Commentary on Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles John Calvin (continued)
CHAPTER 2
We must observe lastly, that though the world with mad stubbornness reject the Gospel, yet the sheep ever recognize the voice of their shepherd. Let not therefore the impiety of almost all ranks, ages, and nations, disturb us, provided Christ gathers together his own, who have been committed to his protection. If the reprobate rush headlong to death by their impiety, in this way the plants which God has not planted are rooted up. (Matthew 15:13.) Let us at the same time know that his own are known to him, and that the salvation of them all is sealed by him, so that not one of them shall be lost. (2 Timothy 2:19.) Let us be satisfied with this seal.
Heb 2:14-15
Hebrews 2:14-15
14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
14. Quando igitur pueri carni et sanguini communicant, ipse quoque similiter eorundem fuit particeps, ut per mortem aboleret eum qui habebat mortis imperium, hoc est, diabolum;
15. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
15. Et redimeret quicunque metu mortis per totam vitam obnoxii erant servituti.
14. Forasmuch then as the children, etc., or, since then the children, etc. This is an inference from the foregoing; and at the same time a fuller reason is given than what has been hitherto stated, why it behooved the Son of God to put on our flesh, even that he might partake of the same nature with us, and that by undergoing death he might redeem us from it.
The passage deserves especial notice, for it not only confirms the reality of the human nature of Christ, but also shows the benefit which thence flows to us. ``The Son of God,'' he says, ``became man, that he might partake of the same condition and nature with us.'' What could be said more fitted to confirm our faith? Here his infinite love towards us appears; but its overflowing appears in this --- that he put on our nature that he might thus make himself capable of dying, for as God he could not undergo death. And though he refers but briefly to the benefits of his death, yet there is in this brevity of words a singularly striking and powerful representation, and that is, that he has so delivered us from the tyranny of the devil, that we are rendered safe, and that he has so redeemed us from death, that it is no longer to be dreaded.
But as all the words are important, they must be examined a little more carefully. First, the destruction of the devil, of which he speaks, imports this --- that he cannot prevail against us. For though the devil still lives, and constantly and through faith "the heir of the world," and had the land of Canaan as a special pledge of a "better country." And the Apostle here also comes to Abraham, verse 16. — Ed.