How Did Adam Die? How Do We Live?

Adam Became a Living Soul/ Being

When God breathed into Adam, Adam became a living soul. It is important to understand this. Adam did not have a soul. He became a living soul.

This is a little different from how He created the rest of creation, where everything was made by His breath, but was not breathed into like Adam was.

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” [Ps 33:6]

The word for Spirit is pnuema meaning breath, wind. It is a play of words.

God therefore, breathed His Spirit [pnuema/ breath/ wind] into Adam.

Adam's spirit became alive and along with his body He became a living soul.

By way of illustration, and to further understanding, we can say that Adam had access to two breaths as it were - God's breath (Spirit) which animated him physically, and his physical breath, the oxygen that he breathed into his lungs.

He was alive.

Note:

Spirit = Ruach (Hebrew)/ Pnuema (Greek)= Wind/ Breath
Soul = Nephesh (Hebrew); psuché (greek); The psuché of the flesh is in the Blood. [Lev 17:11]
Body = flesh

In a physical manner, the Hebrews equated the wind in your lungs as likened to the spirit or as the breath of life.

“Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.” [Gen 7:22]

In a physical manner, your blood which animates your body is like the soul. It is NOT separate from your body.

Now you understand why the blood of Abel who cried out is the soul.

Lets’ Do some Divine Math:

BODY/DUST + THE BREATH OF LIFE (ruach)= A LIVING SOUL (nephesh)

What is Death

Simply put, Death is the Absence of Life “As the body without the spirit is dead...” [James 2:26]

The Body is dead without the spirit/ breath of life... This is Physical Death.

BODY/DUST - THE BREATH OF LIFE (ruach) = A Dead Body/ Soul

However we can accurately state that The Spirit is life. This is the Life that overcomes all forms of death.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. [John 6:63]

Death then is the Absence of the Indwelling Holy Spirit

BODY/DUST + Physical LIFE  + InDwelling SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A Living SOUL (nephesh) with ETERNAL LIFE (or AIONOS LIFE)

BODY/DUST + PHYSICAL LIFE - InDwelling SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A Living SOUL (nephesh) without ETERNAL LIFE (or AIONOS LIFE)

Let’s take it further. The Body is subjected to death BECAUSE of Sin, and in Particular Adam’s Sin.

“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.” [Rom 8:10]

So we can say:

BODY/DUST + THE BREATH OF LIFE (ruach) + Sin = A Corrupted SOUL (nephesh)

This is the Death Adam Died. His spirit lost its connection with God’s Spirit, His Soul was corrupted by sin that very day he ate, and His Body was subject to Death.

I believe that God did not allow Adam and Eve to physically drop down dead, to immediately return to dust that day, was due to the substitutionary atonement God made for Adam and Eve, when an animal was killed (believed to be a lamb), and whose skin covered their bodies a type, showing that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

Christ’s Death was NOT Adam’s Death.

However the Death of Christ is NOT the Death of Adam.

Adam Died in Sin. This was the Bad Death.

Christ Died TO Sin. This was a Good Death.

"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. " [Rom 6:10-12a]

We all can die (and have died) a Good Death in Christ. Count yourself dead to sin also.

It is erroneous to think that Christ had to die the Death of Adam in order to free us from the Death of Adam.

This was the death of Adam: His spirit lost its connection with God’s Spirit, His Soul was corrupted by sin that very day he ate, and His Body was subject to Death.

This was the death of Christ: His spirit maintained its connection with God’s Spirit, committed to the Father, His Incorruptible Soul bore the sin and all the offenses of The Many, and His Body was subject to Death.

Because of His connection with the Spirit of God, He rose from the Dead. He was raised for our justification, to declare us righteous, in those who believe,

“..who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” [Rom 4:25]

David, like Adam suffered corruption. Christ did not. Everyone who believes is justified.

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; 37 but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. 38 Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. “ [Acts 13:36-39]

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Adam Died - Soul Corrupted, Body subject to Sin, Disconnected from The Spirit of God

But When He disobeyed the DAY He ate He SURELY died...

Again The day He ate, He surely died, not just 930 years later. This was BEFORE he was expelled from the Garden, and before he lost access to the Tree of Life.

How did he die? Very simply, Adam suffered loss. He suffered corruption. His soul was corrupted. He died physically after many years.

