and anxiety; and righteous men like Hezekiah shrank from the approach of the "king of terrors." It was bondage which restrained from enjoyment, and made life like a man wearing fetters from which he could not get free. The death of our Lord seemed the masterpiece of Satan; but it became the cause of his most humiliating overthrow, for ever after those who believe in Jesus may walk with serene confidence, in the light of the Redeemer"s victory, towards their eternal rest, and realize the words, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." O precious ransom! which once paid, That Consummatum est was said, And said by him that said no more, But sealed it with his sacred breath! Thou, then, that hast dispurged our score, And dying met the death of death, Be now, while on thy Name we call, Our Life, our Strength, our Joy, our All. (Sir H. Wotton.)

Being made like unto his brethren in the participation of their nature, he made, as a merciful and faithful High Priest, reconciliation for them by his sacrificial death. By his oblation he revealed the Divine displeasure against sin, and made a way for those who were once rebels to become reconciled to the character of God, his methods of salvation, and to the enjoyment of the privileges and hopes of the Christian lice. He passed through a career of temptation in which Satan strove to overthrow him, the world endeavored to turn him away from his work, and his fierce enemies, the Pharisees, strove to frustrate his gracious designs. He was alone in the vastness of the temptations he endured, and carried, without any earthly sympathy, the vast burden of his sorrows. Now, from his vast and painful experience, he is able to sympathize with all who are tempted, and to cheer them with the truth that, should every heart around be unmoved, and every ear closed to their griefs, he feels for them with a vividness and certainty which may awaken confidence, and increase their joy in the Lord. B.

Christ robbing death of its terrors.

I OBSERVE A REASON FOR THE INCARNATION. When we look at all the Son of God achieved by the Incarnation, we see what an eminently reasonable thing it was. This seems to be forgotten by those who stumble at what they feel sure is a natural impossibility that Jesus should have come into the world as he did. But if great ends were achieved by the Son of God thus stooping from his glory, entering the world as a babe, living a human life and dying a human death, then, when we remember how God is love, surely such extraordinary things become credible. If we can help people, we are bound to do everything that lies in our power to help them. And may we not reverently say that a similar obligation lies with the Divine Being? He knows what is most for our help, and does everything in his own wise time and way; and when it is done it is for us to search and see how it is just the thing that needed to be done.

II CHRIST BECAME A HUMAN BEING LIKE US IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT DIE. This strong way of putting the thing is necessary, in order to bring out the greatness of Christ"s work with respect to death. With us death is the end of life, but by no means to be looked on as a result of life a thing to be aimed at. But in the case of Jesus it was a great end to be reached. Jesus might have lived in the world for many years, teaching men, healing their sicknesses, gladdening their lives in many ways, and then, Enoch-fashion, he might have been translated that he should not see death. But if this had happened, the great end would have been missed.

III THE RESULTS ACHIEVED BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST. Not all the results, of course; two are mentioned here. Christ died for men that is the great general truth; and it is the way of God in the Scriptures to put one aspect of a truth in one place and another in another.

1. Christ in dying brings to nothing him who has the might of death. It is the devil who gives death its mighty power. Unseen by us, and by us incomprehensible, he works out his evil pleasure. And so Jesus had to go into the unseen world and conquer him. We can only know that there has been a struggle at all by what we see of the results. We know that he died, we know that he rose again; but all that happened in order to make his rising practicable is utterly beyond us. This is just one of the passages which make us feel how little we know, and how humble and diffident and cautious of speech we should be before the great unknown. The practical thing is that we should have a firm assurance in our hearts of how Christ has mastered the power of death, whencesoever that power may come.

2. The deliverance o/those enslaved by the fear of death. Christ comes to bring liberty. The progress of true Christianity is constantly enlarging the liberty of the individual. And here is one way in which the individual is bound, self-fettered; and too often the more he allows himself to think, the more firmly the chains get fastened, tie asks himself what is to come after death. So far is it from being certain that death means utter discontinuance of life that many are in trouble just because of the uncertainty. Then others cling to life just because life holds all that is certain to them. All their treasures are stored up on earth, for they have no notion of any other storehouse. It is, indeed, miserable work to have everything dependent on so uncertain a tenure as that of natural life. But Jesus comes and opens the prison-door. That is all he can do. By his death he has made deliverance possible from the fear of death. But man"s confused heart goes on fearing even when the objects of its fear are turned into empty phantoms. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Since then these children partake of flesh and blood - Of human nature with all its infirmities. He also in like manner took part of the same; that through his own death he might destroy the tyranny of him that had, by God's permission, the power of death with regard to the ungodly. Death is the devil's servant and serjeant, delivering to him those whom he seizes in sin. That is, the devil - The power was manifest to all; but who exerted it, they saw not.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

took part

The word trans. "took part" is not the same as the trans. "partakers," but implies taking part in something outside one’s self.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. The reality of Christ’s assuming the human nature asserted: As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. Which is in effect the same he had asserted in the foregoing verse, that he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one; that is, of one nature and original.

