Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 2:15
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
15. them who ] Lit. “those, as many as,” i.e. “all who.”
through fear of death ] This was felt, as we see from the O.T., far more intensely under the old than under the new dispensation. Dr Robertson Smith quotes from the Midrash Tanchuma, “In this life death never suffers man to be glad.” See Num 17:13; Num 18:5; Psalms 6, 30, &c., and Isa 38:10-20, &c. In heathen and savage lands the whole of life is often overshadowed by the terror of death, which thus becomes a veritable “bondage.” Philo quotes a line of Euripides to shew that a man who has no fear of death can never be a slave. But, through Christ’s death, death has become to the Christian the gate of glory. It is remarkable that in this verse the writer introduces a whole range of conceptions which he not only leaves without further development, but to which he does not ever allude again. They seem to lie aside from the main current of his views.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And deliver them – Not all of them in fact, though the way is open for all. This deliverance relates:
(1) To the dread of death. He came to free them from that.
(2) From death itself – that is, ultimately to bring them to a world where death shall be unknown. The dread of death may be removed by the work of Christ, and they who had been subject to constant alarms on account of it may be brought to look on it with calmness and peace; and ultimately they will be brought to a world where it will be wholly unknown. The dread of death is taken away, or they are delivered from that, because:
(a)The cause of that dread – to wit, sin, is removed; see the notes at 1Co 15:54-55.
- Because they are enabled to look to the world beyond with triumphant joy.
Death conducts them to heaven. A Christian has nothing to fear in death; nothing beyond the grave. In no part of the universe has he any thing to dread, for God is his friend, and he will be his Protector everywhere. On the dying bed; in the grave; on the way up to the judgment; at the solemn tribunal; and in the eternal world, he is under the eye and the protection of his Saviour – and of what should he be afraid?
Who through fear of death – From the dread of dying – that is, whenever they think of it, and they think of it so often as to make them slaves of that fear. This obviously means the natural dread of dying, and not particularly the fear of punishment beyond. It is that indeed which often gives its principal terror to the dread of death, but still the apostle refers here evidently to natural death – as an object which people fear. All men have, by nature, this dread of dying – and perhaps some of the inferior creation have it also. It is certain that it exists in the heart of every man, and that God has implanted it there for some wise purpose. There is the dread:
(1)Of the dying pang, or pain.
- Of the darkness and gloom of mind that attends it.
(3)Of the unknown world beyond – the evil that we know not of.
(4)Of the chilliness, and loneliness, and darkness of the grave.
(5)Of the solemn trial at the bar of God.
(6)Of the condemnation which awaits the guilty – the apprehension of future wo. There is no other evil that we fear so much as we do death – and there is nothing more clear than that God intended that we should have a dread of dying.
The reasons why he designed this are equally clear:
- One may have been to lead people to prepare for it – which otherwise they would neglect.
(2)Another, to deter them from committing self-murder – where nothing else would deter them.
Facts have shown that it was necessary that there should be some strong principle in the human bosom to prevent this crime – and even the dread of death does not always do it. So sick do people become of the life that God gave them; so weary of the world; so overwhelmed with calamity; so oppressed with disappointment and cares, that they lay violent hands on themselves, and rush unbidden into the awful presence of their Creator. This would occur more frequently by far than it now does, if it were not for the salutary fear of death which God has implanted in every bosom. The feelings of the human heart; on this subject were never more accurately or graphically drawn than in the celebrated Soliloquy of Hamlet:
– To die; – to sleep –
No more; – and by a sleep, to say we end.
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks.
That flesh is heir to, – tis a consummation.
Devoutly to be wished. To die – to sleep –
To sleep: – perchance to dream; – ay, theres the rub;
For in that deep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: – theres the respect.
That makes calamity of so long a life:
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressors wrong, the proud mans contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the laws delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns.
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make.
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourne.
No traveler returns, puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution.
Is sicklied oer with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment.
