Hebrews 2:14 teaches that Jesus became fully human so that by dying he could break the power that the devil held over death, and free people who had lived in fear of dying. The author is writing to Christians who needed to understand why the Son of God shared in human suffering and mortality. The verse is part of a longer argument about Jesus as the faithful high priest who represents people before God.
Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil…
Hebrews 2:14 (WEB)
What Hebrews 2:14 Means
The verse begins by pointing to the shared reality of human life. “Children” refers to the people God is bringing into his family, and they are said to share “flesh and blood,” meaning they are physical, mortal creatures who will die. Jesus, the author says, took on that same nature. He did not stand above human frailty as an observer. He entered into it completely.
The purpose clause is the heart of the verse. Jesus did this “through death” so that he could “bring to nothing” the one who held the power of death, identified as the devil. The phrase does not mean that death itself vanished the moment Jesus died, or that believers never face physical death. It means that the hold death had as a weapon of fear and judgment was broken. The verse promises a real victory, but it describes that victory in terms of what it accomplishes, not in terms of an immediate end to every hardship.
The Context of Hebrews 2:14
Hebrews was written to a community of believers facing pressure and possibly considering a return to older religious patterns. The author is not named in the letter itself, and while early tradition associated it with Paul, most readers today treat the author as unknown. The letter’s aim is to show that Jesus is greater than angels, greater than Moses, and greater than the old priesthood. Verse 14 sits in a passage that explains why Jesus, who is above angels, took on human form in the first place.
The verses immediately around it make the logic clearer. In verse 11 Jesus calls believers his brothers, and verses 12 and 13 show him identifying with them, trusting God alongside them. Verse 15 then says that his death delivers people who had been held in lifelong slavery to the fear of death. Verse 17 explains that this was necessary so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest who makes atonement for sin. Read this way, verse 14 is not a standalone statement about the devil. It is one step in showing that Jesus had to share human life in order to act for people before God.
Key Phrases in Hebrews 2:14
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
55 “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(WEB)
Paul celebrates the defeat of death through Christ in language that echoes the victory described in Hebrews 2:14. Both passages show death losing its sting when measured against what Jesus accomplished.
Romans 8:15
For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
(WEB)
This verse describes the spirit of adoption that frees believers from fear and gives them a family relationship with God. It shows the practical result of the liberation that Hebrews 2:14 describes.
A Short Prayer From Hebrews 2:14
Lord Jesus, you chose to share our flesh and blood, entering fully into the weakness and mortality that we know so well. Thank you that you did not stand apart from us but came close enough to meet death head on. Where fear of dying has held me in its grip, loosen its hold and help me remember that the power behind it has been broken by your death and rising. Teach me to trust you in the hard hours and to live as someone who belongs to you. Amen.
