Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 2:15

"and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." — Hebrews 2:15 (ASV)

The author now develops the thought of community of nature. Jesus shared “blood and flesh” (the proper order in Greek) with the children. He really came where they are, in order to nullify the power of the devil—who is described as the one “who holds the power of death.” This raises a problem because it is God alone who controls the issues of life and death (Job 2:6). But it was through Adam’s sin, brought about by the temptation of the devil, that death entered the world (Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12). From this it is logical to assume that the devil exercises his power in the realm of death. But through his own death, Christ destroyed the power of the devil. The author does not explain how Christ’s death does this but contents himself with the fact that it does. In doing so, he stresses the note of victory that we find throughout the NT (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:54–57). The defeat of the devil means the setting free of those he had held sway over, i.e., those who had been gripped by fear of death. Fear is an inhibiting and enslaving thing; and when people are gripped by the ultimate fear—the fear of death—they are in cruel bondage. In the first century this was very real. The philosophers urged people to be calm in the face of death, and some of them managed to do so. But to most people this brought no relief. One of the many wonderful things about the Christian Gospel is that it delivers men and women from the fear of death (cf. Revelation 1:18). They are saved with a sure hope of life eternal, a life whose best lies beyond the grave.