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
God planned that man should be deterred from rushing uncalled into His awful presence, by this salutary dread of death – and his implanting this feeling in the human heart is one of the most striking and conclusive proofs of a moral government over the world. This instinctive dread of death can be overcome only by religion – and then man does not need it to reconcile him to life. He becomes submissive to trials. He is willing to bear all that is laid on him. He resigns himself to the dispensations of Providence, and feels that life, even in affliction, is the gift of God, and is a valuable endowment. He now dreads self-murder as a crime of deep dye, and religion restrains him and keeps him by a more mild and salutary restraint than the dread of death. The man who has true religion is willing to live or to die; he feels that life is the gift of God, and that he will take it away in the best time and manner; and feeling this, he is willing to leave all in his hands. We may remark:
(1) How much do we owe to religion! It is the only thing that will effectually take away the dread of death, and yet secure this point – to make man willing to live in all the circumstances where God may place him. It is possible that philosophy or stoicism may remove to a great extent the dread of death – but then it will be likely to make man willing to take his life if he is placed in trying circumstances. Such an effect it had on Cato in Utica; and such an effect it had on Hume, who maintained that suicide was lawful, and that to turn a current of blood from its accustomed channel was of no more consequence than to change the course of any other fluid!
(2) In what a sad condition is the sinner! There are thousands who never think of death with composure, and who all their life long are subject to bondage through the fear of it. They never think of it if they can avoid it; and when it is forced upon them, it fills them with alarm. They attempt to drive the thought away. They travel; they plunge into business; they occupy the mind with trifles; they drown their fears in the intoxicating bowl: but all this tends only to make death more terrific and awful when the reality comes. If man were wise, he would seek an interest in that religion which, if it did nothing else, would deliver him from the dread of death; and the influence of the gospel in this respect, if it exerted no other, is worth to a man all the sacrifices and self-denials which it would ever require.
All their life-time subject to bondage – Slaves of fear; in a depressed and miserable condition, like slaves under a master. They have no freedom; no comfort; no peace. From this miserable state Christ comes to deliver man. Religion enables him to look calmly on death and the judgment, and to feel that all will be well.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. And deliver them who through fear of death] It is very likely that the apostle has the Gentiles here principally in view. As they had no revelation, and no certainty of immortality, they were continually in bondage to the fear of death. They preferred life in any state, with the most grievous evils, to death, because they had no hope beyond the grave. But it is also true that all men naturally fear death; even those that have the fullest persuasion and certainty of a future state dread it: genuine Christians, who know that, if the earthly house of their tabernacle were dissolved, they have a house not made with hands, a building framed of God, eternal in the heavens, only they fear it not. In the assurance they have of God’s love, the fear of death is removed; and by the purification of their hearts through faith, the sting of death is extracted. The people who know not God are in continual torment through the fear of death, and they fear death because they fear something beyond death. They are conscious to themselves that they are wicked, and they are afraid of God, and terrified at the thought of eternity. By these fears thousands of sinful, miserable creatures are prevented from hurrying themselves into the unknown world. This is finely expressed by the poet: –
“To die,–to sleep,–
No more:–and, by a sleep, to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,–’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die,–to sleep,–
To sleep!–perchance to dream;–ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause:–There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life:
For who could bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear
To grunt and sweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of something after death,–
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns,–puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.”
I give this long quotation from a poet who was well acquainted with all the workings of the human heart; and one who could not have described scenes of distress and anguish of mind so well, had he not passed through them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The effect of the former destruction of the devil is laid down in this verse, viz. the childrens freedom from the fear of death, to which, being slaves to the devil, they were once in bondage.
And deliver them; he, by breaking and disannulling the devils power, doth really, fully, and justly exempt them from the concomitant evil.
Who through fear of death; a painful and wasting horror, working the saddest apprehensions and tumultuous workings of soul, from its apprehended danger of death spiritual, temporal, and eternal, when the wrath of God doth not only dissolve the natural frame, but makes an everlasting separation from himself, shutting them up with the worst company, in the worst place and state that is possible for the human mind to imagine, and that for ever, Job 18:11,14; 24:17; Psa 55:4,5; Psa 73:19; 88:14-18.
