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Click here for a pdf of Genesis 1–3 in Redemptive History: 8.5×11″; A4 paper
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12) Heb 2:14–18: For God to nullify the work of the devil in Eden,[1] he had to become a Second Adam: flesh and blood, just like us in every way (Gen 3:1–13; Phil 2:5–11). Moreover, he had to live without committing sin from the time of his birth until his death (2 Cor 5:16–21; Heb 9:11–15).[2]
Once again, Scripture portrays Christ as God’s champion engaged in single combat (Cf. Gen 3:14–15; Matt 4:1–11).[3]
As a result of his victory through death, Jesus has rendered Satan’s tyranny ineffective, making our salvation possible (Rom 5:12–21; 1 Pet 3:18).[4]
God’s people still die. However, by covering our sin, Christ eliminated the devil’s ability to intimidate us with the threat of death (1 Cor 15:54–57).[5]
No longer must that fear paralyze us like cowering slaves,[6] nor lead us to evade the reality of death. Jesus sets us free from the terrifying power of the grave (Gen 3:17–19; 1 Cor 15:21–26; 2 Cor 5:1–5).[7]
Due to his lifetime of faithful obedience to the Father, our great high priest has cleansed us from our sins, enabling us to enter into God’s presence (1 Cor 1:26–31; Heb 10:8–22).[8]
By making atonement through his blood,[9] Christ removed all the impurity of our rebellion against God (Eph 1:7–8; Col 2:13–14).[10]
Jesus fulfills the promise of 1 Sam 2:35, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted according to our likeness yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).[11]
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Read Heb 2:14–18. Why was it necessary for Jesus to become a Second Adam? What did his sacrifice accomplish? How does this affect the way you view death?
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Go to Satan Vanquished (Rom 16:20)
[Related posts include Serpents in the Ancient Near East (Gen 3:1); A World-Altering Conversation (Gen 3:2–5); Succumbing to Temptation (Gen 3:6); Their Eyes Are Opened (Gen 3:7); Hiding from God (Gen 3:8); A Day of Reckoning (Gen 3:9–13); God Curses the Serpent (Gen 3:14); The First Good News (Gen 3:15); A Return to the Ground (Gen 3:19); Satan Tempts Christ (Matt 4:1–4); A Second Temptation (Matt 4:5–7); The Third Temptation (Matt 4:8–11); Passed from Death into Life (John 5:24–27); Effects of the Fall Reversed (Rom 5:12–21 and Rom 16:1–12); Victory over Death (1 Cor 15:53–55); New Creatures in Christ (2 Cor 5:17); Receiving Christ’s Righteousness (2 Cor 5:21); Redemption through Christ’s Blood (Eph 1:7–8); Equality with God (Phil 2:5–6); A Summary of Trinitarian Creeds (Appendix to Phil 2:5–6); Taking the Form of a Slave (Phil 2:7); Obedient to the Point of Death (Phil 2:8); The Name Above Every Name (Phil 2:9–11); Our Certificate of Debt (Col 2:13–14); and Death in the Flesh but Life in the Spirit (1 Pet 3:18)]
[Click here to go to Chapter 7: The Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman (Genesis 3:14–15)]
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[1] Guthrie, Hebrews, 110.
[2]F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Rev. Ed. (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 84–5.
[3]William L. Lane, Hebrews 1–8 (WBC; Dallas: Word, 1998), 62.
[4] Guthrie, Hebrews, 110–1.
[5] Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 148.
[6] Lane, Hebrews 1–8, 61.
[7] Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 148.
[8] Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 150.
[9] Verbrugge, “‘ἱλάσκομαι” (hilaskomai), TDNTWA, 269.
[10] Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 151.
[11] Lane, Hebrews 1–8, 65.
Redemptive History and Theology 