The Slavery of Death

by Richard Beck

As mortal creatures, separated from God’s vivifying Spirit, humans are fearful and survival-driven animals, easily drawn into sinful and selfish practices. Because we are mortal and driven by self-preservation, our survival instincts make us tragically vulnerable to death anxiety—the desire to preserve our own existence above all else and at all costs. And as we’ve seen in Hebrews 2:14–15, Satan uses this fear to enslave us, to keep us rooted in disobedience and continually separated from God. Salvation, in this view, becomes about breaking this cycle—the tragic feedback loop of the human condition—in which sin produces death and death makes us vulnerable to sin. Theologian S. Mark Heim summarizes the Orthodox view; removed from Eden, we are