DEATH. From one point of view death is the most natural of things: ‘it is appointed for men to die once’ (Heb. 9:27). It may be accepted without rebellion: ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’ (Jn. 11:16). From another, it is the most unnatural of things. It is the penalty for sin (Rom. 6:23), and it is to be feared as such. Both points of view are to be found in the Bible, and neither should be overlooked. Death is a biological necessity, but men do not die simply as the animals die.

I. Physical death

Death seems to be necessary for bodies constituted as ours are. Physical decay and ultimate dissolution are inescapable. Yet the Bible speaks of death as the result of sin. God said to Adam, ‘in the day that you eat of it you will die’ (Gn. 2:17). Paul tells us that ‘sin came into the world through one man and death through sin’ (Rom. 5:12), and again that ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23). Yet when we look more closely into the matter we see that Adam did not die physically on the day that he disobeyed God. And in Rom. 5 and 6 Paul is contrasting the death that came about through Adam’s sin with the life that Christ brings men. Now the possession of eternal life does not cancel out physical death. It is opposed to a spiritual state, not to a physical event. The inference that we draw from all this is that that death which is the result of sin is more than bodily death.

But with this we must take the other thought that the scriptural passages which connect sin and death do not qualify death. We would not understand from them that something other than the usual meaning attached to the word. Perhaps we should understand that mortality was the result of Adam’s sin, and that the penalty includes both physical and spiritual aspects. But we do not know enough about Adam’s pre-fallen condition to say anything about it. If his body was like ours, then it was mortal. If it was not, we have no means of knowing what it was like, and whether it was mortal or not.

It seems better to understand death as something that involves the whole man. Man does not die as a body. He dies as a man, in the totality of his being. He dies as a spiritual and physical being. And the Bible does not put a sharp line of demarcation between the two aspects. Physical death, then, is a fit symbol of, and expression of, and unity with, the deeper death that sin inevitably brings.

II. Spiritual death

That death is a divine penalty. We have already noticed that Rom. 6:23 regards death as ‘the wages’ of sin, i.e. as the due reward for sin. Paul can speak of certain sinners who know ‘God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die’ (Rom. 1:32). It is the thought of God’s decree that underlies John’s reference to the ‘mortal sin’ (1 Jn. 5:16). This is a very important truth. It enables us to see the full horror of death. And at the same time, paradoxically, it gives us hope. Men are not caught up in a web woven by blind fate, so that, once having sinned, nothing can ever be done about it. God is over the whole process, and if he has decreed that death is the penalty of sin, he has also determined to give life eternal to sinful men.

Sometimes the NT emphasizes the serious consequences of sin by referring to ‘the second death’ (Jude 12; Rev. 2:11, etc.). This is a rabbinic expression which signifies eternal perdition. It is to be understood along with passages wherein our Lord spoke of ‘eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Mt. 25:41), ‘eternal punishment’ (set in contrast to ‘eternal life’, Mt. 25:46), and the like. The final state of impenitent man is variously described as death, punishment, being lost, etc. Obviously it would be unwise to equate it with any one of them. But equally obviously on the Bible view it is a state to be regarded with horror.

Sometimes the objection is made that this is inconsistent with the view of God as a loving God. There is a profound mystery here, but at least it can be said that the objection, as commonly stated, overlooks the fact that death is a state as well as an event. ‘To set the mind on the flesh is death,‘ writes Paul (Rom. 8:6). He does not say that the mind of the flesh will cause death. He says that it is death. He adds that it ‘is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot’. The same truth is put in a different way when John says, ‘He who does not love abides in death’ (1 Jn. 3:14). When we have grasped the truth that death is a state, we see the impossibility of the impenitent being saved. Salvation for such is a contradiction in terms. For salvation a man must pass from death into life (Jn. 5:24).

III. Victory over death

An interesting feature of NT teaching on death is that the emphasis is on life. If we look up a concordance we find that in most places nekros (‘dead’) is used of resurrection from the dead or the like. The Scripture faces death, as it faces all reality. But its interest is in life, and death is treated more or less incidentally as that from which men are saved. Christ took upon him our nature, ‘that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14). The devil’s power is always regarded as subject to God’s overruling (Jb. 2:6; Lk. 12:5, etc.). He is no absolute disposer of death. Nevertheless death, the negation of life, is his proper sphere. And Christ came to put an end to death. It was through death, as the Hebrews passage indicates, that he defeated Satan. It was through death that he put away our sin. ‘The death he died he died to sin, once for all’ (Rom. 6:10). Apart from Christ, death is the supreme enemy, the symbol of our alienation from God, the ultimate horror. But Christ has used death to deliver men from death. He died that men may live. It is significant that the NT can speak of believers as ‘sleeping’ rather that as ‘dying’ (e.g. 1 Thes. 4:14). Jesus bore the full horror of death. Therefore for those who are ‘in Christ’ death has been transformed so that it is no more than sleep.

The extent of the victory over death that Christ won is indicated by his resurrection. ‘Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him’ (Rom. 6:9). The resurrection is the great triumphal event, and the whole of the NT note of victory originates here. Christ is ‘the Author of life’ (Acts 3:15), ‘Lord both of the dead and of the living’ (Rom. 14:9), ‘the Word of life’ (1 Jn. 1:1). His victory over death is complete. And his victory is made available to his people. Death’s destruction is certain (1 Cor. 15:26, 54ff.; Rev. 21:4). The second death has no power over the believer (Rev. 2:11; 20:6). In keeping with this the NT understands eternal life not as the immortality of the soul, but in terms of the resurrection of the body. Nothing could more graphically illustrate the finality and the completeness of death’s defeat.

Not only is there a glorious future, there is a glorious present. The believer has already passed out of death and into life (Jn. 5:24; 1 Jn. 3:14). He is ‘free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom. 8:2). Death cannot separate him from God (Rom. 8:38f.). Jesus said, ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never see death’ (Jn. 8:51). Such words do not deny the reality of biological death. Rather they point us to the truth that the death of Jesus means that the believer has passed altogether out of the state which is death. He is brought into a new state, which is aptly characterized as life. He will in due course pass through the gateway we call death. But the sting has been drawn. The death of Jesus means victory over death for his followers.