The Slavery of Death

by Richard Beck

As should be obvious in my telling of the gospel story, I’ve tried to emphasize the conflict between Christ and Satan, particularly in the way Satan comes to control the power of death and how Christ eventually comes to take this power away. In telling the story in this manner I’m attempting to illuminate a thread in the gospel narrative that suggests that salvation might involve something more than the forgiveness of sins. That is, there is nothing in the biblically driven account above that speaks to the necessity of a blood sacrifice to make atonement in order to appease a holy and wrathful God. In the telling above, salvation is about rescue and emancipation, Jesus setting humanity free from the dark powers of death and the devil. And though this emphasis might seem strange to many Protestants, this story is very biblical, as I tried to highlight. In short, while atonement and the forgiveness of sins are a part of the gospel story, the Bible also comments extensively about the role of death as the “power of the devil” in our lives, which are facets of salvation that we tend to overlook.