Hebrews 2:14

Since the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

The superiority of mortal man to the animal kingdom is implicit in the word that they are sharers in flesh and blood, indicating some higher element in man's existence. Milligan and Lenski agree in this interpretation of "sharers."

This implies that "flesh and blood" is not, as in the case of the brute creatures, the whole of their being; theft soul or spirit, their real person exists only in fellowship with a physical body.[18]

The apostle does not say that the children are flesh and blood, but they have been made partakers of flesh and blood; thereby making a distinction between what constitutes the essential and eternal part of man's nature, and what is merely accidental, and in which we now live, as in a clay tabernacle (2 Corinthians 5:1).[19]

Here is the explanation of the mingled love and pity that humankind have for animals, flesh and blood being the common bond between them, and man's higher self the impassable gulf that separates them. A sympathetic view of the essential kinship of man and animals is seen in these words of Borland,

And I saw the tracks of a rabbit, a fox, two field mice. I heard a cardinal whistle and a jay scream. Warm blood like mine. Flesh, like mine, that quivers with pain. Senses keener than mine.[20]

Partook of the same. Christ took a mortal body, partaking of blood and flesh; and this is an essential Christian doctrine. "He who was manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16) was constantly extolled and adored from the earliest Christian times; and the man who would not receive the truth that "Christ came in the flesh" was held to be of the antichrist (1 John 4:3). The old creeds were altogether correct in their affirmation that Christ is both God and man and fully representative of both, being "wholly God and wholly man."

The reason for Christ's partaking of flesh is given in this verse, namely, that he through death might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. It is regrettable that so many modern scholars make so little of man's ancient and implacable foe, the devil; and although it must be confessed that faith in the devil never saved any person, yet the true believer does not hesitate to accept the things spoken by our Lord and the apostles concerning the person and devices of the evil one.

Death was the instrument Christ used to bring Satan to naught, and a more unlikely weapon cannot be imagined. That the death of Christ should have appeared to the author of Hebrews, and to Christians generally, as an instrument of world-shaking victory is absolutely astonishing and provides most convincing inferential evidence of the truth of Christ's resurrection. Think of the death of Christ. He was rejected, despised, condemned, and tortured to death, not in some out-of-the-way province, but in the very capital of Hebrew hopes and aspirations. Not even his disciples understood what was taking place, and their gloom is seen in the words of his followers who said, "But we had hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). Abandoned by his disciples, hated by the leaders of the nation, betrayed by an apostle, Christ did not even defy the government in his dying agony, but spoke mysteriously of God's having "forsaken" him! Who could have believed that the followers of One who died that kind of death would be hailing it as a cosmic victory over the prince of evil within seven weeks and a day of the event itself?. And yet they were! Bruce said,

This sudden change from disillusionment to triumph can only be explained by the account which the apostles gave - that their Master rose from the dead and imparted to them the power of his risen life.[21]

Satan's weapon, death, was therefore wrested from him and used as the instrument of Satan's own destruction; and just as David took Goliath's own sword and cut off the giant's own head with it, David's greater Son took Satan's weapon of death and destroyed him with it. That all evil heads up to a fountain source in Satan is everywhere set forth in scripture, and that this source is personal and malignant is evident from the temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:1-4). That Satan had the power of death means that, by tempting Adam and Eve to sin and causing them to fall, he was the means of bringing death upon all mankind; and this may be the reason that Satan is called a "murderer" from the beginning (John 8:44). That the purpose of Satan toward the family of man is destructive, and only that, is evident from the examples of his operations, given now and again throughout the Bible. Thus, Satan brought death to Job's family (Job 1:19), entered the heart of Judas, making him a suicide (John 13:27), and accomplished the destruction of the swine as soon as his emissaries were permitted to enter them (Matthew 8:32).

How can it be said that Christ has brought the devil to naught? Satan was brought to naught in that his sole purpose regarding mankind was absolutely frustrated and eternally defeated. It should be noted that all of Satan's activity against humanity could have had only one objective, the destruction of the entire race, that being the primary objective of his seduction of Eve in Eden. Christ became a man, paid the penalty due Adam's transgression, and opened up the way for the renewal for the lost fellowship with God. The motivation of satanic opposition to people would appear to lie in the desire of the evil one to fight back against the Eternal who had cast him out of his former estate and reserved him unto punishment, mankind providing the only known opportunity of Satan for any kind of a counter-movement against God. The seduction of mankind, therefore, should be viewed as a device of Satan in striking at God through God's highest and favored creation, man. Inscrutable as the designs of God assuredly are, it is nevertheless possible to conjecture that God's motivation in permitting Satan's access to man was simply that of providing a test of man's faith and obedience, a test which the first parents miserably failed. Satan's failure was total and complete. He was not able to destroy mankind, but on the other hand found himself used as a means of testing and developing people; and the fact that some, even many, people will be lost must itself be seen as an utter failure of Satan to frustrate God's purpose; for God will doubtless create and redeem the total number of humankind included in the original purpose, regardless of Satan or evil men who will follow Satan. Exell expressed it thus,

Since Jesus died, the devil and his power are destroyed. Destroyed? Certainly. Not in the sense of being extinct. Still, he assails the Christian warrior, though armed from head to foot; and goes about seeking whom he may devour, and deceives men to ruin. Yet he is destroyed. Are we not all familiar with objects which are destroyed without being actually ended?[22]

This verse outlining the victory of Christ over Satan, is actually the introduction of a theme to be treated extensively somewhat later in the epistle; and that is the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of humanity, called the atonement.

[18] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 88.

[19] R. Milligan, New Testament Commentary (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1962), p. 98.

[20] Hal Borland, Homeland (Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1969), p. 115.

[21] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 49.

[22] Joseph S. Exell, op. cit., p. 164.