Luke 12:4

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

In this passage, "Jesus makes it clear that mortal life is by no means man's most valuable possession."[9] The body is not the real "I." Although I have a body, the body is not I. Men should learn, therefore, not to accord fear to men or any earthly powers, which have jurisdiction over the body alone, but not over the soul.

My friends ... Jesus here contrasted his disciples, through this term of appreciation, with his Pharisaical enemies. "Fear him ..." The one to be feared in not Satan, as some have supposed, but Almighty God. "The power to cast into hell belongs to God, not to Satan."[10] The usage here is similar to "the condemnation of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:6), which has reference not to any condemnation the devil may bestow, but to the condemnation which God has pronounced against him. This is also the view of Harrison, "This refers to God and not to Satan, for Satan cannot determine the destiny of a human soul."[11]

After he hath killed ... Do these words then have reference to God's KILLING? In a sense, they do. "It is appointed unto men once to die" (Hebrews 9:27); and that appointment is surely of God. It is a failure to see this which leads some to see Satan as the one to be feared; but the whole thesis of the Bible is "Fear God!"

Power to cast into hell ... This word, hell, is a translation of [@gehenna], a Greek word used by Matthew, Mark, James (James 3:6), and Luke for the place of final punishment of the wicked. It is the most dreadful word in the Bible. For a full discussion of the doctrine of eternal punishment, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 25:41. As Hobbs observed, "If hell is not real fire, as some insist, then it is worse than fire; for the reality is always greater than the symbol."[12]

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., p. 519.

[11] Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 234.

[12] Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966), p. 201.