Observe, 2. A twofold reason assigned, why Christ thus condescendingly assumed the human nature, namely, that he might destroy the devil, who had the power of death, and deliver his people that were under the slavish fear of death.

Here note, 1. The devil described in a very formidiable manner, as one that had the power of death; not the supreme, but a subordinate, power of death; a power of death, as God’s executioner to inflict it: the devil has the power of death, just as the hangman has the power of the gallows, to put those to death whom the judge condemns only.

Note, 2. Him that has thus the power of death, has Christ destroyed, that is disarmed and disabled; not destroyed his being, but disarmed him of his power and authority over the children of God.

Note, 3. That Christ did this by his own death: through death; that is, by his own dying, he destroyed him that had the power of death: it was upon the cross that he spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly; Christ by dying conquered death.

The second reason of Christ’s appearing in our flesh and nature, was to deliver his people from the slavery and bondage of the sinful and servile fears of death.

Here note, 1. That there is a natural fear of death, which is not sinful. Art thou afraid of death? Thou wert not a man if thou didst not fear it: there cannot but be in nature an aversion to its own disolution; and nature will always act like itself.

Note, 2. That there is a servile, slavish fear of death, which hath both sin and torment in it; a fear of death as penal, and drawing after it everlasting punishment.

Note, 3. That unregenerate men, if a senseless stupidity has not benumbed them, and a spirit of slumber fallen upon them, are in bondage under the servile and slavish fear of death. It will daunt the stoutest man that ever lived to look upon death, when he can see nothing but hell beyond it.

Note, 4. That Jesus Christ, by dying, has freed all his children from this servile and tormenting fear of death.

1.Christ has taken away the true reason of the fear of death, namely, the curse and condemnation of the law of God. The sting of death is sin, and sin has it condemning power from the law.

2. Christ has assured believers that they shall not be losers, but gainers, yea, great gainers, by death; considering the private evils freed from, and the positive good they shall rest in.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. It is absolutely necessary that the world’s Redeemer should be both human and divine. Humanity had fallen from the exalted eminence of the divine fellowship, down into the deep abyss of sin, misery, death and damnation. When the river ha fallen down from the mountain crag, it can never flow back. If Christ had been God only, man could never have reached it. If He had been man only, He would have been utterly incompetent to the rescue of fallen humanity. In His human humiliation He comes down low enough to put His shoulder under the most degraded wretch on the face of the earth. The vilest reprobate has nothing to do, but take Him by the hand. This done, he has taken the hand of the Omnipotent God, which lifts him to the highest heaven. Thus, in the hypostatic union of perfect humanity and perfect divinity, in our glorious Mediator, we receive the man-Christ, while the God-Christ saves us. “In order that through death He may destroy the one having the power of death, that is the devil.” Destruction is not annihilation. When you burn a piece of wood the gases and ashes weigh precisely as much as the wood before cremation. In the economy of nature there is no such thing as annihilation. God in providence and grace is identical. Therefore, the doctrine of annihilation is heretical and equally contradictory to both nature and revelation. The destruction of the devil does not mean his annihilation, but his utter and eternal discomfiture and defeat.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. He himself likewise. As these children are all mortal he, though divine, took on himself our mortality. He did this, that through death he might bring to nought the power of him who first brought death on our race. It was needful that he be clothed with mortality in order to die, and needful to die in order to deliver men from the power of sin and give them a glorious hope.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

14–18. A FULLER STATEMENT OF THE MORAL FITNESS OF CHRIST’S PARTICIPATION IN HUMAN SUFFERINGS

14. αἵματος καὶ σαρκός. This less usual sequence is supported by אABCDEM.

14. κεκοινώνηκεν, “have shared (and do share) in blood and flesh,” i.e. are human. They are all inheritors of this common mystery. This is implied by the perfect tense. “Blood and flesh,” as in Eph 6:12.

παραπλησίως. This word furnished the Fathers with a strong argument against the Docetae who regarded the body of Christ not as real but as purely phantasmal.

