Spiritual Death
The Bible is very clear that death is not restricted to merely the physical death of the body, but the death of the spirit. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they died that very day spiritually and lost their personal relationship with God. Is the concept of spiritual death supported in the Bible? Here are the scriptures (many by Jesus Himself):
- But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead." (Matthew 8:22) - (How can physically dead people bury anyone?)
- "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)
- "'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living." (Matthew 22:32)
- "But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found." (Luke 15:32) - (The prodigal son was spiritually dead until he repented)
- And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
- And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (Colossians 2:13)
- For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)
- For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. (1 Peter 4:6)
- And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20)
- I protest, brethren, by the boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (1 Corinthians 15:31)
Reflections
We are what we think.
- 09/18/2018 07:00 AM
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I am writing this ongoing blog series on Reflections to encourage Christians to read more vigorously and enrich their lives with Christian classics in such fields as theology, philosophy, and apologetics. Hopefully, a brief introduction to these important Christian texts will motivate today’s believers to, as St. Augustine was called in his dramatic conversion to Christianity, “take up and read” (Latin: Tolle lege) these classic…
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There is a lot of discussion these days about things like fake news, yellow journalism, and political propaganda. There is also a lot of attention given to whether public schools and colleges in our time educate or indoctrinate when it comes to the instruction of their students. So what’s the difference between education and propaganda? Let’s look at seven ways education differs from propaganda. First, we’ll define three…
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Learning about Christian Creeds, Part 3
If you come from a non-creedal Christian church tradition—and there are a good number of them within Evangelicalism—you might wonder what a creed is and why other Christians include them in their worship services. Historical theologian Jaroslav Pelikan defines a creed thusly: “A creed is a concise, formal, and authorized statement of important points of Christian doctrine.”1 One of the great things…
() - 08/21/2018 07:00 AM
Learning about Christian Creeds, Part 2
Ever hear the expression “No book but the Bible, no creed but Christ”? Ironically, it sounds a lot like a creed. Some Christians who attend churches that do not use a formal creed wonder how creeds are related to Scripture in terms of authority. From a Protestant evangelical perspective, the creeds derive their authority by faithfully conveying the message of…
() - 08/14/2018 07:00 AM
Learning about Christian Creeds, Part 1
Have you ever recited the Apostles’ Creed? It is widely used in Western Christendom, both in the Roman Catholic Church and in various Protestant churches (Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, among others). In fact, most evangelical churches have creedal statements that serve as something like the Apostles’ Creed. Some nondenominational churches even sing the creed in their worship services. Christian historian…
() - 08/07/2018 07:00 AM
Take Up and Read: Man’s Search for Meaning
This current blog series on Reflections is intended to encourage Christians to read more vigorously by providing a beginner’s guide to Christian classics in theology, philosophy, and apologetics. My hope is that these introductions to important Christian texts will motivate today’s believers to, as St. Augustine put it, “take up and read” (Latin: Tolle lege) these classic books. This week’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, by…
() - 07/31/2018 07:00 AM
Presuppositional Apologetics: One Helpful Approach among Many
Apologetics is that branch of theology that seeks to provide a reasoned defense of historic Christianity. Through the centuries, Christian thinkers have given consideration to different models or modes for defending the truth of the faith. Thus, today there exists a variety of methods for engaging in the apologetics enterprise: classical, evidential, cumulative case, new Reformed epistemology, and presuppositional.1 Here I’ll take a…
() - 07/24/2018 07:00 AM
Top 10 Ideas in My Book Christian Endgame
With common reports of terrorism, various natural disasters, and even potential nuclear war, people are again fascinated with the subject of the end of the world. So topics like Bible prophecy, the rapture, the Antichrist, and the nation of Israel are frequently subjects of Christian discussion. Moreover, it seems virtually every year or so a Bible teacher, prophet, numerologist, cult…
() - 07/17/2018 07:00 AM
Two More Movies to Make You Think in 2018
How much of your recreation time is devoted to watching movies? For many people, watching films at the theater and viewing movies at home are staples of their pastime enjoyment. As a philosopher, one of the things I most enjoy in life is learning something significant about truth and reality. Therefore, I like watching films that are true stories or…
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