Kreeft, Mat 10:28, ... who can destroy body and soul?

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Dave_in_Dallas

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I was reading in Kreeft’s Catholic Catechism and it says that Satan is the one that can destroy the body and soul mentioned in Mat 10:28.

[BIBLEDRB]And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[/BIBLEDRB]

Shouldn’t it be that God is the one to fear because he can send both body and soul to hell, and NOT Satan?
 
Pg. 148
“Fire is a natural image for hell because fire destroys. Christ tells us, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him [Satan] who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt 10:28)
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Dave_in_Dallas said:
Pg. 148
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Hi Dave,

IMHO if someone follows Satan’s lead instead of God’s that person is condemning himself to hell. So I guess in a way you can say that it is Satan that condemns the soul to hell. Again, I think it is we who condemn ourselves to hell by not following Jesus.

Jeanne
 
I think it is both/and. Satan deceives and tempts souls into sin, so he should be feared and resisted, but God alone administers perfect justice and he can send the faithless to eternal punishment.

For thus said the LORD to me, taking hold of me and warning me not to walk in the way of this people: Call not alliance what this people calls alliance, and fear not, nor stand in awe of what they fear. But with the LORD of hosts make your alliance-- for him be your fear and your awe. (Is 8:11-13)
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
Satan is the one that can destroy the body and soul mentioned in Mat 10:28.

[BIBLEDRB]And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[/BIBLEDRB]

Shouldn’t it be that God is the one to fear because he can send both body and soul to hell, and NOT Satan?
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The ‘hell’ in the verse is ‘gehenna’ or the ‘lake of fire’. This ‘place’, according to Matthew 25:41 is where the devil and his angles end up. Satan/Devil doesn’t go into the lake of fire voluntarily but in Rev 20:10 he is ‘cast into’ (passive verb in Grk) the second death by God himself…IMO.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…
Although man’s decides in this life where he will end up (heaven or hell) I believe that God (or one of his holy angels) does the casting into hell. In Matthew 25:40-41 we read this:
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

The king in this verse I believe is Jesus and here he is giving the order for those ‘on the left’ to be put into everlasting fire, its not Satan casting them into hell. So, IMO Kreeft is wrong.

At most I think that Satan can be used for ‘the destruction of the flesh’ as seen in:
1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
 
I am assuming it was just an oversight… probably since Beelzebul is mentioned prior in v. 25

[BIBLEDRB]Matthew 10:25-28[/BIBLEDRB]
 
[QUOT]E=Dave in Dallas;6459600]I was reading in Kreeft’s Catholic Catechism and it says that Satan is the one that can destroy the body and soul mentioned in Mat 10:28.

[BIBLEDRB]And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[/BIBLEDRB]

Shouldn’t it be that God is the one to fear because he can send both body and soul to hell, and NOT Satan?

Actually that is the precise understanding of the passage you quote.

**However, it is we ** NOT God who send ourselves to hell. That results from improper application of our minds, intellects and freewills. Our PERSONAL choices, NOT God’s will.

** Matt.10: 28** ]“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell”
 
Kreeft is simply wrong on that point. St. John Chrysostom is correct that Jesus was referring to God when He said to fear him who can destroy body and soul in Hell.

Satan and the fallen angels are not in charge of Hell. For Hell is a place prepared by God in order to punish them. If Hell is considered under the figure of a prison, then Satan and the fallen angels are the inmates, not the guards or the warden.

[Matthew]
{25:41} Then he shall also say, to those who will be on his left: ‘Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.

[Wisdom]
{17:13} Yet those who were truly powerless that night, being overcome by both the vilest and the deepest hell, were sleeping the same sleep,
{17:14} sometimes stirred up by the fear of unnatural things, other times sinking down in disgrace of soul, for a sudden and unexpected fear overcame them.
{17:15} Then, if any among them had fallen away, he was kept in a prison without bars which had been left open.
 
PJM said:
[QUOT] E=Dave in Dallas;6459600] **However, it is we ** NOT God who send ourselves to hell. That results from improper application of our minds, intellects and freewills. Our PERSONAL choices, NOT God’s will.

** Matt.10: 28** ]“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell”
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While I agree with the spirit of this statement, I don’t believe the verse should be interpreted as saying "don’t fear other men, rather fear yourself. God is the one who administers justice and a holy fear of Him is necessary to avoid sin and its consequences.

**His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (Mt 3:12)

So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12)

**
 
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