Were all their lifetime subject to bondage: when they come to the exercise of the reasonable life of man, and under convictions of sin, then these terrors arise, and never leave affrighting or tormenting them, but make them pass as many deaths as moments, as is evident in Cain and Judas; for they are enslaved, and in such a state of drudgery and vassalage to the devil, the most cruel tyrant, by their own guilt, and so are justly, invincibly, and miserably held in it. Christ by his death rescueth them from this woeful, intolerable vassalage to the devil and hell, and brings them into the glorious liberty of the children of God, Rom 8:21; Col 1:12,13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. fear of deatheven beforethey had experienced its actual power.
all their lifetimeSucha life can hardly be called life.
subject to bondageliterally,”subjects of bondage”; not merely liable toit, but enthralled in it (compare Rom 8:15;Gal 5:1). Contrast with thisbondage, the glory of the “sons” (Heb2:10). “Bondage” is defined by Aristotle, “Theliving not as one chooses”; “liberty,” “theliving as one chooses.” Christ by delivering us from the curseof God against our sin, has taken from death all that made itformidable. Death, viewed apart from Christ, can only fill withhorror, if the sinner dares to think.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And might deliver ( ). Further purpose with the first aorist active subjunctive of , old verb to change from, to set free from, in N.T. only here, Luke 12:58; Acts 19:12.
Through fear of death ( ). Instrumental case of . The ancients had great fear of death though the philosophers like Seneca argued against it. There is today a flippant attitude towards death with denial of the future life and rejection of God. But the author of Hebrews saw judgement after death (9:27f.). Hence our need of Christ to break the power of sin and Satan in death.
All their lifetime ( ). Present active infinitive with and the article in the genitive case with , “through all the living.”
Subject to bondage ( ). Old adjective from , “held in,” “bound to,” with genitive, bond-slaves of fear, a graphic picture. Jesus has the keys of life and death and said: “I am the life.” Thank God for that.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Deliver [] . Only here in Hebrews, and besides, only Luk 12:58; Act 19:12. Tolerably often in LXX Very common in Class. Used here absolutely, not with douleiav bondage, reading deliver from bondage.
Subject to bondage [ ] . Enocoi from ejn in and ecein to hold. Lit. holden of bondage. See on Jas 2:10. Comp. the verb ejvexein, Mr 6:19 (note), and Gal 5:1. Douleia bondage only in Hebrews and Paul.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And deliver them,” (kai apallakse toutous) “And release these,” the ones, those of flesh and blood, and eventual death, to which it brings all. Praise God there is deliverance, release, freedom from the restraints of sin and death effected thru faith in the resurrected Christ, Rom 8:11; 1Co 15:51-58.
2) “Who through fear of death,” (hosoi phobothanatou) “Even as many as by fear of death; The antecedent of the as many” or “those who” are the “brethren” of Heb 2:11-12, of whom he is not ashamed to testify. Unbelievers are never released from “inherent fear,” that is coexistent with a knowledge and guilt of personal sins unforgiven, Isa 57:20-21; Rom 8:15.
3) “Were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” (dia pantos tou zen enochoi esan douleias) “Were throughout their (lives) involved in bondage or slavery,” of fear, regarding death. As Adam confessed “I was afraid,” from the first moment of his conscious guilt of personal sin, so do men, women, and little children still experience this soul-monitoring-fear that God sends to them in their conscious guilt. This sense of shame and guilt that brings fear is the voice of God’s compassionate Holy Spirit calling men to repentance for sin and faith in Jesus Christ, his offered redeemer for all. From this fear man never finds rest or release all his life, until and unless he comes to Jesus for it. Mat 11:28; Rom 5:1; Rom 8:15; 2Ti 1:7.
Sin’s shackles are made of fear that has torments, forever and ever, to that person who stays in impenitence in time and eternity, Luk 16:24; Luk 16:28-31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. And deliver them who, etc. This passage expresses in a striking manner how miserable is the life of those who fear death, as they must feel it to be dreadful, because they look on it apart from Christ; for then nothing but a curse appears in it: for whence is death but from God’s wrath against sin? Hence is that bondage throughout life, even perpetual anxiety, by which unhappy souls are tormented; for through a consciousness of sin the judgment of God is ever presented to the view. From this fear Christ has delivered us, who by undergoing our curse has taken away what is dreadful in death. For though we are not now freed from death, yet in life and in death we have peace and safety, when we have Christ going before us. (48)
But it any one cannot pacify his mind by disregarding death, let him know that he has made as yet but very little proficiency in the faith of Christ; for as extreme fear is owing to ignorance as to the grace of Christ, so it is a certain evidence of unbelief.
Death here does not only mean the separation of the soul from the body, but also the punishment which is inflicted on us by an angry God, so that it includes eternal ruin; for where there is guilt before God, there immediately hell shows itself.