μετέσχεν τῶν αὐτῶν. Because, as he goes on to intimate, it would otherwise have been impossible for Christ to die. Comp. Php 2:8. The aorist implies the one historic fact of the Incarnation. The contrasted use of the aor. and perf. in many passages shews the importance of observing the difference between them. Comp. Luk 4:18 ἔχρισέ με εὐαγγελίσασθαι, ἀπέσταλκέ με κηρύξαι, 1Co 15:4 on ὅτι ἐτάφη καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται. See Col 1:16; 2Co 11:28, &c.

καταργήσῃ, “He may bring to nought,” or “render impotent.” See 2Ti 1:10, “Jesus Christ … hath abolished death”; 1Co 15:51-57; Rev 1:18. The word occurs 28 times in St Paul, but elsewhere only here and in Luk 13:7, though sometimes found in the LXX.

τὸν … ἔχοντα, “him that hath,” i.e. in the present condition of things. But Christ, by assuming our flesh, became “the Death of death,” as in the old epitaph,

“Mors Mortis Morti mortem nisi morte dedisset,

Aeternae vitae janua clausa foret”;

which we may render

“Had not the Death of death to Death by death his death-blow given, For ever closèd were the gate, the gate of life and heaven.”

“Paradoxon: Jesus, mortem passus, vicit: diabolus, mortem vibrans, succubuit.” Bengel. It is, however, possible that the phrase, “the power of death,” does not imply that the devil can, by God’s permission, inflict death, but that he has “a sovereignty, of which death is the realm.”

