The Righteous Can Die
Spiritually
by
—Dan Corner—
There are many death blows to eternal
security found in Scripture. At the very core of this non-Christian
doctrine is the concept that a person once saved (a righteous person) will
not die spiritually over his sin. The clarity of the Scriptures to the
contrary is overwhelming from Genesis through Revelation starting with the
first time God ever spoke to Adam, which was his only commandment for him
to observe and the consequence of disobedience:
And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are
free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you
will surely die” (Gen 2:16,17)
Adam was righteous and resided in the
garden of Eden, a paradise garden only for the righteous. He was expelled
from it after he sinned and died, as warned. Adam died
spiritually the same day he sinned, yet lived physically many years
afterwards to be 930 years old (Gen. 5:5). As God’s first statement about
sin was issued to a righteous man concerning his own spiritual death
through sin, the devil’s first lie was devised to make Eve dismiss this
eternal truth, which led to her disobedience and spiritual death.
Please note that Eve never sinned until she was deceived into thinking
that sin would not bring about her own spiritual death. Furthermore, the
doctrine of eternal security is identical to the devil’s first lie,
that is, the righteous will not die spiritually through sin:
“You will not surely die,” the serpent
said to the woman. (Gen 3:4)
This same consequence of disobedience for the
righteous is repeated later by the prophet Ezekiel:
Again, when a righteous man turns from his
righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him,
he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his
sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will
hold you accountable for his blood. (Ezek 3:20)
But if a righteous man turns from his
righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the
wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has
done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of
and because of the sins he has committed, he will die. (Ezek
18:24)
If a righteous man turns from his
righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the
sin he has committed he will die. (Ezek 18:26)
If I tell the righteous man that he will
surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil,
none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will
die for the evil he has done. (Ezek 33:13)
If a righteous man turns from his
righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. (Ezek 33:18)
Clearly, a righteous person can die spiritually
because of his sin, which again is the antithesis of the teaching of
eternal security.
New Testament warnings to the righteous about them
dying through sin are repeated, especially by Paul and James. The
familiarity between these and the Gen. 2:17 and Ezekiel passages is
evident:
For if you live according to the sinful nature,
you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds
of the body, you will live. (Rom 8:13)
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to
someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether
you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which
leads to righteousness? (Rom 6:16)
Those Scriptures are written to the saints
at Rome, who were righteous:
To all in Rome who are loved by God and called
to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
(Rom. 1:7,8)
By the way, if the reader would compare Rom. 8:13
to Gal. 5:19-21 and 6:8,9, where Paul wrote the same truth three different
ways, it becomes unmistakable that he was referring to the spiritual
death of the righteous (not physical death) for those who live
according to the sinful nature because he compared you will die in
Rom. 8:13 to not inherit the kingdom of God in Gal. 5:19-21 and
reap destruction instead of reap eternal life in Gal. 6:8,9.
Apparently Paul repeatedly warned Christians of this possibility, unlike
our dark day which denies these same eternal truths. Especially focus on
Gal. 5:21.
James describes the sinning process, which leads
to the spiritual death of the righteous:
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil
desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives
birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. (James 1:14-16)
As already shown this sinning process to spiritual
death dates back to the Garden of Eden, then to Ezekiel, then to Paul the
grace teacher. James elaborated upon this eternal truth at the very
end of his own epistle:
My brethren, if any among you strays from the
truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner
from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will
cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19,20, NASB)
Notice how straying from the truth (a name
for Jesus in John 14:6) is to jeopardize the soul of the righteous person
to (eternal) death. But if that same person is brought back where
he was before he strayed, his soul will once again be safe (or
saved) in the truth. Also shown here is the truth that a saved
person can become a sinner again, by straying from the truth.
