Hebrews 2:14. How does the devil have the power of death?

[JonC]

Dead men still speak!

Yea...but it sounds funny. Like "ahhhhhgggg". And they eat brains.

 

[DaveXR650]

You are trying so hard to insult and discredit me. Why don't you just listen and then discard or accept what I am saying?

I wouldn't go there on a thread where just above you said this about Calvinists:

The ultimate question is whether men who believe the Penal Substitution Theory of Atonement are saved.

Scripture says - IN THE SAME PASSAGE - that Christ died and destroyed the power of the who has the power of death, that is the devil. You say that is a lie.

Is that your answer to the original post? "Death" is found over 400 times in scripture. Much of which is God's direct command. After the things you have said about this you have to address these apparent discrepancies, especially if you are claiming that you only use scripture. It just won't do as an answer to then immediately go into another rant about how Calvin was dependent upon the time he lived in. It just seems to me that you are taking as many liberties with interpretation as any Calvinist.

All of this bluster you have given seems to me to be an attempt to hide the fact that Calvin's theory of divine justice is dependent on Calvin's understanding of justice.

You are offering smoke and mirrors.


Why don't YOU explain how Calvin's understanding of divine justice is NOT determined by Calvin's understanding of justice?

The direct and correct answer is two fold. One, Calvin was indeed influenced by the times he lived in and what he studied. But he also studied the scriptures. You have no right to leave that out when making your claim. No one denies that men deal with what they are living with. That is precisely why the early church fathers were more interested in proving Christ as Lord and Victor than explaining penal substitution.

Two. This is not exclusively Calvin's. He does not own penal substitution. Others who defend it are not Calvinists. If your point is true then others, who are not Calvinists, would not believe it.

Now, why don't you answer the point made in the OP. You say you only use scripture. I am stating right now that you cannot really do that. You have been confronted with another scripture that doesn't say what you have been saying.

So first of all, it does not mean that the devil had absolute power in the infliction of physical death. Only God has that. "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside Me; I kill and I make alive...' (Deut. 32:39; c.f. also 1 Sam. 2:6).

You show us all, how, without using any analysis or theological principle, or previous knowledge, someone like you who only uses scripture, can explain this.