τὸν διάβολον. This is the only place in this Epistle in which the name “Devil” occurs. It is nowhere very frequent in the N.T. The English reader is liable to be misled by the rendering “devils” for “demons” in the Gospels. Satan has the power of death, if that be the meaning here, not as lord but as executioner (comp. Rev 9:11); his power is only a permissive power (Joh 8:44; Rev 12:10; Wis 2:24, “Through envy of the devil came death unto the world).” The manner in which Christ shall thus bring Satan to nought is left untouched, but the best general comments on the fact are in 1 Corinthians 15 and the Apocalypse. Nor does this expression encourage any Manichean or dualistic views; for, however evil may be the will of Satan, he can never exercise his power otherwise than in accordance with the just will of God. The Jews spoke of an Angel of Death, whom they called Sammael, and whom they identified with Satan (Eisenmenger, Entd. Judenth. II. p. 821).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] The connexion and line of argument is this: in ver. 5 it was shewn, that not to angels, but to man, is the new order of things subjected: in vv. 6-8, that this domination was predicated of man in the O. T.: in ver. 9, that the only case of its fulfilment has been that of Jesus, who has been crowned with glory and honour on account of His suffering death. Then, vv. 10, 11 a, it is shewn that the becoming way for the Redeemer to this crown of glory, the purpose of winning which was to bring many sons of God to it, was, being perfected through sufferings, seeing that He must share with those whom He is to sanctify, in dependence on a common Father. Then vv. 11 b, 12, 13 have furnished illustrations confirmatory of this, from His own sayings in the Scripture. And now we are come to the proof, that He who was thus to be the Leader of the salvation of these many sons, by trusting like them, and suffering like them, must Himself become man like them, in order for that His death to have any efficacy towards his purpose. Since then (by ἐπεί, an inference is drawn from the words immediately preceding: by οὖν, the thought is cast back to the argument of which the citations had been an interruption: q. d. and by this very expression in our last citation, τὰ παιδία, we may substantiate that which our argument is seeking to prove) the children (before mentioned: “Articulus est ἀναφορικός: illi pueri, de quibus versu præcedente dictum.” Gerhard, in Bleek:—not τά generic, and τὰ παιδία, little children, as Valcknaer and Heinrichs, and recently Hofmann, Schriftb. ii. 1. 40, which introduces a thought quite irrelevant: cf. Hofmann: Er von der Menschwerdung Christi sagen wollte, dass er in derselben ein kind wie andere kinder, mit Fleisch und Blut, geworden ist) are partakers of (lit. “have been constituted partakers of,’—in the order established in nature, and enduring still. The κοινωνία is not with their elders, as Valcknaer (see above), but with one another. This absolute use of κοινωνεῖν is not often found: we have it in Xen. Mem. ii. 6. 22, 23, δύνανται πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες ἀλύπως σίτου κ. ποτοῦ κοινωνεῖν.… δύνανται δὲ καὶ χρημάτων οὐ μόνον τοῦ πλεονεκτεῖν ἀπεχόμενοι νομίμως κοινωνεῖν.… and Œcon. vi. 3, ἡδύ γʼ οὖν ἐστιν.… ὥσπερ καὶ χρημάτων κοινωνήσαντας ἀναμφιλόγως διελθεῖν, οὕτω καὶ λόγους κοινωνοῦντας περὶ ὧν ἂν διαλεγώμεθα συνομολογοῦντας διεξιέναι. The verb itself is generally found in the N. T. with a dative of the thing shared: in the classics, as here, with a genitive. See many examples in Bleek) blood and flesh (this order, instead of the more usual one, σαρκ. κ. αἵμ., occurs in ref. Eph., and Polyænus, Stratagem. iii. 11. 1: ἐπειδὰν μέλλωμεν μάχεσθαι, μήτοι νομίζωμεν ὡς πολεμίοις συμβάλλοντες, ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώποις αἷμα κ. σάρκα ἔχουσι, κ. τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ἡμῖν κεκοινωνηκόσιν. Bleek however suspects that this expression itself, belonging as it does to the time of the Antonines, may be derived from biblical or Jewish usage. It is found frequently in the later Jewish writers. “It betokens,” says Bleek, “the whole sensuous corporeal nature of man, which he has in common with the brutes, and whereby he is the object of sensuous perception and corporeal impressions: whereby also he is subjected to the laws of the infirmity, decay, and transitoriness of material things, in contrast to purely spiritual and incorporeal beings.” Delitzsch remarks on the order, that it differs from σὰρξ κ. αἷμα in setting forth first the inner and more important element, the blood, as the more immediate and principal vehicle of the soul, … before the more visible and palpable element, the flesh: doubtless with reference to the shedding of Blood, with a view to which the Saviour entered into community with our corporeal life), He himself also in like manner (similarly: the original idea of παραπλήσιος being that of lying close together all along: not exactly = ἴσος, for the two are not unfrequently found in conjunction, as ὁρῶντες στρατὸν ἴσον καὶ (where we should say, ‘or’) παραπλήσιον τῷ προτέρῳ ἐπεληλυθότα: