Okay, so, first of all, thank you for your direct answer! It's sometimes surprisingly hard to get people to do that!
Unfortunately, you've misunderstood my question. That isn't at all your fault though! My question wasn't framed as precisely as it could have been. Most everything you've said here seems correct to me, it just doesn't quite hit the target I was aiming at. Let me try again...
I agree that there are basically two kinds of death, spiritual death and physical death.
Let's say that someone dies physically. One moment they're alive, the next their dead. What's different? What happened that switched them from one state to the other?
Remember, what I will write will be what I believe is the correct interpretation regarding symbolism we can find used through out the Bible. I will start with this concept:
Gen. 2 The LORD formed man a body out of the
ground [the elements from which the world was made]. Yet, before he started forming that body he added
a mist of water [
a small measure of spiritual life].
In
Genesis three we are told that the blood of Abel called out to the LORD after he was killed.
Later in the NT,we are told LIFE is in the blood, and it is obvious blood is in our physical body.
Now, these two concepts lead me to understand
that as the body shuts down the life in the blood is not replenished and this is death. Mankind was only given a mere measure of life in our blood to sustain us physically. The life in the blood wains as the spirit leaves it. What is left is dust. A body of elements without life from God.
Due to
the curse upon the ground the potential of death entered our bodies making them mortal; so, this mere measure of spiritual life from God in our bodies must be continually replenished or physical death comes. I drew this concept from the story of 'the Woman at the well.' Jesus said she had earthy
water [
only a mist of life in her body] which must be replenished, but
he had an additional measure of water [
Spiritual life from God] to give her eternal life so that she would never thirst again.
I think this is what happens to man's mortal body when it dies. The life in the blood is gone and the remains return to the ground from which is came, but by then it will be like dust - elements having no life from God in it.
So what happens to the small bit of life which was measured out to man's body? Well, it goes back to the Given. Nothing of God is ever lost. Not even measures of life which he shared with creatures. God is eternal.
So what happens to the measure of life given to the unique personality of the individual human spirit? Ans. It is given a body already prepared without hands awaiting it in heaven. We do not shed this mortal body only to be left unclothed [
unseen, invisible] but rather to be seen. I think this heavenly body is the robe of white given to the saints while they wait on their glorification according to the works which they did while in their mortal bodies.
Well, this is how I see physical death and what happens to us as individuals after physical death.
Same question for spiritual death. Paul said that "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." So, when Paul died spiritually, what is it that actually happened when his spiritual condition went from being alive to being dead?
Incidentally, I have an answer to this of my own which I'll share with you after you take a stab at this revised version of my question.
I hope your answers match mine. That would be great.
People can be spiritual dead while they live, walk, and talk on earth. Here is my paraphrase of what you shared along with my explanations inside [,...].
I was alive once [on earth] but I did not know the
Law [
the truth of God's plans for mankind]. But, once the command came [
to me from God of what he had established from the beginning] sin became alive in me [
I grasped that I was living in a state of sin] and I died [I was humbled to know I was a dead soul in need of a Savior].
The death of his spiritual life came when he understood he was already a dead soul headed for hell and the Lake of Fire. He knew he was a rejected soul! Dead already. But believers all know that dead souls can be rescued by our Savior through his mercy and our repentance. Amen.
People's views on that topic are all over the place. I've often ruffled feathers based on how straight forward a thing I think it is for God to have become a man and it is very tightly associated with this issue of death and so I'm encouraged that your mind went in this direction. It will surely be brought up in some considerable depth before we are finished.
I look forward to what you have to say about how God became a man. I do think he did so for this reason: He came to heal to heal the cursed elements of the mortal body and overcome the infirmities. He came to make way for it to be reunited with man's saved unique spiritual essence and be glorified some day according to the works done in that body to glorify the Christ.
Man's unique spiritual essence does not die at physical death. It is held waiting either in a place of peace with our Lord or within a place of torment awaiting final judgment. Waiting there for the end of all things when death and hell will be no more.
God became a man to save mankind and the resurrection of the lifeless body is just one aspect of our salvation.