How the Righteous Can Prevent
Their Own Spiritual Death
The Lord Himself taught how the righteous can
prevent their own spiritual death:
I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word,
he will never see death. (John 8:51)
Clearly, the Lord was not talking about physical
death, since many righteous people remained faithful to the very end, such
as the Apostle Paul did, yet died physically. Again, since Paul died
physically, Jesus couldn’t have been referring to physical death. Hence,
the Lord gave the preventative to spiritual death as being simply to
keep his word or continue to obey to the end.
Jesus restated the same eternal safeguard
for spiritual death in different words when he spoke the following:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and
the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe
this?” (John 11:25,26)
The word translated “believes” in v. 26 is a
continuous tense in the Greek. Jesus declared that the righteous would
never die spiritually as long as they maintained this type of
belief, which is shown elsewhere as being a trusting, submitting,
obeying faith which produces good fruit and holy behavior. In other
words, the Lord was saying in John 11 that a righteous person would
have to continue to believe so he would not die spiritually, which does
not always happen. The Lord taught elsewhere that it is possible for a
believer to become an unbeliever, at which point he would fall away
as a result:
Those on the rock are the ones who receive
the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They
believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
(Luke 8:13)
That was the Lord’s own interpretation of the
following verse:
Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the
plants withered because they had no moisture. (Luke 8:6)
To save their doctrine, the eternal security
teachers (the Scripture distorters) sometimes amazingly argue that the
people of Luke 8:13 only had a spurious or false faith, but
that is not the text speaking—just their own faulty theology. Not only
does Lk. 8:13 say such people did believe for a while, it also
states that they receive the word with joy. Real, genuine plant
life, likened unto spiritual life, sprung up from the word of God,
which was received with joy. The problem is such don’t continue
with God because they fail the test of persecution for godly living.
They Received the Word
To receive the word as in Luke 8:13 is the
same description of what happened to Cornelius and his household who
experienced true salvation. Just before Peter retold what happened
with them we read:
The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea
heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. (Acts
11:1)
Similar to that are two additional Scriptures
which refer to others who likewise received the word of God.
According to the context, such describes that they got saved after
receiving the word of God:
But when they believed Philip preaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they
were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and
when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding
the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were
at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent unto them Peter and John: (Acts 8:12-14, KJV)
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore
many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and
of men, not a few. (Acts 17:11,12, KJV)
Please note that the same Greek work translated
received in Luke 8:13 is also found in Acts 8:14; 11:1 and 17:11. Luke
8:13 is referring to people who had experienced true salvation, just like
these other Scriptures do because such people received the word.
Yet the Luke 8:13 passage states they ceased believing.
Getting back to John 8:51 and 11:25,26, the Lord
shared the same facts as stated there in yet a different Scripture, also
from John:
I tell you the truth, he who believes has
everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the
manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes
down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the
living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this
bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world. (John 6:47-51)
Please note the word believes in v. 47 is
also a continuous tense in the Greek. Believing in Jesus is
compared to eating the bread of life, which will prevent spiritual
death, and enable one to live forever. We eat this bread
by continuing or maintaining our submissive faith in Jesus, that same
truth as shown at John 11:25, 26. When one continues to believe he
will keep God’s word, the preventative for the righteous dying
spiritually, as stated in John 8:51.
At another time, the Lord spoke to those on the
very edge of spiritual death in Rev. 3:2:
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about
to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my
God.
Please note it was the personal responsibility of
the ones about to die to strengthen themselves spiritually.
God was not going to do it for them, even though it was His will for them
to be strengthened. The spiritual negligence and sloth of the righteous
can be fatal.
Be Faithful, Even to the Point of
Death
The Rev. 3:2 passage is similar to the warning
given by the Lord in the preceding chapter to faithful Christians:
Do not be afraid of what you are about to
suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test
you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even
to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who
overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Rev 2:10,11)
Certainly, spiritual death is implied since the
faithful Christians at Smyrna were warned by Jesus to continue being
faithful to the point of physical death (to overcome), so that they
would not be hurt at all by the second death. The second death is
another name for the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14; 21:8).