Thuc. vii. 42, nor = ὁμοῖος: cf. Herod. iii. 101, χρῶμα φορέουσι ὁμοῖον πάντες καὶ παραπλήσιον Αἰθίοψι: cf. also Thuc. i. 143, τὰ μὲν Πελοποννησίων ἔμοιγε τοιαῦτα καὶ παραπλήσια δοκεῖ εἶναι: but expressing a general similitude, a likeness in the main; and so not to be pressed here, to extend to entire identity, nor on the other hand to imply, of purpose, partial diversity; but to be taken in its wide and open sense—that He Himself also partook in the main, in like manner with us, of our nature. The ancient expositors dwell justly on the word as against the Docetæ, who held that our Lord’s was only an apparent body. So Chrys., and more explicitly Thl.: οὐκ εἶπε γὰρ μόνον ὅτι μετέσχε σαρκὸς κ. αἵματος ὥσπερ τὰ παιδία, τουτέστιν οἱ λοιποὶ ἄνθρωποι· καίτοι εἰ καὶ τοῦτο εἶπεν, ἱκανὸν ἦν παραστῆσαι ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἐσαρκώθη· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ παραπλησίως προσέθηκε, ἵνα τὴν ἀπαράλλακτον πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀληθινὴν σάρκωσιν παραστήσῃ. And Thdrt.: σφόδρα δὲ ἀναγκαίως καὶ τὸ παραπλησίως τέθεικεν, ἵνα τὴν τῆς φαντασίας διελέγξῃ συκοφαντίαν) participated in (the E. V., “took part,” is good, but it should be followed by ‘in,’ not “of,” which makes it ambiguous. Bleek remarks that κοινωνέω and μετέχω are almost convertible; and instances Lycurg. cont. Leocrat. p. 187 (154, Bekker), ἐξ ἴσου τῶν κινδύνων μετασχόντες, οὐχ ὁμοίως τῆς τύχης ἐκοινώνησαν: see also Xen. Anab. vii. 6. 28. So that minute distinction of meaning is hardly to be sought for. Notice the aorist, referring to the one act of the Incarnation) the same things (viz. blood and flesh: not τῶν παιδίων, nor as Bengel, “the same things which happen to his brethren, not even death excepted”), that by means of his death (διὰ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ ὃν ἀνεδέξατο, ὡς σαρκὸς κ. αἵματος δηλαδὴ μετασχών: Thl. “Paradoxon: Jesus mortem passus vicit: diabolus mortem vibrans succubuit:” Bengel. “Death itself, as Death, is that which Jesus used as the instrument of annihilating the prince of Death:” Hofm. Schriftb. ii. 1. 274, whose further remarks there see, and Delitzsch’s comments on them, Hebr.-brf. p. 85. The latter quotes from Primasius, “Arma quæ fuerunt illi quondam fortia adversum mundum, hoc est, mors, per eam Christus illum percussit, sicut David, abstracto gladio Goliæ, in eo caput illius amputavit, in quo quondam victor ille solebat fieri.” “Dominus itaque noster”—so Gregory the Great on Job 40:19, “ad humani generis redemtionem veniens velut quemdam de se in necem diaboli hamum fecit … Ibi quippe inerat humanitas, quæ ad se devoratorem adduceret, ibi divinitas quæ perforaret: ibi aperta infirmitas, quæ provocaret, ibi occulta virtus, quæ raptoris famem transfigeret.” Cf. the remarkable reading in D: and the old Latin epigram, “Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte tulisset, Æternæ vitæ januaclausa foret”) He might destroy (bring to nought: see reff. The word is found, besides here, once in Luke (13:7), and twenty-five times in Paul) him that hath the power of death (the pres. part. is better taken of the office, q. d. ‘the holder of the power,’—than of past time, “him that had the power,” as E. V. The phrase τὸ κράτος ἔχειν has been abundantly illustrated by Bleek. Among his examples followed by a genitive, as here, are Herod. iii. 142, τῆς δὲ Σάμου Μαιάνδριος.… εἶχε τὸ κράτος: Aristoph. Thesmoph. 871, δωμάτων ἔχει κράτος: Jos. Antt. i. 19. 1, οἷς ἐγὼ τὸ ταύτης κράτος τῆς γῆς δίδωμι. It is evident that the gen. τοῦ θανάτου must be similarly taken here, and not, as Schlichting, al., as = “mortiferum” merely. The reason why this clause comes first, and not τὸν διάβολον, is probably, as Chrys. suggests, to exhibit the paradox mentioned above: τὸ θαυμαστὸν δείκνυσιν, ὅτι διʼ οὗ ἐκράτησεν ὁ διάβολος, διὰ τούτου ἡττήθη, καὶ ὅπερ ἰσχυρὸν ἦν αὐτῷ ὅπλον κατὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὁ θάνατος, τούτῳ αὐτὸν ἔπληξεν ὁ χριστός. Thl. mentions some who thought that by τὸ κράτος τοῦ θανάτου was meant sin: and Œc. gives this interpretation. But it is hardly worthy of serious consideration), that is, the devil (cf. Wisd. 2:24, φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον: and see Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2. So in the Rabbinical writings, Samael, the chief of the evil spirits, was called the angel of death: and it is said (Debarim Rabb. fin.), “Samael causa fuit mortis toti mundo:” and (Sohar, fol. xxvii. 3), “Filii serpentis antiqui qui occidit Adamum et omnes ab eo descendentes.” τὸν διάβολον ὃς ἐκράτει τοῦ θανάτου· πῶς; διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐποίει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐκ τῆς πρώτης ἐκείνης παρακοῆς, αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ τὸν θάνατον δημιουργήσας, ὥσπερ τινὶ στρατιώτῃ αὐτῷ κ. ὅπλῳ ἰσχυρῷ χρώμενος κατὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως. Thl.: cf. Rom 5:12: Joh 8:44. Ebrard would make τοῦ θανάτου the subjective genitive,—“the power, which death has over us,” and ἔχοντα to signify “wielding.” But this seems far-fetched and unnecessary.

