And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
The devil, by exciting men to sin, made them liable to a temporal and eternal death; he was, therefore, the prince of death, both as to soul and body. Jesus Christ, the life and source of life, has by his death destroyed sin and vanquished the devil; he has, at once, triumphed over the prince of death, and death itself; and by the assurance which he has given us of eternal life, has delivered us from the terrible apprehensions of dying. To a good Christian, death is the termination of misery and the beginning of eternal happiness; why, therefore, should we be afraid to die? We ought rather, with St. Paul, to say: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.
And should deliver them, he says, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Why (he means) do ye shudder? Why do you fear him that has been brought to nought? He is no longer terrible, but has been trodden under foot, has been utterly despised; he is vile and of no account. 2 Timothy 1:10
But what is through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage? He either means this, that he who fears death is a slave, and submits to all things rather than die; or this, that all men were slaves of death and were held under his power, because he had not yet been done away; or that men lived in continual fear, ever expecting that they should die, and being afraid of death, could have no sense of pleasure, while this fear was present with them. For this he hinted at in saying, All their life-time. He here shows that the afflicted, the harassed, the persecuted, those that are deprived of country and of substance and of all other things, spend their lives ...