(48) The same seem to be meant here as before, — “the sons, the children.” Before Christ came, though heirs, yet they were in a state of bondage; so the Apostle represents them in Gal 4:1. See Rom 8:15. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Deliver them who through fear of death . . . .This verse brings into relief the former misery and the present freedom. We may well suppose these words to have been prompted by the intense sympathy of the writer with the persecuted and tempted Christians whom he addresses. He writes throughout as one who never forgets their need of sympathetic help, and who knows well the power of the motives, the allurements and the threats, employed to lead them into apostasy. The crushing power of the fear of death over those who had not grasped the truth that, in Christ, life and immortality are brought to light, perhaps no thought of ours can reach.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. The destruction of the destroyer is a final act. Rev 20:10.
But there is an earlier process of deliverance in progress. It is a deliverance even now from that bondage caused by the fear of death. But for sin and Satan men would have passed through the immortalizing “change,” (see note on 1Co 15:51,) like Enoch and Elijah, without pain or fear. But death is now the king of terrors. To the atheist and the skeptic death is an endless night; to the heathen a land of shadows; to the sinner a vista of woe. It is Christ who in death has conquered death, and has opened to the believer’s faith the blessed vision of life and immortality.
Hence the saints of God have found their death beds scenes of joy and triumph, and have left many a precious testimony of their deliverance from fear.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And might deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’
And the result is that for those ‘in Christ’ death is no longer fearful. It is the way to life, and no longer the way to eternal loss. Men are perpetually held in bondage by the fear of death, but those who are in Christ are freed from that fear because of their certain hope of eternal life. For those who are His, life can be lived freely. Death’s tyranny has gone. But, for those who are not in Christ, death is something to be avoided and feared. All men at one stage or another fear death.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 2:15 . ] consecutive: and in consequence thereof .
] stands absolutely: might set free, deliver. Without warrant do Grotius, Wolf, and others supplement or .
] does not go back to (Bhme, Kuinoel), but serves for the bringing into relief of the following , and . . . is a periphrasis of the unredeemed humanity; the thought is not merely of the Israelites (Akersloot, Rambach, Braun, Woerner), and still less merely of the Gentiles (Peirce).
] out of fear of death , causal definition to .
] throughout the whole life . The infinitive is employed, by virtue of the addition , entirely as a substantive ( ). This practice is more rare than the coupling of the infinitive with the mere preposition and article. Yet this very infinitive is found exactly so used, as Bleek remarks, with Aesch. Dial . Heb 3:4 ( ); Ignat. Ep. ad Trall . 9 ( ), ad Eph 3Eph 3 ( ).
] belongs together; were held in bondage, had become subject to bondage . We have not to construe with , and with (Abresch, Dindorf, Bhme). For against this the position of the words is decisive. On the thought , comp. Rom 8:15 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Ver. 15. And deliver them ] So that to those that are in Christ, death is but the daybreak of eternal brightness; not the punishment of sin, but the period of sin. It is but a sturdy porter, opening the door of eternity; a rougher passage to eternal pleasure. What need they fear to pass the waters of Jordan to take possession of the land, that have the ark of God’s covenant in their eye? Tollitur mors, non ne sit, sed ne obsit. As Christ took away, not sin, but the guilt of it, so neither death, but the sting of it.
Who through fear of death ] The king of terrors, as Job calleth death, that terrible of all terribles, as Aristotle. Nature will have a bout with the best when they come to die. But I wonder (saith 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 it is pronounced, it representeth the gnashing teeth of a dying man. Sigismund the emperor, being ready to die, commanded his servants not to name death in his hearing, &c. The like is reported of Louis XI, king of France, who to put by death when it came, sent for Aaron’s rod and other holy relies (as they reputed them) from Rheims; but all would not do. Cardinal Beaufort, perceiving that death was come for him, murmured that his great riches could not reprieve him. Stat sua cuique dies. Now, death is nature’s slaughterman, God’s curse, and hell’s purveyor; and must needs therefore be terrible to those whose lives and hopes end together, and who say as one dying man did, Spes et fortuna valete.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
deliver. Greek. apallasso. See Act 19:12.
through. No preposition. Dative case.
all = through (Greek. dia) all.
subject to. Greek. enochos. See Mat 26:66.