The Death of Christ brought to nought the agency of the devil in death, because, that Death of His being not the penalty of His own sin, but the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, all those who by faith are united to Him can now look on death no longer as the penalty of sin, but only as the passage for them, as it was for Him, to a new and glorious life of triumph and blessedness. But for those who are not united to Him, death, retaining its character of a punishment for sin, retains also therewith all its manifold terrors. Delitzsch, in treating of ‘Him that has the power of death,’ quotes an important remark of Gregory the Great, on Job 1:11, “Satanæ voluntas semper iniqua est, sed nunquam potestas injusta, quia a semet ipso voluntatem habet, sed a Domino potestatem”), and might deliver (the construction is somewhat doubtful. The more obvious way of taking the sentence would be, to join δουλείας with ἀπαλλάξῃ—‘might free from bondage,’ ἀπαλλάττω usually governing a genitive of the thing from which the deliverance is effected: see many examples in Bleek, from which the following may be selected as containing δουλείας: Jos. Antt. xiii. 13. 3, τῆς ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτοὺς δουλείας … ἀπαλλάττειν: Isocr. Plataic. 9, δουλείας ἀπηλλάγησαν. And this would also suit the ordinary construction of ἔνοχος with a dative: see reff., and examples from the classics in Bleek. Still, it is hardly natural to suppose that δουλείας, standing so far as it would thus from its verb, in a position of so little emphasis, and without any designating article or pronoun, can belong to ἀπαλλάξῃ. We are thus brought to the ordinary construction, viz. the taking ἀπαλλάξῃ absolute, and joining δουλείας with ἔνοχοι. And this latter is by no means an unusual construction, as the reff. will shew. Bleek divides the imports of a gen. after ἔνοχος into three: 1. the punishment incurred: so reff. Matt., Mark, Demosth. p. 1229. 11, ἔνοχοι δεσμοῦ γεγόνασι: 2. the guilt incurred: so 2 Macc. 13:6, τὸν ἱεροσυλίας ἔνοχον ὄντα: Lysias in Alcib. p. 140, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἔνοχος ἔσται λειποταξίου οὐδὲ δειλίας: &c.: 3. the person or thing wherein the guilt is incurred: so reff. 1 Cor., James, Isa. So that the construction with the genitive seems to embrace a wider range of meaning than that with the dative, and to put ἔνοχος rather in the place of a substantive, ‘the subject of,’ to be interpreted by the context: whereas with a dative it rather stands in a participial connexion, = ἐνεχόμενος (cf. Gal 5:1, μὴ πάλιν ζυγῷ δουλείας ἐνέχεσθε): ‘entangled in,’ ‘liable to.’ Thus we shall here have ἔνοχοι δουλείας = those in a state of slavery; as (Bl.) in Sir. prol., οἱ φιλομαθεῖς καὶ τούτων ἔνοχοι γενόμενοι, those who are occupied with such things) those (τούτους is not, as Bengel, Kuinoel, al., to be referred to the preceding, whether υἱούς, ver. 10, or παιδία, ver. 14, but to the ὅσοι, which it designates and brings out. See below) who all (this use of ὅσος after a demonstrative pronoun is not very common. It does not in such a case imply the existence of others who do not fulfil the thing predicated, but rather takes, so to speak, the full measure of those indicated, being almost = ‘who, every one of them’.… Thus we have it after πᾶς in Æsch. Prom. 975 f., ἁπλῷ λόγῳ τοὺς πάντας ἐχθαίρω θεούς, ὅσοι παθόντες εὖ κακοῦσί μʼ ἐκδίκως. In fact it answers, as a relative of quantity, to ὅστις as a relative of quality. These persons whom Christ died to free, were all subject to this bondage induced by the fear of death. And these in fact were, all mankind; to whom the potential benefit of Christ’s death extends) by fear of death (so Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber, § 17, vol. ii. p. 462, οἰόμεθα τοὺς μὲν ἀσκητὰς τῆς ἐν σώμασιν εὐτονίας ἐπιβεβηκέναι φόβῳ θανάτου: see also ref. Sir. The obj. gen. after φόβος, as θεοῦ, ἀνδρῶν, &c. is common enough) were through all their lifetime (= διὰ πάσης τῆς ζωῆς. This substantival use of τὸ ζῆν is found in Æschin. dial. iii. 4, ὥσπερ εἰς ἕτερον ζῆν ἐπιθανούμενος: Ignat. ad Trall. 9, οὗ χωρὶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ζῆν οὐκ ἔχομεν: id. ad Eph_3, καὶ γὰρ Ἰησοῦς χριστὸς τὸ ἀδιάκριτον ἡμῶν ζῆν. Bl. But the use with an adjective seems to want other examples. We have something approaching to it in the “Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter” of Persius) subjects of (on the construction of ἔνοχος with a genitive, see above. It is here not merely ‘subject to,’ so that they might or might not be involved in it, but their actual implication is inferred) bondage (Wetst. &c. quote Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber, § 3, vol. ii. p. 448, ἐπαινεῖται παρά τισιν ὁ τρίμετρον ἐκεῖνο ποιήσας—τίς ἐστι δοῦλος; τοῦ θανεῖν ἄφροντις ὤν; (the line is from Euripides, and is cited also by Plutarch. Bl.) ὡς μάλα συνιδὼν τὸ ἀκόλουθον· ὑπέλαβε γάρ, ὅτι οὐδὲν οὕτω δουλοῦσθαι πέφυκε διάνοιαν, ὡς τὸ ἐπὶ θανάτῳ δέος ἕνεκα τοῦ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἱμέρου. See also many passages to the same effect in Raphel and Wetstein. Calvin’s note is well worth transcribing: “Hic locus optime exprimit quam misera sit eorum vita qui mortem horrent; ut necesse est omnibus sentiri horribilem, qui eam extra Christum considerant: nam tum in ea nihil apparet nisi maledictio. Unde enim mors, nisi ex ira Dei adversus peccatum? Hinc ista servitus per totam vitam, hoc est, perpetua anxietas qua constringuntur infelices animæ. Nam semper ex peccati conscientia Dei judicium observatur. Ab hoc metu nos Christus liberavit, qui maledictionem nostram subeundo sustulit, quod in morte formidabile erat. Tametsi enim nunc quoque morte defungimur: vivendo tamen et moriendo tranquilli sumus et securi, ubi Christum habemus nobis præeuntem. Quod si quis animum pacare non potest mortis contemptu, is sciat parum se adhuc profecisse in Christi fide. Nam ut nimia trepidatio ex ignorantia gratiæ Christi nascitur, ita certum est infidelitatis signum. Mors hic non separationem modo animæ a corpore significat, sed pœnam quæ ab irato Deo nobis infligitur, ut æternum exitium comprehendat. Ubi enim coram Deo reatus, protinus etiam inferi se ostendunt.”

