Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Homer A. Kent Jr., on Hebrews 2:14 and Satan

  

The devil is termed the one who had the power of death. This, of course, does not mean that Satan is an independent sovereign who inflicts death upon men at his whim. Scripture does teach, however, that in opposition to the kingdom of light where God rules there is a realm of darkness in which men are enslaved to Satan, sin, and death (Eph. 6:12; 1 John 2:9-11; 3:12, 14; Col. 1:13). It was Satan’s activity that introduced sin, and death followed from it as its penalty. Further, he functions as the slanderer of men, calling for their death from God (Job 1-2). Thus Satan exercises the power of death in that he promotes sin and rebellion against God, slanders God’s people, and calls for their death from God. But Christ destroyed the devil at the cross. The verb is katargēsēi, “to bring to nought,” “renders inoperative,” “make ineffective.” He did this by satisfying fully the claims of God’s outraged righteousness. By paying the penalty in full, the very grounds of death and of Satan’s accusations were removed. No more could Satan slander a believer before God and impugn God’s righteousness because the sinner had not paid with his life. The penalty was paid in full by Christ. (Homer A. Kent, Jr., The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1972], 59)