Everyone dies in spirit

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) 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.” 

When God created Adam and Eve their spirits came from Him and had His life in them. In other words their spirits were alive to God. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that when God created them, that He gave them the commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so in effect Adam and Eve were created under law. When God gave them His commandment He warned them that if they transgressed His commandment that they would die. We all know the story of how Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and as an act of their free wills rebelled against the commandment of God. That act of being disobedient to the commandment of God was when sin first entered the world. And so we see that on the day they sinned, their spirits died just as God said it would happen, and they were separated from the life of God. A spiritual truth is revealed to us in this account, which is that everyone born under law dies spiritually the moment they commit sin.

Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,  (5)  to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Just as all men are born spiritually alive to God; it is also true that all men are born under law. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that particular truth. For in this passage the Holy Spirit teaches us that the reason the Lord Jesus was born under the law, was so that He could redeem all men who were under the law. Some have thought that this passage referred to the Jews who were born under the Law of Moses, however if you read the context of this passage you will see that Paul is writing to gentile believers when he tells us that we were under the law. So the question is asked, if not the Law of Moses, what law are the gentiles under. The answer to that question is the law of their conscience. God has given every man a conscience, and the conscience is given to them to know to choose good and reject evil. And so when men violate their conscience, they are transgressing the law of their conscience, and are thus sinning against God. As with Adam and Eve, the very first time men disobey their conscience and commit sin, their spirits die and they become separated from the life of God.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” 

 It is only sin that can kill the spirit of man. This truth is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that death enters through sin. In this same passage the apostle Paul goes on to teach us that the reason that death is able to spread to all men, is because all men commit sin. In other words spiritual death cannot be inherited; it can only come through sin that is committed by the individual. So what is the sin that all men commit which causes them to die spiritually? As we have already mentioned, it is the sin of transgressing the law of their conscience.

Deuteronomy 1:39  “Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.”

We have seen thus far that all men are born under the law of their conscience, and that the moment they transgress that law they commit sin and thus incur the penalty of sin which is spiritual death. Obviously it is the first sin committed that brings about spiritual death, and all sins committed after that time are incidental to the changed nature of the individual that has now become spiritually dead. For example, Adam and Eve continued in sin after they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, but nevertheless it was their first transgression that they committed which resulted in the spiritual death they incurred. The question is then asked, if all men are born spiritually alive to God, when do they commit the first sin that causes their spirits to die? God answers that question for us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage God says that children have no knowledge of good and evil. So why is it that children have no knowledge of good and evil? The reason is because the eyes of their conscience have not yet been opened (for more detail on this subject see my series “The Conscience of Man”). And so because God deems children to have no knowledge of good and evil, He does not hold them accountable for the sins they commit, and thus their spirits remain alive to God throughout their childhood.

Luke 2:42-43 “And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.  (43)  When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it.” 

We have seen that even though children commit sin, God does not hold them accountable for their sin because He deems them to have no knowledge of good and evil. Obviously that changes at the end of their childhood. And so the next important question that is asked, is when do children come to the end of their childhood, for it is from that point that God holds them accountable for their sins for the first time. Again God answers that question for us, for we can see in the above quoted passage of scripture that God referred to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as a child when He was twelve years old. Obviously on our Lord’s thirteenth birthday that all changed, and God now viewed His Son as being a young man and no longer a child. Jesus was the perfect man, and so if God viewed His Son as being a child when He was twelve, God would not view anyone else younger than thirteen as being a young adult. And so because God is no respecter of persons, He views all children as being children until the age of thirteen and after that age He views them as young adults.

Romans 7:9-11 “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.  (10)  And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.  (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”

Most children begin the transition from childhood to young adulthood at twelve years of age as they enter into puberty, and that transition is normally completed by the age of fourteen. As part of their transition, when children reach the age of thirteen the eyes of their conscience are opened for the first time, and they now have knowledge of good and evil. Because they now have knowledge of good and evil God holds them accountable for their sins. And so from that moment, the very first time they transgress the law of their conscience, they commit the sin that causes their spirits to die and they become separated from the life of God. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us this exact same truth as it occurred in his life, for in this passage Paul tells us that when he was a child that his spirit was alive to God. There came a time however, on Paul’s thirteenth birthday when the eyes of his conscience were opened for the first time and he now had knowledge of good and evil. In other words, as Paul says, the commandment came. Paul goes on to tell us that the moment that happened, and he then transgressed the law of his conscience, his spirit died and he became separated from the life of God. This is one of the reasons why young teenagers become quite rebellious when they go through puberty. It is because they have undergone a complete and radical transformation in the nature of their spirits, i.e. they have transitioned from spiritual life to spiritual death, with all of the negative implications which that transformation entails. We will discuss the differences between these two spiritual conditions in more detail in the following section.

Luke 13:2-3 “And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  (3) I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

A disturbing reality about the truth which we have discussed in this section is that all who physically die after their thirteenth birthday are cast into hell, for as those who have become spiritually dead they are no longer part of God’s kingdom. The Lord Jesus reinforced this truth to us in the above quoted passage of scripture when He stated that unless people repent they are all destined for destruction. In other words it doesn’t matter how noble or how wicked the person becomes during their lifetime, they are still destined for destruction simply because they are spiritually dead and thus separated from the life of God. This is why Jesus warned people to be fearful of God, who after He has killed the body has power to cast people into hell (Luke 12:5).

Ephesians 4:8 “Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

As an aside, believers under the Old Covenant were not cast into hell when they died physically even though they were spiritually dead. The reason Old Testament saints could not be born-again is because they couldn’t meet the requirements for salvation, which is to believe that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and confess Him as Lord (Romans 10:9). And so Old Testament saints believed on the Lord and it was accounted to them for righteousness (Romans 4:3). In other words because they could not be made righteous under the Old Covenant, God treated them as those who would be made righteous at some future date. So what happened to them when they physically died? They could not ascend into heaven because they were still spiritually dead, and they could also not be cast into hell, for God had accounted their faith to them for righteousness. So God created a place under the earth which the Lord Jesus referred to as Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22), and He placed the Old Testament saints there until they could be made alive in spirit once again i.e. born-again. It was a place of comfort and rest for the saints and it was separated from Hades by a fixed gulf that God had put in place between the two locations. The saints there could actually see the wicked suffering torment in hell, and the wicked could see the saints being comforted. Then came the day when the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and so He went into Abraham’s bosom and proclaimed the gospel to the saints dwelling there (1 Peter 4:6). It was at that time that they were then all born-again, because they could now meet the requirement. And so when that happened, as the apostle Paul teaches us in the above quoted passage of scripture, the Lord Jesus took them all up into heaven with Him where they currently dwell. Abraham’s bosom was emptied at that time and no one goes there any more, because all New Testament saints are born-again before they physically die.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Spirit of Man

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