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The children [τα παιδια] . Children of men, the subjects of Christ 's redemption.

Are partakers of flesh and blood [κεκοινωνηκεν αιματος και σαρκος] . For kekoinwnhken see on Rom 12:13. For flesh and blood the correct text reads blood and flesh. In rabbinical writers a standing phrase for human nature in contrast with God.

Likewise [παραπλησιως] . Rend. in like manner. N. T. o. Expressing general similarity. He took his place alongside [παρα] and near [πλησιος] : near by.

Took part [μετεσχεν] . The verb only in Hebrews and Paul. The distinction between it and kekoinwnhken were partakers is correctly stated by Westcott; the latter marking the characteristic sharing of the common fleshly nature as it pertains to the human race at large, and the former signifying the unique fact of the incarnation as a voluntary acceptance of humanity.

He might destroy [καταργηση] . Rend. bring to nought. See on cumbereth, Luk 13:7, and make of none effect, Rom 3:3. The word occurs 27 times in N. T., and is rendered in 17 different ways in A. V. Him that had the power of death [τον το κρατος εχοντα του θανατου] . Not power over death, but sovereignty or dominion of death, a sovereignty of which death is the realm. Comp. Rom 5:21, "Sin reigned in death."

That is the devil. An explanation has been sought in the Jewish doctrine which identified Satan with Samma? the angel of death, who, according to the later Jews, tempted Eve. This is fanciful, and has no value, to say nothing of the fact that Michael and not Samma?was the angel of death to the Israelites. The O. T. nowhere identifies Satan with the serpent in Eden. That identification is found in Wisd. 2 24, and is adopted Rev 12:9. The devil has not power to inflict death, nor is death, as such, done away by the bringing of the devil to nought. The sense of the passage is that Satan 's dominion in the region of death is seen in the existence and power of the fear of death as the penalty of sin (comp. through fear of death, ver. 15). The fear of death as implying rejection by God is distinctly to be seen in O. T. It appears in the utterances of many of the Psalmists. There is a consciousness of the lack of a pledge that God will not, in any special case, rise up against one. Along with this goes the conception of Satan as the accuser, see Zechariah 3. This idea may possibly give coloring to this passage. Even before death the accuser exercises sway, and keeps God 's people in bondage so long as they are oppressed with the fear of death as indicating the lack of full acceptance with God. How strongly this argument would appeal to Hebrew readers of the Epistle is clear from rabbinical theology, which often speaks of the fear of death, and the accuser as a constant companion of man's life. Jesus assumes the mortal flesh and blood which are subject to this bondage. He proves himself to be both exempt from the fear of death and victorious over the accuser. He never lost his sense of oneness with God, so that death was not to him a sign of separation from God 's grace. It was a step in his appointed career; a means [δια του θανατου] whereby he accomplished his vocation as Savior. His human brethren share his exemption from the bondage of the fear of death, and of the accusing power of Satan. "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life." " Whether we live or die we are the Lord 's. " 177

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. ἐπεὶ οὖν... Since therefore... Christ connects Himself with ‘the children whom God had given Him.’ Theso children wero men. To complote His fellowship with them thoreforo it was nocessary that He should assume thoir uaturo under its present conditions (αἷμα καὶ σάρξ).

