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God always keeps His word. As human beings we have both a spiritual and a physical nature. As soon as Adam and Eve committed sin by eating the forbidden fruit, they were spiritually "dead." Paul wrote to Timothy that those who live for pleasure (sin) are dead even though they are still living. (1 Tim. 5:6) In Colossians 2:13, Paul writing to the physically alive people in Colosse states that they were "dead" in their sins. In John 5:24, Jesus speaking to people who are very much alive physically states that those who hear Him and believe on the Father pass from "death unto life." The moment Adam and Eve sinned against God, they were spiritually dead. And, that's the death that really matters. Jesus warned us in Matt. 10:28 not to worry about those who can kill the body. Rather, our concern should be for the condition of our soul. Fortunately, from the Garden of Eden forward, our Bible is the story of God's plan of redemption and new life for His fallen creatures.
And, what about physical death? In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us that His thoughts and ways are not like ours. Peter makes the interesting statement that, with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. (2 Peter 3:8) Today people may live for more than one hundred years. In Old Testament times, some people lived for hundreds of years. Methuselah lived 969 years, longer than anyone. But, no one, including Adam, has lived to see his 1,000th birthday. Therefore, It is reasonable to believe that, from God's point of view, Adam and Eve did die spiritually and physically "in the day" they ate from the tree. |
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