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What does it mean to be spiritually dead?

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Question: "What does it mean to be spiritually dead?"


Answer: To be spiritually dead is to be separated from God. When Adam sinned in Genesis 3:6
(6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,
and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also
gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate), he ushered in death for all humanity.

Gods command to Adam and Eve was that they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. It came with the warning that disobedience would result in death: And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
The phrase you shall surely die could be literally translated dying you shall die. This signifies a
continuous state of death that began with spiritual death, continues throughout life as a gradual
degradation of the body, and culminates in physical death. The immediate spiritual death resulted in
Adams separation from God. His act of hiding from God (Genesis 3:8)( 8 And they heard the
sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden) demonstrates this

separation, as does his attempt to shift blame for the sin to the woman (Genesis 3:12)( 12 The man
said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.).

Unfortunately, this spiritual and eventual physical death was not confined to Adam and Eve. As
the representative of the human race, Adam carried all of humanity into his sin. Paul makes this
clear in Romans 5:12(12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death

through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned), telling us that sin and death

entered the world and spread to all men through Adams sin. Additionally, Romans 6:23(23 For the
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.) says that the

wages of sin is death; sinners must die, because sin separates us from God. Any separation from
the Source of Life is, naturally, death for us.
But it is not just inherited sin that causes spiritual death; our own sinfulness contributes. Ephesians
2(1And you were kdead in the trespasses and sins

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in which you once walked,

following the course of this world, following mthe prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in nthe sons of disobedience ) teaches that, before

salvation, we are dead in trespasses and sins (verse 1). This must speak of spiritual death,
because we were still alive physically before salvation. While we were in that spiritually dead
condition, God saved us (verse 5 ((even twhen we were dead in our trespasses, umade us
alive together with Christ); see also Romans 5:8)( 8 but God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.). Colossians 2:13 reiterates this truth: And you,

who were dead in your trespasses . . . God made alive together with him, having forgiven us
all our trespasses.
Since we are dead in sin, we are completely unable to trust God or His Word. Jesus repeatedly
claims that we are powerless without Him (John 15:5)( 5 I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can
do nothing.) and that we cannot come to Him without Gods enabling (John 6:44)( 44 No one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last
day. ). Paul teaches in Romans 8 (There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.1 2 For the law of hthe Spirit of life ihas set you2 free in
Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For jGod has done what the
law, kweakened by the flesh, lcould not do. mBy sending his own Son nin the
likeness of sinful flesh and ofor sin,3 he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order
that pthe righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, qwho walk
not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Forrthose who live
according to the flesh set their minds on sthe things of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit set their minds on tthe things of the
Spirit. 6 For to set uthe mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the
Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is vhostile to God,
for it does not submit to Gods law; windeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the
flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact xthe Spirit of

God dwells in you. yAnyone who does not have zthe Spirit of Christ does not
belong to him.

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But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of

sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

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If the Spirit of ahim who

raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus 4 from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies bthrough his Spirit who dwells in
you.) that our natural minds cannot submit to God, nor please Him (verses 7-8). In our fallen state,
we are incapable of even understanding the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14) ( 14 The natural
person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able
to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.).

The act of God whereby He makes us alive from spiritual death is called regeneration. Regeneration
is accomplished only by the Holy Spirit, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When
we are regenerated, we are made alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5) (5 even when we were
dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christby grace you have been saved) and

renewed by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) (5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in
righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the
Holy Spirit,). It is like being born a second time, as Jesus taught Nicodemus in John3:3, 7(3 Jesus
answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God..) Having been made alive by God, we will never truly die we have eternal life. Jesus said

often that to believe in Him is to have eternal life (John 3:16 (16 For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.), 36
(36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God remains on him.); 17:3 (3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.)).

Sin leads to death. The only way to escape that death is to come to Jesus through faith, drawn by
the Holy Spirit. Faith in Christ leads to spiritual life, and ultimately to eternal life.

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