The True Meaning of Death

Did the Serpent lie when he told Adam and Eve that when they ate the fruit they would not die? Why do we still die, even though Jesus took the curse? It turns out that most of us have an incorrect definition of death when it comes to these passages. Death, is actually an end to immortal spiritual life which is equivalent to life without God. I shall now try to prove this to you using different passages in the Bible.

                When Adam and Eve were being tempted by the Serpent he said, “You will not die.” As the story unfolds we see that after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they did not physically die. They still could walk around and live their life. So, did God lie to them when he said to not eat of the tree or you will die? Of course not, but seeing as Adam and Eve did not fall to the ground God must have meant something other than physical death. After God “found out” that Adam and Eve ate from the tree he kicked them out of the garden. This action represented two things: First, A&E could no longer eat of the tree of life and therefore would no live forever. Their immortal life that they had died as soon as they ate of the fruit. We also know this because Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” What this sin also did was to end their personal relationship with God. God walked around in the Garden and talked to Adam before they were kicked out. But after the sin, they no longer had that relationship. Therefore, the sin they committed did lead to their death. The death of immortal life and a life with God.

                Next up comes Jesus. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Jesus died so that we might live. Everyone would agree with me when I say that Christ took our punishment for our sins upon himself on the cross. This had to happen because again, the wages of sin is death. But, if Jesus took the curse for us, we do we still die by the curse? If Jesus died so that we don’t have to, why is my grandmother not alive right now? If Jesus was supposed to take our punishment, why will I never see the age of 100? This is because the definition of death, used in these contexts, being a stoppage of the heart is wrong. What death actually means is a lack of immortal life, a life without God. This means, that if Christ really did take away the punishment of death then Jesus had to have lost eternal life, to be without God. This, as it turns out, is exactly what happened. Jesus did lose his eternal life; that is the whole reason why Jesus had to be resurrected from the dead! If he had not lost his life, the resurrection would not have much meaning. Also, we know from what Jesus said when he was on the cross: “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me,” that Jesus was without God for a certain period of time. It all makes sense! Again, Jesus was resurrected so that he could be with the Father!

                Now, I would like to focus on verses Paul writes that explain this matter further. One verse that I like to point out is Ephesians 2:12-13 which says, “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and WITHOUT GOD in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” This verse shows how we were once without God, which by definition is: dead. We were dead because we were without God, but because Jesus came we are made alive. This is what it means when the bible says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Also, in Colossians it says, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 3:13). Add this with Romans 8:10-11 which says: “¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” These two verses make it evident that before Christ comes in us we are dead, and once he joins us we are made alive. Therefore, this death that these verses are talking about is not a medical death, but a death of eternal life and/or a life without God.