This paper proposes a constructive explanation for the mechanism by which Christ’s death defeated Satan’s “power of death” described in Hebrews 2:14–15. Building on David Moffitt’s recovery of the priestly realism of Hebrews and engaging Katie Marcar’s recent work on the defeat of the devil, it argues that the Day of Atonement itself provides the missing juridical mechanism through the ministry of the scapegoat (Azazel). The study develops the thesis that Satan’s authority over death is fundamentally a sin-conditioned legal claim. Christ fulfills both goats of Leviticus 16 by presenting His blood in the heavenly sanctuary and by bearing humanity’s sin into the realm of the dead, thereby canceling the accusation upon which Satan’s authority depended. Drawing upon biblical exegesis, Second Temple Jewish literature, and contemporary scholarship, the paper offers a constructive proposal integrating Hebrews, Leviticus, Colossians, and the broader biblical narrative into a unified account of atonement, Christus Victor, and the New Covenant.
Candace White (Thu,) studied this question.