Seven Deaths

Seven Deaths

1. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body:
   1. When the believer dies, God separates the real person—the immortal, immaterial soul and human spirit—from the body and enters him into the presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).¹⁹
   2. Physical death occurs when the electrical impulses of the brain can no longer be detected. Physical death cannot be gauged by the electrical impulses recorded from the heart.
   3. Physical death is not a tragedy for the believer but a distinct glory (Phil. 1:21).
   4. The unbeliever has no future with God. When he dies, his soul leaves his body and goes to a place called "Torments" in Hades. This is the temporary residence for the unbeliever where he awaits the Last Judgment and condemnation to permanent residence in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).
2. Spiritual death is separation from God in time—divine condemnation at the point of physical birth (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; 6:23; Eph. 2:1).
   1. Spiritual death was the result of Adam's original sin when he lost his human spirit and fellowship with God. He was no longer able to comprehend spiritual phenomena.
   2. Spiritual death for all subsequent generations is the result of the imputation at birth of Adam's original sin to the genetically formed sin nature. Every person is born physically alive but spiritually dead (Rom. 5:12, 18; 6:23).
   3. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in time takes care of the problem of spiritual death (1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:17).
3. The second death refers to the Last Judgment, or separation from God for all eternity (Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:12–15).
4. Positional death refers to identification with Christ's death. We are identified with Christ, not only in His death on the cross (retroactive positional truth), but also in His ascension and session at the right hand of the Father (current positional truth).²⁰ (Rom. 6:1–14; Col. 2:12; 3:3).
5. Temporal death is the believer's separation from fellowship with God in time.
   1. When the believer gets out of fellowship with God through sin—mental or overt—he is in status quo carnality, frequently referred to as "death" (Luke 15:24, 32; Rom. 8:6; Eph. 5:14; 1 Tim. 5:6; James 1:15; Rev. 3:1).
   2. First John 1:9 is the means by which the believer who is out of fellowship can regain fellowship with God.
6. Operational death is any form of Christian service apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit—human good produced by the carnal believer (Heb. 6:1; James 2:26).
7. Sexual death is the inability to procreate. It is mentioned twice in Scripture: once in Romans 4:17–21 and again in Hebrews 11:11–12. Both occurrences are related to Abraham.

¹⁹ The human soul is that rational, immaterial aspect of mankind composed of self-consciousness, mentality, volition, and conscience. The human spirit, created and imputed to every believer at the moment of salvation, is the home for eternal life. It is the immaterial part of mankind that enables man to have a relationship with God. The human spirit is designed by God to make spiritual phenomena, or Bible doctrine, understandable (1 Cor. 2:12).