I believe his soul lost a vital connection it had to the Spirit of God, the Ruach Hakodesh of God, the Breath of God. It was THIS Breath of God that sustained him. (This must be distinguished from Adam’s own breath of life, or spirit within him)

“The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” [Job 33:4]

Adam’s own Physical Breath could not sustain him indefinitely, thus he began returning to dust. He only had his own breath to live on which expired after 930 years. This separation was enforced when he was kicked out of the garden. He no longer had access to the heavenly dimension. He died. Only oxygen constituted his breath. His soul corrupted. His soul dies when He physically dies.

In the day Adam ate, something changed, that was called death.

Adam's soul got affected by sin, and corruption began. This led to BOTH physical death, and living from his soul nature, not from God’s Spirit.

True Life is God's Spirit living in us.

Note: The Holy Spirit did not yet Dwell in Man. More on that Later

We all know that Adam sinned.

When he sinned he suffered tremendous loss that day, the day he ate. Something changed in him. His soul got corrupted.

When he sinned he fell short of the Glory of God.

When he sinned he was now naked, and veiled in death.

When he sinned he was disconnected from God’s Spirit

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This leads to:

BODY/DUST + THE BREATH OF LIFE (ruach) + Sin = A Corrupted SOUL (nephesh)
BODY/DUST - THE BREATH OF LIFE (ruach) + Sin = A Dead SOUL (nephesh)
/* A Dead soul Pre-AD 70, Pre Christ's Resurrection, goes to Sheol, the unseen realm, and disappears. Only God can "see" it */

Adam Fall Short of the Glory

The only way you can be transformed from glory to glory, and never fall short is by the INDWELLING Spirit of God.

“....when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [2 Cor 3:16-18]

This was death. He fell short of the Glory. He was no longer free, had liberty, and was subjected to vanity, to return to dust, and denied access to the Tree of Life.

Sin brought corruption upon Adam’s soul. In that state he could not access the Tree of Life, until the corruption was dealt with.

He was lost. It’s as if he lost God’s Breath and now condemned to breath on His own. Now he only had his physical breath which had no warranty, and only sustained him for a few hundred years.

How Can We Live Again - The Holy Spirit is the Key

True death, is when you do not have access to God's spirit to animate you, (to be able to you live from above, and be transformed internally from Glory to Glory), where sin denies you access to this, and your soul, disconnect from God’s spirit, is corrupted with sin.

In the New Covenant, something different was promised. We were promised the Indwelling Holy Spirit. This is something completely new.

“when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created “ [Ps 104:29-30]

In order to live forever or be immortal, and be free from corruption, you need to be quickened by the Holy Spirit.

In order to live, our spirit needs to be made new by Christ

In order to live, our soul needs to be sanctified.

In order to truly live, we need to be born of the Spirit, and to have the Spirit of God dwell in us.

"The Spirit gives life, the flesh count for nothing" - Jesus [John 6:63]
"Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus was not glorified" [John 7:39]
"The mind controlled by the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace" -Paul [Rom 8:6]
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death [Rom 8:2]

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” [Rom 8:9-11]

The Spirit Did Not Dwell In Man in the Old Covenant

The First Adam's spirit crashed, separated from the life giving Spirit of God. His eyes were opened to an earthly reality, more than a heavenly reality. He was bound to a kosmos, to a world that was impossible to receive or even see the Spirit of Glory.

This is what Christ said:

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” [John 14:16-18]

The world/kosmos of Adam, of the Old Creation, of the Old Covenant, of flesh, cannot receive the Spirit of Truth.

This is why the Spirit did not dwell in man in the Old Covenant.

For the entirety of the Old Covenant Age, the Spirit never dwelt in anyone else. Only in a few was the Spirit ON, and not dwelling In a people. Elijah, David even Saul were examples, but as we well know, when the spirit left Saul he became murderous, a type of Adam.

Christ Came to Breath on Us Again

So when Christ came, He came as God’s representative, to Breathe on us again, just as God breath on us originally.

“He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” [John 20:22]

Again the Spirit of life is likened to breath, which is for life.

This was a play on words because as we have seen, Spirit means breath.

Now you can understand why the promise of the Father is also expressed as the Spirit who gives us life. This is the essence of the New Covenant. This is why Christ breathe on his disciples.

This is also resurrection. Resurrection is the Spirit living in us and quickening our mortal bodies, a New Covenant promise, to occur at the end of the Old Covenant Age.

We who have the Spirit have God's breath in us and we live. Even if we go to the dust we live. Our true breath/ spirit never expires.

When Christ died on the cross, He dealt a death blow to Adam's death in us, and sin is now no longer a barrier of entry for the Spirit to dwell in us again, to make us alive, to transform us from glory to glory and remove the veil of death.

When he died, he poured out His own Uncorrupted Soul unto death, He sucked in all our offenses, He became a sin offering, He forgave sin and we all died. But we do not yet all live. He reconciled and put man again in a position to live.