bondage. Greek. douleia. App-190.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Heb 2:15. ) might deliver from the devil, who had the power of death.-, these) A demonstrative with relation to what precedes.-, through fear) even before they experienced the power itself, for that followed; concerning fear, comp. ch. Heb 12:19-20; Exo 19:21-22; 2Sa 6:9.-, of death) Sudden deaths were inflicted, in the time of Moses and afterwards, even on unwary transgressors.- , through all) This is an antithesis to for a little, Heb 2:9. There are many ages, and these coming one after another, of the brethren.- , life) That kind of life was not life.-, to bondage) The antithesis is, sons unto glory. Paul brings out the same antithesis, Rom 8:15-16. Politicians define liberty to be , living as we choose; slavery to be , to live not as we choose.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
deliver: Job 33:21-28, Psa 33:19, Psa 56:13, Psa 89:48, Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75, 2Co 1:10
through: Job 18:11, Job 18:14, Job 24:17, Psa 55:4, Psa 73:19, 1Co 15:50-57
subject: Rom 8:15, Rom 8:21, Gal 4:21, 2Ti 1:7
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – it shall Jdg 14:14 – Out of the eater Jdg 16:30 – So the dead Psa 18:17 – strong Psa 68:20 – unto Psa 98:1 – his right Isa 25:8 – He Isa 42:7 – to bring Isa 49:25 – Even Isa 53:3 – a man Isa 53:12 – will I Isa 63:5 – mine own Jer 31:11 – redeemed Mic 2:13 – breaker Mat 6:13 – deliver Luk 8:35 – and found Joh 10:18 – but Joh 19:30 – and he Act 10:38 – healing Act 26:18 – and from Rom 6:9 – death Rom 7:24 – who Rom 16:20 – shall 1Co 15:54 – Death Gal 4:31 – we 2Ti 1:10 – who Rev 12:11 – they overcame Rev 21:4 – no
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FEAR OF DEATH
Through fear of death all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:15
The fear of death has established over the human heart something like a reign of terror. All of us in our place in the world have known at some period of our life what this bondage means. The child in the loneliness of thoughtful childhood shudders with a vague, instinctive fear; the boy, realising in a moment that some day he must die, feels panic; the society idol, in some moment of reaction, collapses under the conviction that the grave is inevitable; the man of affairs, afraid to name death plainly, hides his fear under that euphemistic commonplace, If anything should happen to me.
What has the Christian to say to all this bondage of death? What has the Christian to do with it? Irresolute children of the dust, no doubt, we are, but we are also children of the Resurrection. What have we, I ask, to say to this instinctive fear of death? The Christian frankly challenges the whole situation. The Christian substitutes for this instinctive reign of terror the revealed reign of Jesus Christ.
If this be so, what is our practical duty towards our King in this connection? In a word, what can I do, such as I am in my place in lifewhat can I do to deliver the soul of any one, or my own soul, from this bondage of the fear of death?
I. We should frankly accept the punishment, and then death becomes also Gods best blessing.Yet if death is, in a sense, unnatural, if it has come into the world, so to speak, since Gods original plans were laid so that we naturally shrink from it, it is also true to say that it is now become neutralised, that it has been the punishment so long for all the race, the punishment decreed by the love and unerring wisdom of God, and therefore it is now as natural to die as to be born, and its naturalness robs it of half its pain.
II. We should begin at once to educate children to be familiar with the fact of death, for if we begin to educate children we shall soon educate public opinion, soon educate ordinary talk to a higher level of truth than that along which it usually runs now. If death is one of Gods decrees, it must be right that even His little ones should be taught about it in the right way as soon as they are able to learn.
III. All should become familiar with the phenomena of death.Learn all you can about it. Sometimes you will go to your doctor, possibly, and ask him, and, if he is strong enough to be something more than a mere naturalist, he can tell you much that will interest you wonderfully and go far to rob you of any fear that you can have; and, even if he is a mere naturalist, he can tell you very much that will help you in this matter. Go to your parish priest, ask him what he has seen with his own eyes, what he has touched, so to speak, with the fingers of his own Gospel. He will tell you very much that will take away largely your fear of death. He will tell you, amongst other things, how wonderfully God softens the approach of death; how, as a rule, before the end comes, the fear of death has passed quite away from those who are passing with it.
