“The Last Enemy”: A Brief Theology of Death (Part 2)

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Physical Death

Not only did God’s curse upon humanity entail a spiritual death; it also resulted in physical death or the dissolution of the body. You may recall God’s judicial pronouncement on Adam:

Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19, ESV)

So in accordance with God’s curse, Adam’s body would eventually succumb decay and dissolution. He was created to rule over the earth, but as a result of his sin, the very earth from which he was taken would eventually “rule over him”!

Under this heading of “physical death,” we need to include the processes and factors that lead up to death: harmful environmental threats and disasters, genetic defects and deformities, injuries and diseases, and the general aging process that eventuates in the failure of the body’s vital organs and results in physical death.⁴ So we will consider physical death both as a process and as a discrete event.

1. The Process of Physical Death

Some theologians have attempted to find an explicit reference to the process of dying in God’s death-threat given to Adam in the Garden of Eden. The final phrase in Genesis 2:17 can be literally rendered, “In the day you eat from it, dying you shall die [מוֹת תָּמוּת].” The inference drawn from this literal rendering of the passage is that God was actually threatening the beginning of a process rather than a discrete event. “In the day that you eat from it, you will begin the process of dying,” is how some read it. However, the Hebrew construction of an infinitive absolute followed immediately by the cognate finite verb affirms the certainty of the verbal idea rather than its beginning or duration.⁵ Accordingly, most translations are correct when they render the passage, “In the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.”⁶ So the passage is not explicitly underscoring the process of death but rather the inevitability of death. The certainty of Adam’s death would be predicated upon the irreversible factuality of his eating the fruit.⁷

But we don’t depend on a dubious reading of Genesis 2:17 in order to establish the reality of a process of physical death. God seems to allude to this process in his judgment upon Adam and Eve. To the woman God threatens an increase in physical and emotional pain connected with her role as child-bearer (Gen. 3:16). To the man God portends hardship, toil and pain, which would eventuate the physical dissolution of his body (Gen. 3:17-19). By banishing the couple from the protective environment of the Garden (Gen. 3:22-24), God would expose them to a harsher environment that would contribute to the mortal injury or eventual aging and death of their bodies (Gen. 4:8, 23; 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31; 6:11-13).

Not surprisingly, soon after the Flood we find a fast and significant decline in human longevity. Noah, like most of the other antediluvians identified in Genesis 5 lives to be over years 900 years old. However, by the time we reach the patriarchal narratives, the lifespans of the patriarchs average 153 years⁸ and that of the Israelites in Moses’ day 70 to 80 years (Ps. 90:10). Moreover, we also find scattered references throughout the Old and New Testaments to physical deformities, genetic defects, injuries and diseases.⁹ Furthermore, a number of passages describe individuals who are sick and in the process of dying from their illness.¹⁰

2. The Event of Physical Death

The Scriptures also describe physical death as a discrete event. In Genesis 5, we hear the repeated refrain, “and he died” (vv. 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31). Breathing one’s last breath is one of the most common biblical expressions used to depict the actual moment of death (Gen. 28:8, 17; 35:29; 49:33; Mark 15:37, 39; Luke 23:46; Acts 5:5, 10).

The Bible attributes to God the power and prerogative to determine the precise time of one’s death. Through Moses, God declares, “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand (Deut. 32:39).¹¹ The Psalmist writes, “You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust” (Ps. 104:29). In the language of Job, “[Man’s] days are determined; the number of his months is with [God]; [God has] appointed [man’s] limits, so that he cannot pass.” And true to God’s judgment upon Adam (Gen. 3:19), man’s body begins to decompose and return to the dust once his physical life expires (Job 17:14; 24:20; Pss. 16:10; 90:3; 104:29; Eccl. 3:20; 12:7; Isa. 66:24; Dan. 12:2; John 11:39; Acts 2:27-31; 13:36; 1 Cor. 15:42, 50).