For ἐπεί see 6. v. 11 note,

τὰ παιδία) Tho phrase is taken up from the quotation just made, Isaiah and his children foreshadowed Christ and His children.

κεκοινώνηκεν. .... JETETXEY......] are sharers in...He partook of... Vulg. communicaverunt (puert)...participavit... O. L. partictpes sunt...particeps factus. The Syr. makes no difference between the words which describo the participation in humanity on the part of mon and of tho Son of man. Yet they present different ideas. Κεκοινώνηκε marks the common nature ever shared among men as long as the race lasts: μετέσχεν expreases the unique fact of the Incarnation as a voluntury acceptunco of humanity, And undor the aspoct of humiliation and transitoriness (αἷμα καὶ σάρξ) this was past (μετέσχεν).

For a similar contrast of tonses ace 1 Oor. xv. 4; 1 John i 1; Col. i. 16; John xx. 23, 29; and for the difference between κοινωνεῖν and μετέχειν see 1 Oor, x. 17—21; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Prov. i. 11,38. Comp. & iii. τ.

αἷμ. καὶ σ.) The same order occurs in Eph. vi. 12. Stress is laid on that element which is the symbol of life as subject to corruption (contrast Luke

τὸν διάβολον] The title is found in St Paul only in Eph. and Past. Epp. The title ὁ Σατανᾶς is not found in this Kpistlo.

15. Tho ovorthrow of the devil involved the deliverance of men from his power.

ἀπαλλάξῃ] Latt. liberaret. The word is nsed absolutely (‘set froe’), and is not to be connected with δουλείας.

τούτους ὅσοι... all men who had, as we see, come to a perception of their position as men. The unusual phrase vividly presents the picture of haman misery as realised by the readers of the Epistle.

Quaro dixit apprehendit, quod portinct ad fugientem? Quia nos quasi recedentes a ze et longe fugiontes inscontus apprehondit (Primasius).

This sense however is inconsistent with the γάρ, and the plural ἀγγέλων, and would bo a mere repotition of v. 14.4; whilo tho seuse ‘taketh hold of to help,’ is both more in accordance with the usage of the word and falls in perfectly with the argument. This being so, it is remarkable that this interpretation was not given by any one, as far as I know, before Chatillon in his Latin Version; and it then called out the severe condemnation of Besa: “,..exsecranda...est OastelHionis audacia qui ἐπιλαμβάνεται con-

and they find their spiritual ancestor in one who answered a personal call (Abraham). Sive igitur de Judæis, sive de gentibus fideles, semen Abraha sunt quod Christus apprehendit (Heorv.).

Nothing is said of tho effect of tho Incarnation on angels, or other beings than man. Man's fall necossarily affocted all creation, and so also did man’s rostoration. But here the writer is simply explaining the fitness of the Incarnation.

Many however have endeavoured to determine why fallen man should have been redeemed and not fallen angels. Primasius, fur example, suggests the following reasons:

1. Man was tempted by the devil: the devil had no tempter.

2. Man yielded to an appetite for eating which naturally required satisfaction. The devil as spirit was inexcusable.

3. Man had not yet reached the presence of God, but was waiting to be transferred thither. The devil was already in heaven.

be far more natural to take both these words as qualifying dpycepevs than to take ἔλ. separately: ‘that He might become merciful, and a faithful high-priest’ Our High-priest is ‘merciful’ in considering the needs of each sinful man, and ‘faithful’ (‘one in whom the belicver can trust’) in applying the means which He administers, It has been supposed that the one epithet oxpresses mainly the relation towards mon and tho other tho relation towards God (ce. iii. 2, 5); but bere the rolation towards mon is alone in question, so that the faithfulness of Christ exprosses that wherein

in biblical and classical Greek see

Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), The Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) and The Epistles of St John (1883) — public domain (pre-1929). Text recovered from Internet Archive / Google Books OCR scans. Westcott’s Gospel of John commentary is not included (its OCR lost the chapter running-heads required for reliable verse-keying). Some Greek quoted in the Hebrews volume is imperfectly rendered by the OCR.