Introduction

Physical and spiritual death are different. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. These two are very closely related, and both physical death and spiritual death are reflected in the very first references to death.

Main Points:

Genesis 1:20–28

Verse text not found

1 Timothy 6:13

I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and {before} Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; {confession: or, profession}

• Scientists are still at a loss to explain what truly causes life, but the Bible is clear that God gives life to all things. The life given by God to mankind is different of animals, because God, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” (
  Genesis 2:7

  And the LORD God formed man {of} the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. {of the dust...: Heb. dust of the ground}

  ). Whereas animals have a purely physical life, after their kind (
  Genesis 1:24

  And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

  ), humans, after the image of God (
  Genesis 1:27

  So God created man in his {own} image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

  ), have both a physical and a spiritual element of life, so that death has both a physical and a spiritual element.
• In
  Genesis 2:17

  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. {thou shalt surely...: Heb. dying thou shalt die}

  , God told Adam that, if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would “surely die.” Some sceptics have tried to use this verse to show an inconsistency in the Bible, because Adam and Eve did not die the very day they ate of that fruit. These sceptics are in error, because there are different types of life, and there are different types of death.
• A person can be physically alive and spiritually dead (
  Ephesians 2:1

  And you {hath he quickened}, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

  Ephesians 2:5

  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) {by...: or, by whose grace}

  ) and vice versa (
  Matthew 22:32

  And when the multitude heard {this}, they were astonished at his doctrine.

  ). When they sinned (
  Genesis 3:7

  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they {were} naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. {aprons: or, things to gird about}

  ), Adam and Eve immediately lost their spiritual life – they became “dead” to godliness; so, came under God’s judgment (eternal death). This triggered a correlating action: internal separation from God manifesting itself as well in an external separation from Him (
  Genesis 3:8

  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. {cool: Heb. wind}

  ,)
• Man as a living soul (
  Genesis 2:7

  And the LORD God formed man {of} the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. {of the dust...: Heb. dust of the ground}

  ) was created spiritually alive, connected to God in a special way, but when he sinned, it was broken. Spiritual death has implications both before and after physical death. Though Adam was still physically alive he became spiritually dead, separated from relationship with God.
• Scripture therefore is clear, in that everyone begins life “dead in trespasses and sins” (
  Ephesians 2:1-5

  And you {hath he quickened}, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. {desires: Gr. wills} But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) {by...: or, by whose grace}

  ), resulting in a life focused on our sinful desires. The remedy for spiritual death is a spiritual rebirth (
  John 3:3-5

  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. {again: or, from above} Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and {of} the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

  ) through faith in Him. This rebirth is a re-connection to the source of life (
  John 15:1-6

  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every {branch} that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye {are} the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. {without me: or, severed from me} If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast {them} into the fire, and they are burned.

  ), that He is the vine, and we are the branches. Without connection to Him, we have no spirit life in us (
  1 John 5:11-12

  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; {and} he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

  ).

Memory Verse

For those who refuse to accept God’s salvation, physical death and spiritual death culminate in the “second death”. This eternal death is not annihilation as some have taught, but is a conscious, eternal punishment for sins in the lake of fire, described as being separated from the presence of the Lord

2 Thessalonians 1:9

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;