Genesis 2:17 – Was Adam Sentenced to Spiritual Death?

Was the condemnation upon Adam and Eve "spiritual death" or actual physical death?

Genesis 2:17 -  but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, dying you shall die.  -- Green's Literal.

It is claimed by many that this scripture is saying that the penalty of sin is “spiritual” death, as opposed to “physical” death. It is claimed that the penalty for sin – death – is spiritual separation from God. Some claim the penalty was both spiritual and physical death, while others claim that Adam would have died anyway even if he had not disobeyed.

Scripturally, however, the scripture is saying Adam began to perish when he sinned — he began to die — began to perish in the day he ate: “for in the day of thine eating of it — dying thou dost die” (Genesis 2:17, Young’s Literal Translation; see also KJV margin) His dying condition, his perishing condition, finally brought the wages of sin — death, total and complete absence of all sentiency; thus Adam perished in death and went into the condition of sheol, the condition of being dead, in which condition he had no knowledge of anything, the condition in which “there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5,10) This is the same condition in which the righteous are not able to praise Jehovah, or give thanks to him. (Psalm 6:5; Isaiah 38:18) It is the condition to which all go when they die, both good and bad.

This same perishing condition has been upon the race in Adam ever since, and the resultant removal of sentiency would have been eternal had it not been for Jesus’ sacrifice for the church and the world, so that all will be brought back from the perished condition, some to life, and some to judgment. — John 5:28,29; Romans 5:8-12; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,.6; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 20.

We know Adam did not die in the very day that he ate of the fruit. He lived for a long time after that, for he had many sons and daughters. Of course, there are those that argue that “muth temuth” (to die, you die, or you will die) is a Hebrew idiom of emphasis, and that it is why many translations render it “You will *surely* die”, rather than “Dying, you will die.” The idiom argument is often put forth in order to promote the idea that Adam’s fleshly body would have died anyway even if he had not sinned, and that thus the death received through Adam’s sin is “spiritual” death rather than “physical” death. However, such an idea runs counter the whole idea of Jesus’ death for our sins. (Jesus did not die an eternal “spiritual” death as opposed to an eternal “physical” death for our sins.)

There are others that admit to the literal rendering of “dying, you will die”, but still try to force the "spiritual death" teaching into this, as some have claimed that “dying, you will die” refers to spiritual death, not physical death.

Why did Adam have to die? When Paul wrote of those dead in Adam, Was Paul referring to spiritual death — 1 Corinthians 15:21,22, or was he referring to being totally dead — soul and body? We can find out the kind of death that is the penalty of sin by the kind of death that Jesus died. Did Jesus give to God a sacrifice of “spiritual death”? (1 Corinthians 15:3) “Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6) Whatever death Jesus “died”, as shown in Romans 5:6, has to be the same death that is the penalty of sin as shown in Romans 6:23. Why? Because of the equivalent offsetting price -- ransom -- needed to pay the debt for mankind. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6) So what was the death that Jesus died? Is he now suffering eternal separation from God for the sins of mankind? Those who claim the wages of sin that came upon Adam and his descendants is spiritual death end up with all kinds of self-contradictions and extra-Biblical explanations by trying to add and blend the various extra-Biblical philosophies into the Bible.

Adam was created a living soul [a human sentient being] consisting of the spirit of life from God and the body made of dust (Genesis 2:7), but he -- as a living [human] soul [sentiency]-- came under the death sentence because he disobeyed God. (Genesis 2:17; 3:19) It is man as a soul [human sentiency] that needed to be delivered from death, not the exact dust and vapor particles that make up his flesh. Thus the Psalmist says: “God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol.” — Psalm 49:15, New American Standard.

To accomplish this redemption, we read that Christ Jesus “poured out his soul to death”; he made his soul (his human sentiency, which includes his human flesh — Genesis 2:7), represented in his blood, “an offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:10; 13:11; Leviticus 17:11) Obviously, these scriptures are referring Jesus as a human, and his soul (his sentiency) was to be gone (dead) in sheol, and thus in need of being delivered from that condition. However, we are particularly told that it was the “soul” of Jesus that was raised from the dead: “you will not leave my soul in Sheol — the oblivious realm of death. (Psalm 16:10; Ecclesiastes 9:5,10) The apostle Peter quotes this statement as prophetical of the resurrection of Jesus, that His soul was not left in hades; God raised Jesus from the dead. (Acts 2:31,33) Thus Jesus gave his soul as a human — a soul for soul — in death as an offsetting price to correspond to what Adam lost. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 2 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 2:9) Jesus gave his human soul as represented in his blood once for all in sacrifice. As the condemnation would have been eternal, so the price needed to offset that condemnation has to be eternal. Thus, when raised back to life, Jesus’ soul was no longer human or fleshly, terrestrial, a little lower than the angels (Jesus offered and gave his humanity in sacrifice, he is therefore no longer human), but he as a soul was not raised as a human soul, a little lower than the angels, but he was raised in a spiritual, celestial, heavenly body -- a soul, sentiency that is above the angels. — 1 Peter 3:18,22; Acts 26:13; 1 Corinthians 15:39-41,45; Philippians 2:9; Hebrews 1:4,6; 1 Peter 3:18,22.

Many of our trinitarian neighbors, however, would have us believe that Jesus only died physically for sins, and that spiritually he continued to live and never died at all. To do this, they present the idea of what they often call "the hypostatic union" of Jesus, or they present the heathen idea of human dualism, that is, that man is two parts, one part of which dies (the body) and another part that cannot die (soul or spirit) and conciously lives on after the body dies. However, with such philosophies in view, if then the penalty of sin is spiritual death, the ransom price has never been paid! Thus the trinity dual natures and/or dualistic philosophy actually ends up denying the basis of the ransom!

Others would claim that the man Jesus died both spiritually and physically, but they usually deny the eternality of either. They certainly would not claim that Jesus is now and will be for all eternity separated from God, for they claim that Jesus now has both of his "natures" — his alleged “God” nature, as well as human nature — and will have both natures for all eternity.

The truth is that the penalty for sin is not "spiritual death." While sin does indeed separate one from God, and this could be called "spiritual death", this was not the wages of sin. While such separation is associated with Adam's sin, that separation itself is not the actual penalty, for if it were, then the offsetting price needed to pay that penalty would be for a sinless man to be eternally separated from God.

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