WHAT IS DEATH?

Death is separation.

Physical death is separation of the soul from the body. The soul is our immaterial, invisible essence. From a theological standpoint, the soul is the real person who exists within a biologically living body. The characteristics of the soul are self-consciousness, attitude, volition, conscience, and emotion.

We are all familiar with physical death, the separation of the soul from the body. However, there is another kind of death. This second kind of death is what we call spiritual death.

"...for when you eat from it, (literally) dying you will die." (Genesis 2:17). From this verse we see that there exist two different types of death: a physical death and a spiritual death. Adam, the first person, did not die physically the moment he sinned. He died spiritually. He did not die physically for a very long time after.

Spiritual death is separation of our immaterial, invisible essence from God. Adam experienced separation from God the moment he sinned and decided to oppose God. Separation from God (spiritual death) is a consequence of being in opposition to God. Spiritual death is the punishment for sin.

However, there is good news. The good news is that the punishment for sin was already paid and removed from us. This removal of the separation between us and God is available to all of us and is what makes a relationship with God possible.