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Where can we begin as we think about the Bible’s testimony to death and dying? We will begin . . . at the beginning. The first three chapters of the Bible, in fact, give us a wealth of information about life and death. We may look at five points in particular that Genesis 1–3 raises.

death is not part of the original creation

First, the Bible makes it clear that God does not build human death into the original creation. Genesis opens with the words “In the beginning, God . . .” (1:1). Before the world was, there was only God. And God is the living and the true God, in whom there is no death or dying. He is life itself.

God, and God alone, makes the world ex nihilo, out of nothing (v. 1b; Heb. 11:3). When God creates the world, He both forms and fills—He creates habitations and sets “living creatures” in them (Gen. 1:20–21, 24). These living creatures are, in turn, commanded to be “fruitful and multiply” (v. 22). Living creatures model themselves after their Creator by bringing life into the world.

Then God creates man, the crown of creation, the only creature who is said to be made “in our image, after our likeness” (v. 26). The image of the living God presides over the life of the creation (“let them have dominion”). Men and women likewise must be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (v. 28).

God’s words make it clear that death for Adam will be the separation of his body and soul, and the return of his body whence it came—the dust of the ground.

When God finishes making the world in the space of six days, He reviews the whole of His handiwork with complete satisfaction: “And behold, it was very good” (v. 31). The living God makes a world that is teeming with life and suited to promoting the life of His creatures. His creatures are endowed with the potential to produce more life. This includes human beings. All this is good. There is no hint whatsoever from the original creation that humans will die.

god created man a living being, body and soul

Second, Scripture tells us that God specially created man. We read a detailed description of Adam’s creation in Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” God shows us something important about our humanity. God made Adam in two stages, reflecting the two constitutive parts of man. First, there is Adam’s body. Adam’s body was formed immediately by God from the dust of the earth. Second, there is Adam’s soul. Adam’s soul was formed when God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Only when soul and body are joined together (and not before) does Adam become a “living creature.” We may fairly infer that if a person’s soul and body were ever to be separated, that person would cease to be a living creature. But there is no hint of death or of the principle of death in man as God creates him in Genesis 1–2. God created us, body and soul, to be living creatures in fellowship with Him and to serve Him on this earth.

death is the penalty of sin

Third, before sin enters the world, God gives Adam a warning in the garden of Eden: “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” (Gen. 2:16–17). It is important to remember that God speaks these words to Adam before he sins or is even tempted to sin. Even before Adam’s fall into sin, then, Adam had some idea or notion of what death was. To die is to be deprived of life, to lose the life that Adam had. Death, furthermore, was the penalty for disobeying God’s command. Death, in the words of the Apostle, is “the wages of sin” (Rom. 6:23). Consequently, after Adam sins, God tells him that the threatened penalty will surely come upon him: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). God’s words make it clear that death for Adam will be the separation of his body and soul, and the return of his body whence it came—the dust of the ground.


Death is not, as so many understand it, a natural part of the cycle of life and existence. It is not built into our humanity. Death is not a debt to nature but is God’s judgment on sin. Had sin not entered the world, death would have remained an abstract idea to human beings.

death is universal in its scope

Fourth, death is universal in its scope. Experience tells us that all people will die. So does Scripture: “It is appointed for man to die once” (Heb. 9:27). This is graphically demonstrated in the genealogy of Genesis 5, just a couple of chapters after Adam’s fall into sin. Early in the chapter we read, “Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died” (v. 5). The phrase “and he died” becomes a lamentable refrain throughout the chapter. All of Adam’s listed descendants die. The one exception in Genesis 5 proves the rule: “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (v. 24). Enoch does not experience death, but God removes him all the same from the face of the earth. Scripture is plain: no one escapes death. Neither rich nor poor. Neither powerful nor downtrodden. Neither beautiful nor ugly. Neither strong nor weak. Neither pious nor wicked. Death strikes at all ages and stages of life—the aged, people in their prime, youths, infants, even children in the womb. There are, of course, all the precursors to death that afflict people in this life—disease, injury, illness, bodily weakness, mental decay. These are not merely “part of living” or “growing old” but hints and harbingers of death. Why is it that all die? [Editorial note: This question is explored further in chapter 5, Facing the Last Enemy.] For now, it is enough to say that if all die, then it is because all have sinned (see Rom. 5:12b). God is a just God. Death is the penalty of sin. God would not inflict death for no reason at all. He does not treat the innocent as though they were guilty. The universal reign of death testifies to the universal reach of sin in humanity.

death is cosmic in its reach

Fifth, death is cosmic in its reach. We often think of death in terms of individual human beings. And that, of course, is right. But the Bible tells us that accompanying the infliction of death as the penalty for sin is the curse of God on the creation. Listen to what God tells Adam after Adam has sinned against God: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (Gen. 3:17–18). The world will continue on, and Adam will continue to work the ground, just as God had commanded him at his creation. From now on, however, the world lies under God’s curse. It will be marked and marred by frustration, pain, suffering, and death. The Apostle Paul gives eloquent testimony to this sad reality:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Rom. 8:20–22)

The creation did not, as it were, ask God to be the way that it now is. It has been brought into “bondage to corruption” and has been “subjected to futility.” Animals suffer and die violent deaths. Earthquakes, wildfires, and hurricanes ravage the landscape. With one voice, then, the creation “groans together.” But that groan accompanies the “pains of childbirth.” This points to a greater, blessed reality that lies ahead—new heavens and a new earth. For the present, the creation is enslaved to decay and futility as the result of the entrance of sin, and with it death, into the world through Adam.

conclusion

It is never pleasant to think about death. Yet death is real. It is not something that we can afford to ignore, to wish away, to sentimentalize, or to trivialize. Scripture owns up to the reality of death and does so from its opening pages. Issues of “life and death” importance mark the first three chapters of the Bible. If God wants us to think about death, then what does He want us to know? In the first place, death is loss. It is something to grieve and lament. It is not the way things are supposed to be. Therefore, it is the “last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26). It is right to weep in the face of death.

Excerpted from Facing the Last Enemy by Guy Prentiss Waters, © 2023.

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