Anonymous Asks (303)

“What does it mean to be spiritually dead?”

Let’s start with the fact that scripture doesn’t use the phrase “spiritually dead”. Not once. Spiritual death is a concept we’ve derived from the word of God, but it is not the language of the Bible. First, then, we need to figure out what “spiritually” means as the Bible uses it.

The Death Metaphor

When we use the adjective “spiritual” or the adverb “spiritually” (rather than “literal” or “literally”) in front of any noun, we are simply identifying a similarity between something in the physical world and some aspect of the invisible, supernatural reality behind it. That literal thing is useful as a picture, metaphor, allegory, parable, figure of speech, simile, symbol or type that points to eternal truth. The spiritual world is thus understood by analogy to physical and literal things we can examine more easily. The book of Revelation, for example, refers to a city (Jerusalem) that is called “spiritual” Sodom and “spiritual” Egypt. If you know the biblical history of Sodom and Egypt, you will understand that is not a compliment. That is Jerusalem in a state of decadent paganism.

The Bible uses the word “dead” as a metaphor for a number of conditions, both pleasant and unpleasant. As with all Bible pictures (for example, sheep), different aspects of death may be in view in any given passage where it is used as a figure of speech. Only context and comparison with other scriptures can tell us which aspect of death the writer intends to highlight.

Down Among the Dead Men

For example, way back in Genesis, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him “Behold, you are a dead man.” Of course, Abimelech was not literally dead. He was dreaming. But God meant he was a man under the shadow of divine judgment. He stood condemned. By God’s grace he was not yet physically dead, but he might as well have been. So, figuratively speaking, “dead” can mean “under condemnation”.

Let’s back up to Genesis 2, and God’s warning to Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. We know God did not mean that literally, because neither Adam nor Eve keeled over when they disobeyed God’s command. Physical death would come in time, but that time was not yet. What did happen in the moment they ate was that they became estranged from God who is the very source of life, aware of possibilities they had never considered — many of which would be destructive if pursued — and condemned to certain death one day in the future as their bodies became subject to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Though still walking, their minds, bodies and spirits began to slowly decay. So then, spiritually speaking, “death” speaks of all these conditions.

More Metaphorical Implications

When David called himself a “dead dog” and a “flea”, he did not mean any of these things. He was humbly suggesting that he was so insignificant compared to King Saul that Saul ought to give him no more attention than he would a carcass by the roadside. Figuratively speaking, “dead” can mean “trivial”.

In addition, in scripture “dead” can mean forgotten, nonexistent, insensate, incapable of producing life, free from obligation, inert or powerless, or useless for a particular task. All these are different aspects of death used in a non-literal sense. None of these mean the same thing as each other. “Dead while she lives” is a bad thing. “Dead to sin” is absolutely fantastic. The meaning of death as a figure of speech is entirely dependent on context and the intent of the writer.

Why Does It Matter?

The meaning of spiritual death is an important theological question. Calvinists want to use scripture’s death metaphor as evidence the unbeliever is entirely incapable of responding to the gospel and exercising faith in Christ, and that therefore regeneration must precede faith. This interpretation of “dead” is a critical pillar of their doctrine of Total Depravity. They claim to get this from Paul, who employs the metaphor of death several times to describe the condition of the lost:

“And you were dead in trespasses and sins …” (Ephesians 2:1, 5)

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses …” (Colossians 2:13)

But as we have seen throughout scripture, the death metaphor has different implications in different times and places, depending on the intention of the writer. Yes, death is sometimes used to convey inertia, unconsciousness or powerlessness, as noted above, all of which make one incapable of response. But that is not always the case. Not by a long shot. There are numerous other possibilities.

Paul’s Use of ‘Dead’

What did Paul mean by being “dead in trespasses and sins”? Well, in Colossians, I think he meant “condemned by our track record”. We know this because Paul describes God’s remedy for us being dead this way: “God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.” How did he do this? Not by performing the equivalent of a medical miracle, but “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” The imaginary scene is a courtroom, not a surgery, or even the grave of Lazarus. So then, in the Colossians context, “dead” means “under sentence”, and “alive” means “legally discharged” through faith in Christ. Neither has anything to do with man’s ability to respond to the gospel. That’s a separate question.

Paul may well be using “dead in trespasses and sins” the same way in Ephesians as he does in Colossians, though the legal imagery used in the latter is not explicit in the former. In Ephesians, he does mention that we were “by nature children of wrath”, which certainly implies death means “subject to judgment”. However, it’s also possible he is using death as a metaphor for futility and the inability to produce anything good. He goes on to say that in making us alive, it was with the purpose that we should live lives characterized by good works pleasing to God, of which we were previously incapable. So then, in Ephesians, “dead” could well be a metaphor for “fruitless” and “alive” may mean “fruitful”. Again, neither has anything to do with man’s ability to respond to the gospel.

The Walking Dead

In either case, it should be obvious Paul is not using the death metaphor in Ephesians to imply anything like inertia, unconsciousness, powerlessness or the inability to make choices. There is nothing in the text to suggest it, and much to cause us to dismiss it. These dead men he describes, while still dead in whatever sense he intends, “walked”, “followed”, “lived”, had passions and carried out the desires of the body and the mind.

That does not sound like men or women wholly incapable of responding to the gospel without first experiencing regeneration. Those who argue for Total Depravity as a doctrine need to demonstrate that it does. Given the variety of ways the death metaphor is used in scripture and in the respective contexts, I cannot see how that is possible.