To Fully Live We need HIS Breath... His Spirit to live in us

When we Confess (Breathe) with our mouths Christ and believe that the Cross, was not something that just occurred 2000 years ago, but absolutely, what happened to Him happened to us, then we are Saved, and we receive the PROMISE, which is the Spirit Indwelling in us

The Spirit of Christ is the guarantee for Life... He quicken us, now, even in our mortal bodies.

We who believe are no longer dead in sin; because of Christ, we are now dead to sin.

It is important to note that Adam's death was not "a spiritual death" or "separation from God" or even just Biological death alone.

Adam became a living soul when God breath into Him. Adam became a corrupted, marred soul when sin entered, a soul that can die. He lost access to the Tree of Life which seemed to be an antidote, but was not, in God’s estimation, as it was not available to a corrupted soul, a soul disconnected from God’s Spirit. Immortality therefore is not the real goal. It is a soul with the Spirit of God dwelling in, which is most important to God.

Christ Did not Die Spiritually - He Poured Out His Soul

Contrary to what some think, Christ did not need to die the death of Adam, to take care of Adam's death. There is no scripture that says Christ needs to die the death of Adam in order to take care of Adam's death.

When Christ died He was not separated from God, and he did not die spiritually. He died physically. The most important thing to note is that, He retained God's breath, God's Spirit, ever since the Spirit overshadowed Mary, and ever since He the Spirit descended on Him upon His baptism. His soul and blood was the incorruptible offering and sacrifice. His soul for our soul.

That is how He was able to be raised from the dead.

He was the FIRST one to die physically, with the Spirit of God dwelling, and was raised by the Spirit, into a new creation.

In First Adam, we lost out on life. We remained bound in flesh, permanently it seems.

But thank God for The Last Adam, for In Christ, everyone who is born by the Spirit, now, don't lose out in life, experience no interruptions, and don't lose his soul.

Hence, because of the Spirit, dwelling in us, He who believes in Him, though you were dead (biologically), yet shall you Live, and He that believes in Me (Christ), shall never die , that is, to be devoid of the Spirit that overcomes death in all its forms, even biological death and this same Spirit is the guarantee to being raised into Life.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This leads to:

BODY/DUST + Physical LIFE  + InDwelling SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A Living SOUL (nephesh) with ETERNAL LIFE (or AIONOS LIFE)

BODY/DUST - Physical LIFE  + InDwelling SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A SOUL That Physically Died But Will LIVE 
BODY/DUST - PHYSICAL LIFE - InDwelling SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A SOUL That Physically Died And Will be Condemned to Ruin for an Aion
SPIRIT BODY + SPIRIT/ BREATH OF GOD = A NEW CREATION Resurrected With IMMORTALITY (and ETERNAL LIFE)

(And of course Eternal Life and Immortal Life are two different things, although Eternal Life is a prerequisite for Immortality,... but that is a different topic)

Summary

In the day Adam ate, something changed, that was called death. Biological death was not the main focus. Adam's soul got affected by sin, and corruption began. This led to BOTH physical death, and living from his soul nature, not from God's Spirit.

Simply put Death is the Absence of Life.

We see hints of this when the scripture says he fell short of His Glory, and only by His Spirit we are are glorified. We see God stating that His Spirit will not strive with flesh so He gave mankind/ Adam in Noah's day 120 years to live until all man dies in the flood.

Only those in the ark lived. Noah means comfort. The Holy Spirit is our comforter from death.

We see shadows of life returning upon the earth/ Adam when Noah sees the dove not returning to him.

The only way Adam could have accessed and be transformed to God's Glory was via the agency of the Spirit of God or the Breath of God. When Adam fell short of the Glory, he effectively lost and was disconnected from God's Spirit that gives true life. Hence Christ came to take away all barriers of entry (sin) so that we can be breathed upon by God and be born of the Spirit.

Christ took away all barriers of entry (sin) by offering up his soul as a sin offering. Since the soul or life is in the blood, His blood cleanses us from sin

Adam in his fallen state, dwelling in the old kosmos/ world, could not receive the Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Glory. The Spirit could not dwell in Him. This was death.

Only the Last Adam, can receive the Spirit and then have Him Dwell in us to Give us Life.

Let’s allow Peter to have the last word, shall we:

“ ...knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because

“All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” [1 Peter 1:18-25]

Previous Notes

This Note:

How Did Adam Die? How Do We Live? - Works of Christ Part 3

Search This Blog

Musings on the Tough Life Questions