Thesis #11 of 95 – When Paul speaks of non-Christians being “dead” he is referring to the disruption of the incarnate soul’s communion with the Source of its spiritual life

 BIBLICAL REFERENCES

 Eph2:1-2: “And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the pattern of this world”.

Rom7:24: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” [Greek: ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου]

Col3:2-5 “Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is effectively idolatry”.

 Jn6:53: Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves“.

COMMENTS

 Regarding what Paul actually means by death in the context of the gospel, in Romans 7 he describes the temporary vessel our souls inhabit as “the body of this death”. Regrettably, “τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου” is often inadequately translated, for example in the New Jerusalem Bible utilized by Catholics where it is “the body doomed to death”. That is not what the Greek relays and entirely misses the point. The apostle is not referring to the human body’s fate but its current condition that he had outlined in the previous verses. Hence his reference to the body of this death, as the KJV, NASB and Greek literal translation among others rightly relay “τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου” .

The effect of that condition is summarized in his earlier statement: “Whilst I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner man, I am aware of a different law in my bodily members waging war against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my bodily members” (vv22-24). For Paul is affirming that it is the degenerative procreated intellectual vessel that leads the divinely planted soul into death (i.e. disruption in divine communion).

Such deprivation is what the apostle means by “this death”. He is not alluding to reprobation or total depravity, which would pertain to the soul or whole person. The mortal body is indeed “doomed to die”, an obvious fact but not the point Paul was making; for that issue can and will be resolved at resurrection. The body of this death on the other hand requires a more immediate remedy (aka gospel salvation) for those chosen to relate to God whilst still in mortal flesh – so that their soul may be fashioned for a still greater destiny.

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What’s this?

^{I am briefly commenting on each of the 95 theses that summarize key outcomes from The Little Book of Providence. These were first published on Halloween 2017*, so I suspect most current visitors to my website’s Homepage (latest posts) will not have seen them…   [*being the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s version].}