WHERE DID DEATH COME FROM?

ROMANS 5:15–17

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ

(Romans 5:17).

Is death something that is built into nature? Is it a necessary consequence of being finite creatures? Is it part of God’s original purpose for man? Or is death an obscene intrusion into life? Part of the answer to that question is found here in Romans 5:12. The instrumental means by which death was introduced into the world was sin. It was not built into creation. Death is a punishment that comes upon the human race for the pollution of sin.

The Problem of Immortality

One of the problems that we face in the church is the infection of Greek philosophy. The Greeks held to the idea of the immortality of the soul. They argued that man is composed of body and soul, and that the soul is innately indestructible and eternal. Doesn’t the church also believe in immortality? Yes, but in Christianity, immortality is acquired. God created man with the possibility for death. Man has no spark of God in himself but depends on God for life. When man rejected God, the possibility of death became actual, and man died.

God told Adam that he would die the day he ate of the forbidden fruit. On that day, God imposed spiritual death, separation from Himself, on Adam and Eve. But in His mercy God postponed the full experience of death until many years later.

All Eventually Die

Paul goes on to say that death passed to all men because all sinned. How do we know that all men are sinners? Because all men eventually die. But what about a newborn infant who dies? Is he dying for some sin he committed? No, but the fact is that that child would not be vulnerable to death if he did not participate in the human condition of “fallen-ness”. The child is born in original sin and thus vulnerable to death.

CORAM DEO

Death is universally experienced. Because of this, all of humanity has had to account for its origin and cause. The uniqueness of Christianity is how soberly death and impending judgment are taught while at the same time proclaiming the redemption possible in Jesus Christ. Praise God today that in spite of the fact of death, the fear of judgment is replaced by peace with God (Romans 5:1–2).

For further study: James 1:15; Psalm 23; Revelation 1:1–18

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