Hebrews 2 Form Various Calvinist Commentators

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"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Three things here claim attention: First , what is meant by the Devil having "the power of death"? Second , what "death" is here in view? Third , in what sense has Christ "destroyed" the Devil? From the words of the next verse it is clear that the reference is to what particularly obtained before Christ became incarnate. That it does not mean the Devil had absolute power in the infliction of physical death in Old Testament times is clear from several scriptures. Of old Jehovah affirmed, "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39 ). Again, "the Lord killeth, and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up" (1 Samuel 2:6 ). And again, "unto God the Lord belong the issues from death" (Psalms 68:20 ). These passages are decisive, and show that even during the Mosaic economy the giving of life and the inflicting of death were in the hands of God only, no matter what instruments He might employ in connection therewith.


The particular kind of "death" which is here in view is explained for us in the words "that through death lie" etc. The death which Christ died was "the wages of sin" the penal infliction of the law, suffering the wrath of a holy God. The point raised here is a deeply mysterious one, yet on it Scripture throws some light. In John 8:44 , Christ declared that the Devil was "a murderer" (literally "man-slayer") from the beginning. In Zechariah 3:1 , we are shown Satan standing at Jehovah’s right-hand to resist Israel’s high priest. Upon the subject Saphir has said, "But which death did Christ die? That death of which the Devil had the power. Satan wielded that death. He it was who had a just claim against us that we should die. There is justice in the claim of Satan.


"It is quite true that Satan is only a usurper; but in saving men God deals in perfect righteousness, justice, truth. According to the Jewish tradition the fallen angels often accuse men, and complain before God that sinful men obtain mercy. Our redemption is in harmony with the principles of righteousness and equity, on which God has founded all things. The prince of this world is judged (John 16:11 ); he is conquered not merely by power, but by the power of justice and truth.... He stood upon the justice of God, upon the inflexibility of His law, upon the true nature of our sins. But when Christ died our very death, when He was made sin and a curse for us, then all the power of Satan was gone.... And now what can Satan say? The justice, majesty, and perfection of the law are vindicated more than if all the human race were lost forever. The penalty due to the broken law Jesus endured, and now, as the law is vindicated, sin put away, death swallowed up, Christ has destroyed the Devil."


Inasmuch as the Devil is the one who brought about the downfall of our first parents, by which sentence of death has been passed upon all their posterity (Romans 5:12 ); inasmuch as he goeth about as a roaring lion "seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8 ); inasmuch as he challenged God to inflict upon the guilty the sentence of the law (Zechariah 3:1 ); and, inasmuch as even the elect of God are, before their regeneration, under "the power of darkness" (Colossians 1:13 and cf. Acts 26:18 ), dead in trespasses and sins, yet "walking according to the Prince of the power of the air"; the Devil may be said to have "the power of death."


The word "destroy him that had the power of death" does not signify to annihilate, but means to make null and render powerless. In 1 Corinthians 1:28 this same Greek word is rendered "bring to naught"; in Romans 3:3 "without effect"; in Romans 3:31 "make void." Satan has been so completely vanquished by Christ the Head that he shall prevail against none of His members. This is written for the glory of Christ, and to encourage His people to withstand him. Satan is an enemy bespoiled. Therefore is it said, "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 ). To such as believe there is assurance of victory. If the Devil gets the upper hand of us, it is either because of our timidity, or lack of faith.


"To ‘destroy him that had the power of death’ is to strip him of his power. It is said by the apostle John, ‘for this purpose was the Son of God manifested, to destroy the works of the Devil,’ i.e. ignorance, error, depravity, and misery. In the passage before us, the destruction is restricted to the peculiar aspect in which the Devil is viewed. To destroy him, is so to destroy him as having ‘the power of death’ to render him, in this point of light, powerless in reference to the children; i.e., to make death cease to be a penal evil. Death, even in the case of the saints, is an expression of the displeasure of God against sin; but it is not as but for the death of Christ it must have been the hopeless dissolution of his body: it is not the inlet to eternal misery to his soul. Death to them for whom Christ died consigns, indeed, the body to the grave; but it is ‘in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection,’ and it introduces the freed spirit into all the glories of the celestial paradise" (Dr. J. Brown).

 

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This stripping Satan of his power of death was accomplished by the laying down of the Savior’s life, "that through death He might destroy." "The means whereby Christ overcame Satan, is expressly said to be death. To achieve this great and glorious victory against so mighty an enemy, Christ did not assemble troops of angels, as He could have done (Matthew 26:53 ), nor did He array Himself with majesty and terror, as in Exodus 19:16 ; but He did it by taking part of weak flesh and blood, and therein humbling Himself to death. In this respect the apostle saith, that Christ ‘having spoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the cross’ (Colossians 2:15 ), meaning thereby, His death. The apostle there resembleth the cross of Christ to a trophy whereon the spoils of enemies were hanged. Of old conquerors were wont to hang the armor and weapons of enemies vanquished on the walls of forts and towers." (Dr. Gouge.)


