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"When He shall have put down all rule" (I Cor. 15: 24).
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Cor. 15: 26).
"Which glory was to be done away" (II Cor. 3: 7).
"If that which is done away was glorious" (II Cor. 3: 11).
"Could not . . . . . look to the end of that which is abolished" (II Cor. 3: 13).
"Which vail is done away in Christ" (II Cor. 3: 14).
"That it should make the promise of none effect" (Gal. 3: 17).
"Christ has become of no effect unto you" (Gal. 5: 4).
"Then is the offence of the cross ceased' (Gal. 5: 11).
"Having abolished in His flesh the enmity" (Eph. 2: 15).
"Shall destroy with the brightness of His coming" (II Thess. 2: 8).
"Who hath abolished death" (II Tim. 1: 10).
"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death" (Heb. 2: 14).
The exact opposite of this word katargeo is katergazomai, which occurs 24 times. Of
these 24 Paul is responsible for 21. If forms, therefore, a fitting comparison with
katargeo in its scope and distribution. We will not ask the reader to go through the
24 occurrences at the moment, though this must certainly be done if the true sense of this
important word is to be obtained. For the moment, we simply note that the A.V.
translates the word as follows: "Be wrought" (1); "cause" (1); "do" (6)--not "4" as
in Young's Analytical Concordance Index-Lexicon--; "perform" (1); "work" (14);
"work out" (1).
As ergazomai means "to work", katergazomai would mean "to work thoroughly", or,
as we would say, "to work out". This is the meaning that we recognize in II Cor. 4: 17:
"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more
exceeding eternal weight of glory."
This also is the meaning which the structure of Ephesians forces us to give to
Eph. 6: 13: "Having worked out all", the corresponding passage speaking of the mighty
power which is "worked in".
If katergazomai* means "to work out", the negative katargeo*, must mean "not to
work out", or, in our way of putting it, "to fail", "to cease", "to be prevented from
working out", or in other words, "to render inoperative". The Devil has not yet been
"destroyed", but he has been rendered inoperative so far as the exercise of his erstwhile
power of death is concerned (Heb. 2: 14). It is still, alas, possible for the child of God to
sin, but sin's dominion has been broken, and the body of sin rendered inoperative, so that
henceforth we need not be enslaved to sin.
[NOTE: * - The different endings eo and omai are simply indications of a change from active to passive.]
So, in II Tim. 1: 10, we learn that by His work on the cross, Christ has rendered death
inoperative. This, however, is only the negative side; there is also the positive side--He
"hath shed light on life and immortality".
We have seen that the word katargeo is used in connection with death in
I Cor. 15: 26: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death."
It must be