IV. Realise that, after all, death only applies to the body; and the body is not the soul. The body must die, no doubt, unless Christ comes back before our call comes; but the body is not the personality, the identity. You cannot die; you will be laid in no grave; you are immortal.
V. To pass to a higher level, I would ask you all, in dealing with the fear of death, if you have ever realised that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, humbly accepted at the hands of Jesus Christ, lies our guarantee that we must survive the shock of death?
VI. There is a revealed truth which our Creed teaches us to classify under the heading The Communion of Saints, the article of our Creed about which most of us know least, and to learn which apparently few of us care very much. But under that heading lies the comfort of Jesus Christ for those who decline any longer to submit their lives to this cruel bondage.
Surely, surely upon the valley of the shadow of death the living, pitiful eyes of Jesus Christ were steadily set on that great day when He said to us, I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Rev. E. S. Hilliard.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
DELIVERANCE FROM BONDAGE
The way in which Christ takes away fear of death is plain, and it is effectual. He does it simply by making application, through the agency of His Spirit, to the individual soul of the truths about death which He came to reveal.
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.
Illustration
The fear of death is a sentiment, a deep feeling, and it can only be exterminated by something which takes a still more profound hold of our moral nature. Religion is competent to eradicate it, if it be received into the heart. And it will do so in the precise proportion that we make such an inward application of its precious truths.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Heb 2:15. Bondage is from DOULEIA which is literally defined by Thayer as follows: “Slavery, bondage, the condition of a slave.” He then explains it to mean, “The slavish sense of fear.” With no prospect of living again, mankind would have a feeling of dread for death that would be like the terror caused by a harsh master over his slaves. Such a fear of death would indeed be a cruel bondage, but the resurrection of Christ dispelled that fear in the minds of all who believe in Him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 2:15. Through death. The Fathers and the later commentators (Bengel notably) delight in marking how Christ destroyed death by dying, and cast out the prince of the worldthe king of deathon the cross, the weakness Droving as often to be the power of God.
He might destroy is too strong; abolish, bring to nought, render of none effect, neutralize the power of, permanently paralyze, take away the occupation of, are all nearer the meaning. It is a favourite word of St. Paul, who uses it twenty-five times in his acknowledged Epistles. It occurs, besides, only here and in Luk 13:7.
Subject to bondage. Aristotle calls death the most fearful of all fearful things; and ancient believers often looked upon it with dread. Even now Christians are freed from this dread only by a firm faith in Christs victory over it, and by a clear insight into the significancy of His dying. Christ died not for His own sins, but for ours. If by faith we are one with Him, death is no longer the penalty of sin: it is only the completion of our holiness and the way into the blessed life above.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
15. That He might liberate those so many as through fear of death were all their life subject to slavery. The near proximity and absolute certainty of death have in all ages invested the grim monster with terrors at once horrific and appalling. Who has not suffered ten thousand tortures under the foreboding fear of this merciless tyrant? My childhood was one protracted ordeal of torture, more or less intermittent in proportion to the periods intervening between the funerals I was permitted to attend. Perfect love is the only conqueror of the grim monster, from which he is forced to retreat, vanquished, crestfallen and defeated forever. Entire sanctification is the only emancipator of a sighing world from the galling slavery everywhere superinduced by the King of Terrors.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 15
Subject to bondage, in a wretched and miserable condition.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
2:15 And deliver them who through fear of {a} death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
(a) By (death) you must understand here, that death which is joined with the wrath of God, as it must be if it is without Christ, and there can be nothing devised that is more miserable.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The fear of death enslaves unbelievers in that fear of death leads them to behave in ways that please Satan (e.g., selfishly, living for the present, etc.). A believer need not have the same fear of death as an unbeliever (cf. Luk 11:21-22). Consequently we need not feel compelled to live for the present (e.g., put self first, do anything to save our lives, etc.) as unbelievers do. The fear of death tyrannizes many people both consciously and subconsciously.
"It is ironical that human beings, destined to rule over the creation (Psa 8:5-7 LXX, cited in Heb 2:6-8), should find themselves in the posture of a slave, paralyzed through the fear of death (Kögel, Sohn, 80). Hopeless subjection to death characterizes earthly existence apart from the intervention of God . . ." [Note: Lane, p. 61.]