So what happens to a person with spiritual life (a
Christian) who is not faithful to the end of his life? He will die
spiritually. This possibility of the righteous dying spiritually is
reiterated yet another time by the Lord himself, yet ends joyfully because
he repents and returns to salvation:
For this son of mine was dead and is alive
again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.
(Luke 15:24)
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because
this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost
and is found. (Luke 15:32)
Please note that the prodigal was spiritually
dead and spiritually lost at the same point in time, that is
when he was in sexual immorality and wild living. After he repented he
became alive again. Those words are very important. It says
again. That means he had spiritual life before he left the
Father to indulge in wild living and sexual immorality. He got that same
spiritual life back again when he repented and returned to serve the
Father. In other words, he was righteous yet died spiritually through sin
(became lost) and later became spiritually alive again when he
turned from his wickedness to serve God. (This is Jesus’ teaching not some
cultist or so-called works salvation person.) Hence, as Jesus
taught elsewhere that one passes from spiritual death to spiritual life at
the point of getting born again, He also taught the same person can pass
back from spiritual life to spiritual death through sin, as happened to
the prodigal.
This same truth about spiritual death for the
righteous is echoed by the Apostle John in his first epistle:
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that
does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I
refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that
leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. (1
John 5:16)
John wrote about the spiritual death of the
righteous here. He stated that sin would bring that about as happened to
Adam, as well as the prodigal. Another definite example of a righteous man
dying, but not physically, was King David when he turned to do evil.
Ezekiel warned such a righteous person will die, yet David
continued to live physically as did Adam and the prodigal. These
facts, of course, are all opposed by the eternal security teachers who
want us to believe the devil’s teaching, as stated in Gen. 3:4. They agree
with the devil and try to confuse the issue by saying the death of
1 John 5:16 is physical death, with Ananias and Sapphira being examples.
In other words, they believe God in his wrath over their sin of lying to
the Holy Spirit struck them dead in their unrepentant wickedness and
rewarded them by taking them quicker into His paradise kingdom, which is
reserved only for the holy and pure of heart. By teaching
like this the eternal security teachers not only proclaim a license for
immorality, but also contradict yet another Scripture, which shows that
all liars will go to the lake of fire:
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the
idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake
of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Rev 21:8)
For some reason the eternal security teachers seem
oblivious to Scriptures which show that God does sometimes strike the
wicked (or unsaved) physically dead for their sin:
But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in
the Lord’s sight; so the LORD put him to death. (Gen 38:7)
Those Widows Died Spiritually
Last but not least, let’s not forget the widows of
1 Tim. 5:6, which Paul wrote of:
But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead
even while she lives.
Immediately afterwards, he refers to some widows
that turned from their dedication to Christ (v. 11) to follow
Satan (v. 15). Notice: those widows Paul knew didn’t die physically,
yet were dead (spiritually) because of their sins. This passage
doesn’t refer to those never saved, as we may assume could be the case in
Lk. 9:60 and Mt. 8:22, but instead to those who were once alive
spiritually like the prodigal, because they previously had a dedication
to Christ and later turned away from it.
Green renders 1 Tim. 5:6, as follows:
But she who lives in self-pleasure has died
while living.
Dear reader, don’t be deceived by those
parroting the devil’s first lie to our generation, the eternal security
teachers. The Bible is clear that the righteous will die
spiritually, if they turn to do evil, as Adam, King David, the prodigal
and the widows of 1 Tim. 5:6 did, which is also the clear teaching of
Ezekiel. If you are a real Christian, you must faithfully follow Jesus and
endure persecution for living godly to the end of your life to enter God’s
kingdom. Don’t be deceived by the false teachers who want to convince you
otherwise. Much more information regarding the subject of eternal
security is found in our 801 page book,
The Believer’s
Conditional Security, which is the most exhaustive and
comprehensive refutation to this false doctrine ever written.
Our thanks to Dan Corner of Evangelical
Outreach for the use of this article. Please visit their website at:
www.evangelicaloutreach.org
Blessings,
Robert Wise, Forgotten Word Ministries |