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of all rule and power which He will carry through when He sits upon the throne of His
glory:--
"That through death He might destroy (katargeo) him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil" (Heb. 2: 14).
Other passages illustrating the meaning of katargeo (`put down', `destroyed'
I Cor. 15: 24-26) are Rom. 6: 6; I Cor. 2: 6; II Cor. 3: 7; Eph. 2: 15; II Thess. 2: 8.
When we read `all rule and all authority and power', we may be inclined to make
too wide a sweep, but the corrective of I Cor. 15: 26 enables us to see that we are
dealing with enemies. There are two distinct actions, and two distinct classes in view in
these verses. The enemies are `abolished', but others are `subdued'. This word
`subdued' (hupotasso) is a cognate of tagma, `order', `rank' of verse 23, and looks to the
perfect order and alignment that will characterize the kingdom of Christ. It is used even
of Christ Himself in the words, "Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him
. . . . . that God may be all in all".
The first occurrence of the word is beautiful in its suggestiveness. That One of Whom
it was prophesied that `all things should be subjected beneath His feet' did not presume to
act out of harmony with the Father's will for Him during His boyhood, for:
"He came to Nazareth (with His parents), and was subject unto them" (Luke 2: 51).
In Rom. 8: 7
the two words `enmity' and `subjection' are seen to be
irreconcilable:--
"The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be."
The word `subject' involves the idea of a `willing surrender'. All must come down in
that day. Some by being `abolished' or `destroyed', others by a willing surrender like
unto that of the Son of God Himself. In Rom. 8: 20 it is revealed that the creation
become involuntarily subjected to vanity, and this cries aloud for that willing submission
of all things to the true goal of all creation--Christ, the willingly submissive Son. The
word is used in Phil. 3: 21, where the transforming of the body of humiliation is said to
be according to the selfsame energy whereby He is able to subject all things to Himself.
Surely this cannot include the power that destroys; it is foreign to the thought.
Destruction or subjection is the idea of I Cor. 15:
While I Cor. 15: is mainly concerned with the human phase of the great purpose of
God, as expressed in the words `in Adam', nevertheless the reference to `all rule and all
authority and power' goes beyond the sphere of Adam. Before the Son delivers up the
kingdom, all rule, authority and power will be abolished (arche, exousia, dunamis).
These are the principalities and powers of Col. 1: 16 and Eph. 1: 21. They are linked
with death in the closing verses of Rom. 8:, over which the believer even now is more
than conqueror. Eph. 6: reveals that the church of the One Body has principalities and
powers among its spiritual enemies, and yet Col. 1: 16-20 shows that some principalities