Not if they are dead. Dead people cannot hear. Dead people cannot believe.
Try again.
The spiritual death there is figurative, it is not, literal.
Case in point...
The Lord
Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
King Herod
Acts 12:23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
In both passages, both the Lord and King Herod had been literally alive, spiritually.
Why?
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Though, in the Lord's case...
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Which is why what is said in the latter part of following verse can only be said...of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
And yet that passage is talking about a literal quickening.
Which the figurative quickening represents.
There is a figurative, and there is a literal...spiritual death.
The Lord's Spirit had been alive both figuratively, and literally.
In contrast, though King Herod's spirit had been alive literally, it had been dead, figuratively.
Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Alive, and yet...dead, in other words - past feeling.
The figuratively dead, then, refers to God's having pronounced one as being alienated from Him.
Which is how we are born: spiritually alive, literally, but spiritually dead, figuratively.
How did we end up this way?
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
That is a figurative death.
As the very end of Genesis 3 depicts it, it refers to being pronounced basically alienated from God, by Him. We'll see that in a sec...
But notice that Adam is still very much alive after he fails to heed that warning...
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
The result of said figurative death, spiritually, or alienation from God, in Adam's offspring?
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Result?
Note the part of the following after the words "And you hath he quickened, who were..."
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
What is this dead in trespasses and sins?
Can dead men walk?
Apparantly - for the thing is figurative.
2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
In other words, we were by our very nature, alienated from God.
Our best bet was...His pending...wrath!
As far as God was concerned, whenever He looked over at us, His conclusion was "you're dead to Me - I NEVER knew you..." Matthew 7:23.
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
You ever heard that phrase "you're dead to me"?
As when God told Israel...
Ezekiel 23:18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.
See this?
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
That is the same as this...
Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
It was His death - in - our - stead - that - was literal.
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Which leads, of course, to my favorite way to end my posts - to glorying in, once more, in...
Romans 5:6-11.
Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
The night of the living...dead.
Figuratively, speaking, that is.
Hmmm, I should have saved this for the end of October.
:chuckle:
