Death and Original Sin
I have just finished writing several articles for http://GeoCreationism.com discussing death and Original Sin. For reference, here are the articles:
The common message is that death entered the world through the sin of Adam. However, there appears to be more than one meaning for the word death. This is commonly overlooked in discussions on original sin, regardless of one’s perspective. For example, when it comes to Original Sin, many YECs (Young Earth Creationists) always interpret “death” as physical, while many OECs (Old Earth Creationists) always interpret “death” as spiritual. Either extreme leaves any interpretation of scripture wanting.
There are three kinds of death in scripture, when it comes to sin. They are as follows:
- Separation from God
- Physical Death
- Condemnation to Hell
Separation from God
Death, in any respect, implies prevous life. In this case, separation from God implies a previous relationship with Him. God had no relationship with mankind until Adam. Adam was mankind’s first connection to God, and the source of mankind’s separation.
To illustrate what it means to be separated, think of it as becoming God’s enemy versus simply being a stranger to Him. What’s the difference? An enemy knows who you are and avoids you; a stranger is merely distant, minding their own business. This was the case for mankind until Adam became mankind’s connection to God. Then he sinned and became mankind’s separation, God’s enemy, and a type of Christ. How so? Christ would eventually become our sin, our separation from God, and our reconciliation.
“Separation from God” is the death that Adam was warned of by God. You can tell because it sounded like Adam would “die” immediately if he sinned. In fact, he was separated from God immediately when he sinned, as evidenced by his self-conciousness of his nudity, and God’s insistence that Adam no longer benefit from eating of the Tree of Life.
“Separation from God” is the death that Paul writes of in Romans 5:12. You can tell, because he starts the chapter with a discussion of reconciliation (or recon-nection), then contrasts it with our death in Adam ([notes] added)…
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death [separation from God]Â through sin,
and in this way death [separation from God] came to all people,
because all sinned [sin of submission corporately, sins of commission individually]. - NIV
Physical Death
When Satan asked Eve why she couldn’t eat of the tree, she said it was because she would die. She meant physically. Satan knew better and corrected her — kind of — saying she was not going to die, but would become like God, knowing good and evil. His answer was absolutely true, and it happened exactly as he said. One thing he left out… the death God warned of was not physical. If she sinned, she would be separated from God. No matter though, she disobeyed God, and God followed through on his warning.
That said, Adam and Eve physically died because they sinned… eventually. However, read Genesis 3 and you will see God’s reason. It was not for their disobedience per se, and not because He had promised they would “die”. It was because they were being separated from God, banished from the Garden of Eden, forced to live a life of heartache and pain, and God didn’t want them living that life forever. So, yes, they physically died. However, contrary to being the punishment they were warned of, it was simply a consequence of their actions.
You can tell that physical death is not the death that entered the world through Adam because you haven’t physically died, and yet you are reconciled through Christ today. How is that? Is it because you were born into a world of physical death? No, but a world that is separated from God, a spritual death that existed between you and God from birth, until you were reconciled through Christ.
As for your physical death, it will happen one day, but it will have no sting. Paul made this point in 1 Corinthians 15, when he triumphantly wrote, “Death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, but your reconiliation with God takes that sting away.
Notice the order of these words: The sting of death is sin. Consider that if death came from sin, then the sting of sin would be death, which is the reverse of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul was very clear. Christ did not come to prevent our physical death, but to remove our separation from God. That way, when we die, we die into redemption and not condemnation. “Death, where is thy sting?”
You can tell this is the correct perspective because of the place Paul gives physical death in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22…
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
If you read this in context, Paul is talking of resurrection, where “all” means “all”. Everyone who has physically died, saved and unsaved will be made physically alive for judgement. Similar to how we spiritually die in Adam, we will be physically resurrected in Christ. Some will be resurrected to redemption, some to condemnation (Daniel 12:2). In other words, physical death is just an event we all experience, and when Christ makes all alive in verse 22, it is not for salvation, but judgement.
Codemnation in Hell
Condemnation in Hell is like an eternal death. However, it is not eternal physical death, but eternal separation from God. This makes it, in some way, a consequence of spiritual death, without being spiritual death per se.
Condemnation does not come until you are judged after resurrection. Until then, the condemned lives in separation from God here on Earth. Then later, they die physically, get resurrected, and are separated from God eternally in Hell. Those who are reconciled from God while on Earth will also die physically and be resurrected. However, they will live with God eternally in Heaven.
In Closing
Death in Christian Theology has never been about our physical death, or else Christ would prevent it. It is about our separation from God. It is a separation that did not exist until Adam, and one that every person since Adam has been born into. In Genesis 3, Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of mankind… she didn’t start out that way, because no one was connected with God until Adam, and no one was separated from God until sin. Having been the first to sin, Eve became the mother of mankind, their mother in sin. Very fitting.
Knowing that Original Sin is about our separation from God, and not about our physical death, it means that God just might have created the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. It means that when science provides evidence that mankind existed 200,000 years ago, it just might be true. Phsyical death, being a product of life itself, is no longer an argument against Evolution. That said, it is not an argument for it either. What it does do is allow reasonable Christians to discuss the issue and weigh the evidence without fear of condemnation by God, and without fear of distorting the scripture. It means we can go to church together without one doubting the salvation or spiritual blindness of the other.