"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." A striking type of this is furnished in Judges 14:12-19 will the reader please turn to this, before considering our brief comments. The riddle propounded by Samson prefigured what is plainly declared here in Hebrews 2:14 . The greatest "eater" (Jude 1:14 :14), or "consumer," is Death. Yet out of the eater came forth meat: that is, out of death has come life; see John 12:24 . Note in Judges 14:0 how, typically, the natural man is, of himself, utterly unable to solve this mystery. The secret of the death of Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, must be revealed. Finally, note how that a change of raiment was provided for those to whom the riddle was explained a foreshadowment of the believer’s robe of righteousness!


"And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage" (verse 15). It needs to be carefully borne in mind that throughout this passage the apostle has in view a particular class of persons, namely, the "heirs of salvation," the "sons" of God, the "brethren" of Christ. Here they are described according to their unregenerate condition: subject to bondage; so subject, all their unregenerate days; so subject through "the fear of death." It was to deliver them from this fear of death that Christ died. Such we take it is the general meaning of this verse. 2 Timothy 1:7 gives the sequel: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."


The opening "And" and the verb "deliver" (which is in the same mood and tense as "destroy" in the previous verse) intimate that Christ’s death had in view these two ends which cannot be separated, namely, destroying the Devil, delivering us. Just as Abraham destroyed those enemies who had taken Lot captive together with the other inhabitants of Sodom, that he might "deliver" them (Genesis 14:14 ), and as David destroyed the Amalekites, that he might "deliver" his wives and children and others out of their hands (1 Samuel 27:9 ), so Christ vanquished the Devil, that he might "deliver" those who had (by yielding to his temptations) fallen captive to him. What thanks is due unto Christ for thus overthrowing our great adversary!


To the "fear of death," i.e., that judgment of God upon sin, all men are in much greater bondage than they will own or than they imagine. It was this "fear" which made Adam and Eve hide themselves from the presence of God (Genesis 3:8 ), which made Cain exclaim, "my punishment is greater than I can bear" (Genesis 4:13 ), which made Nabal’s heart to die within him (1 Samuel 25:37 ), which made Saul fall to the ground as a man in a swoon (1 Samuel 28:20 ), which made Felix to tremble (Acts 24:25 ), and which will yet cause kings and the great men of the earth to call on the mountains to fall on them (Revelation 6:15 , Revelation 6:16 ). True, the natural man, at times, succeeds in drowning the accusations of his conscience in the pleasures of sin, but "as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool" (Ecclesiastes 7:6 ). It is from this fearful bondage that Christ delivered His people: through His grace, by His spirit filling them "with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13 ).

 

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"For verily He took not on angels; but He took on the seed of Abraham" (verse 16). This verse, which has occasioned not a little controversy, presents no difficulty if it be weighed in the light of its whole context. It treats not of the Divine incarnation, that we have in verse 14; rather does it deal with the purpose of it, or better, the consequences of Christ’s death. Its opening "for" first looks back, remotely to verses 9,10; immediately, to verses 14, 15. The Spirit is here advancing a reason why Christ tasted death for every son, and why He destroyed the Devil in order to liberate His captives; because not angels, but the seed of Abraham, were the objects of His benevolent favor. The "for" and the balance of the verse also, looks forward, laying a foundation for what follows in verse 17: the ground of Christ’s being made like to His brethren and becoming the faithful and merciful High Priest was because He would befriend the seed of Abraham.


The Greek verb here translated "He took on" or "laid hold" is found elsewhere in some very striking connections. It is used of Christ’s stretching out His hand and rescuing sinking Peter, Matthew 14:31 , there rendered "caught." It is used of Christ when He "took" the blind man by the hand (Mark 8:23 ). So of the man sick of the dropsy. He "took" and healed him (Luke 14:4 ). Here in Hebrews 2:16 the reference is to the almighty power and invincible grace of the Captain of our salvation. It receives illustration in those words of the apostle’s where, referring to his own conversion, he said, "for which also I am (was) apprehended (laid hold) of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12 ). Thus it was and still is with each of God’s elect. In themselves, lost, rushing headlong to destruction; when Christ stretches forth His hand and delivers, so that of each it may be said, "Is not this a brand plucked from the burning" (Zechariah 3:2 ). "Laid hold of" so securely that none can pluck out of His hand!


But not only does our verse emphasize the invincibility of Divine grace, it also plainly teaches the absolute sovereignty of it. Christ lays hold not of "the seed of Adam," all mankind, but only "the seed of Abraham" the father of God’s elect people. This expression, "the seed of Abraham," is employed in the New Testament in connection with both his natural and his spiritual seed. It is the latter which is here in view: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16 ) not only Christ personal, but Christ mystical. The last verse of Galatians 3:0 shows that: "And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise."


This verse presents an insoluble difficulty to those who believe in the universality of God’s love and grace. Those who do so deny the plain teaching of Scripture that Christ laid down His life for "the sheep," and for them alone. They insist that justice as well as mercy demanded that He should die for all of Adam’s race. But why is it harder to believe that God has provided no salvation for part of the human race, than that He has provided none for the fallen angels? They were higher in the scale of being; they, too, were sinners needing a Savior. Yet none has been provided for them! He "laid not on" angels.


But more: Our verse not only brings out the truth of election, it also presents the solemn fact of reprobation. Christ is not the Savior of angels. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6 ). On this Dr. J. Brown has well said: