Chapter 51.—Why the Devil is Said to Hold the Power and Dominion of Death.

Hence the Lord Himself willed to die, “in order that,” as it is written of Him, “through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”422    Heb. ii. 14. From this passage it is shown with sufficient clearness that even the death of the body came about by the instigation and work of the devil,—in a word, from the sin which he persuaded man to commit; nor is there any other reason why he should be said in strictness of truth to hold the power of death. Accordingly, He who died without any sin, original or actual, said in the passage I have already quoted: “Behold, the prince of this world,” that is, the devil, who had the power of death, “cometh and findeth nothing in me,”—meaning, he shall find no sin in me, because of which he has caused men to die. As if the question were asked Him: Why then should you die? He says, “That all may know that I am doing the will of my Father, arise, let us go hence;”423    John xiv. 30, 31. that is, that I may die, though I have no cause of death from sin under the author of sin, but only from obedience and righteousness, having become obedient unto death. Proof is likewise afforded us by this passage, that the fact of the faithful overcoming the fear of death is a part of the struggle of faith itself; for all struggle would indeed be at an end, if immortality were at once to become the reward of them that believe.

51. Hinc et ipse Dominus mori voluit, ut, quemadmodum de illo scriptum est, per mortem evacuaret eum qui potestatem habebat mortis, id est, diabolum, et liberaret eos qui timore mortis per totam vitam rei erant servitutis (Id. II, 14, 15). Hoc testimonio satis etiam illud monstratur, et mortem istam corporis principe atque auctore diabolo, hoc est, ex peccato accidisse, quod ille persuasit; neque enim ob aliud potestatem habere mortis verissime diceretur: unde 0182 ille qui sine ullo peccato vel originali vel proprio moriebatur, dixit, quod paulo ante commemoravi, Ecce veniet princeps mundi, id est, diabolus, qui potestatem habebat mortis, et in me nihil inveniet, id est, peccati, propter quod homines mori fecit. Et quasi diceretur ei, Quare ergo moreris? Sed ut sciant omnes, inquit, quia voluntatem Patris mei facio, surgite, eamus hinc: id est, ut moriar non habens mortis causam de peccato sub auctore peccati, sed de obedientia et justitia factus obediens usque ad mortem. Et hoc ergo illo testimonio demonstratum est, et quod timorem mortis fideles vincunt, ad agonem ipsius fidei pertinere, qui profecto defuisset, si mox esset credentes immortalitas consecuta.