Some die in spirit twice

Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

We have seen earlier that sin kills the human spirit, for death enters through sin. And so the question is asked, if sin kills the human spirit, why don’t believers die spiritually once again the moment that they commit sin after they are born-again? Based on what we have seen in scripture thus far; believers should die all over again the moment they commit sin, because by that time all have reached the age of accountability, and so God should hold them accountable for their sin. Clearly however, believers don’t die spiritually even though all believers do commit sin from time to time. The reason born-again believers do not die spiritually when they commit sin, is because as revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, they are under grace and not under law. For we have also established earlier that there was a further condition that had to be met in order for sin to be able to kill the human spirit, and that condition was being born under law. And so we see that those who are born-again are born under grace and not under law, because of which sin has no effect on the born-again human spirit. In other words sin cannot kill the spirit of the born-again believer because they are born under grace and not under law.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

 So does that mean that once we are born-again, that no matter what sins we commit and no matter how many sins we commit, that our spirits can never die because we are under grace? The answer to that question is yes and no. So what do I mean by that statement? The “yes” part of the answer is that while it is true that no matter what sins we commit and no matter how often we commit those sins that because we are born under grace those sins cannot kill our spirits. That truth is confirmed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for this passage teaches us that we can still be forgiven all of our sins if we confess them and ask for forgiveness.

1 John 5:16 “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not to death. There is sin to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.”

The “no” part of the answer to the question asked is that it is not true that the born-again spirit can never die, for there is one sin that if the born-again believer commits, it can never be forgiven. The apostle John in the above quoted passage of scripture calls this particular sin, the sin to death. So what death is John referring to in this passage? He is referring to spiritual death, for it is this sin that will once again cause the believers spirit to die, never to be made alive again. That is why John tells us in this passage that we cannot even pray for the brother who commits that sin, for there is no forgiveness for it.

Hebrews 10:29 “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

 So what is the sin to death that John speaks about? The sin to death that John is referring to is when the believer turns back from following Jesus after they have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour. In other words they deny Jesus as being their Lord and no longer serve Him. So how is it possible for believers to reach the point where they are quite willing to walk away from Christ and deny Him as their Lord? The bible talks about these believers slowly drifting away from the Lord through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 2:1). And so they continue in sin until their hearts become so hardened by sin that they eventually go back into the world. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit declares that these individuals will suffer severe eternal punishment, because they have insulted the Spirit of grace and they have counted the blood of Christ by which they were originally sanctified (when they were born-again) a common thing.

Jude 1:11-12 “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.  (12)  These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.”

In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Jude, in speaking about those who have committed the sin to death, refers to them as being twice dead. And so the reason they are twice dead is because they have been born twice i.e. they were born spiritually alive into the earth and then they were born-again, but they have also died twice i.e. they died spiritually at the age of thirteen and then they died in spirit once again when they fell away from the Lord Jesus. The second and last time they died was when they denied Jesus as their Lord and Saviour after being born-again. And so we see that there are some who indeed die twice in spirit, never to be made alive again, and these individuals are destined for eternal punishment in hell.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Spirit of Man

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