In the book “The Language of God”, scientist and author Francis S. Collins, one of the leading scientists of the Human Genome Project studying DNA, presents evidence for the compatibility of faith and science.
“How marvelous and intricate life turns out to be! How deeply satisfying is the digital elegance of DNA! How aesthetically appealing and artistically sublime are the components of living things, from the ribosome that translates RNA into protein, to the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly, to the fabulous plumage of the peacock attracting his mate! Evolution, as a mechanism, can be and must be true. But that says nothing about the nature of its author. For those who believe in God, there are reasons now to be more in awe, not less.”[1]
In a similar way this essay will attempt to define death as I understand its description from the Holy Bible and explanations from other Christian writers.
The problem I am studying is that Christians proclaim that Jesus Christ destroyed death by His death but death continues to exist. Therefore, what sort of death did Jesus destroy?
It is helpful to begin by reminding ourselves how God creates human beings.
“Then God said, let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”[2] Then God “breathed in his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”[3]
These verses reveal that every human being is imprinted with the divine, eternal image into or onto our soul. Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos explains that the soul is created immortal while the body is created mortal.[4] This explanation sets us up to understand better why Christians explain that death affects our entire being. For example, St. Ambrose of Milan describes three types of death as: spiritual (through sin), mystical (through identification with Christ), and physical (through the separation of body and soul).[5] Metropolitan Vlachos says that there is a distinction between bodily death and spiritual death.[6]
Applying the above clarifications to Genesis 2.17 where death is first discussed in the Holy Bible, it seems that both spiritual and biological death are introduced but not specified as such. In v.17 we overhear a dialogue between God and the first humans where God warns them that if they disobey His guidance “they will die by death.” Later, these first humans were tempted to believe that they would not die by death and they therefore could disobey God’s guidance if they desired.
Their disobedience results in a list of consequences two of which were that they were cast out of the garden where they lived with God and also that they would experience bodily death. Because they did not die bodily in that moment after being expelled it makes me wonder if this first consequence is a description of spiritual death because spiritual death is separation from close relationship with God Who is divine life. It also seems the expulsion is describing spiritual death because Adam and Eve would go on to live for many years until their biological death. That event would be marked with returning the body “to the ground from which you were taken[7]”. Since there are two forms of death described in the very beginning it makes sense to me to look for these two forms in the rest of the Holy Bible.
Thus when we read that God did not even create death[8] it would seem appropriate to wonder what kind of death did God not create: spiritual, biological, or maybe both?
Learning that God generates creation we can faithfully apply learnings from today’s sciences to understand in greater details creation’s cycle of birth, lifespan and biological death. Even Christians of their own generation used the sciences of their day to help explain creation.
St. Basil spoke in extensive detail about the germination and procreation process in his Hexamearon sermons. St. Gregory of Nyssa described how human’s biology from birth to death [is] in like manner to animals.[9]
These famous Christians prove biological death is clearly part of the creation God develops. Following their example, could we imply that Solomon is saying that God did not create spiritual death because God’s purpose is to enjoy close relationship with His creation, especially human beings? When humans imitate the Adam and Eve incident they make choices that result in falling away from relationship with God which again is specifically spiritual death.
Thinking further then could we agree with Solomon and say that God indeed does not specifically create biological death but that He creates a biological process that results in biological death?
These last few paragraphs could explain scientifically and faithfully why spiritual and biological death still exist even after Jesus is known to destroy death but there seems to be an explanation for our problem that is even more complete.
The Scriptures reveal that Jesus’ ministry and way of life shows human beings how to live, live through death, and live after death. The incarnation event is therefore much more than a rescue mission from sin.
St. Maximos explains that it was always part of God the Father’s plan for His Son to become human:
“He who brought all visible and invisible creation into being solely through the momentum of His will, had in His good counsel determined – before all the ages and even before the very genesis of created beings – an ineffably good plan for His creations. And this plan was for [Jesus] to be mingled, without change, with human nature through a true union according to hypostasis, uniting human nature, without alteration, to Himself, so that He would become man – in a manner known to Him – and at the same time make man God through union with Himself, and this He wisely divided the ages, determining that some would be for the activity of His becoming man, and others for the activity of making man God.”[10]
The Son of God, the Messiah of the world becoming fully human while remaining fully God provides human beings with the perfect example of how to navigate spiritual and biological death. Jesus the Christ shows us how to choose relationship with God, how to change our ways so we desire to do so and reminds us to understand death as sleep which naturally directs us to the reality of life after it.
Resurrection from spiritual death happens when one reconciles their relationship with God through the forgiveness of sin(s). The Old Testament and the New Testament have specific ways to do this. There is so much more that could be said here but I would rather focus on how the word and concept of sleep is used in both testaments about biological death:
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold you will sleep with your fathers…”[11]
“And it shall come about, when your days are fulfilled and your rest with your fathers…”[12] Here ‘rest’ and ‘sleep’ are interchangeable as we see in the next verse.
“Then Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father.”[13]
“The girl is not dead, but sleeping.”[14]
The concept of ‘sleep’ arouses the act of waking which vivifies resurrection!
In conclusion, Jesus definitely destroys the biological death He experienced by changing it into a Passover into eternal life. Spiritual and biological death do still exist for human beings possibly for the reasons this essay ponders. Most inspiring to me is knowing that God can and does raise us back to life, if we want, from every instance of spiritual death that we voluntarily or involuntarily cause with Him. Then we look to Jesus’ example of sleeping in death after being crucified and rising to life before ascending into the heavens. His example is inspiring and provides clarity for what happens during and after a human beings biological death.
There is much to be said about the quality of our life after death and how we can actually affect that quality but this topic is outside the scope of this present study though it seems worth mentioning.
It seems to me that science and faith are compatible in helping define death as presented in the scriptures as well as helping clarify potential solutions to the problem that plagued me.
“Thus I will end [this essay] here. If I have written well and made my point in the narrative, this is what I myself desired. But if it was done poorly and is just average, this is the best I could do. This then shall be the end.[15]”
[1] The Language of God, Collins pp.106-107
[2] Genesis 1.26
[3] Genesis 1.28
[4] Orthodox Psychotherapy, p.104, Vlachos
[5] De bono mortis, St. Ambrose of Milan, Patrology by James Quasten Vol. IV p.157
[6] Life after Death; p. 51, Vlachos
[7] Genesis 3.19
[8] Wisdom of Solomon 1.13
[9] Life after Death; p.224, Vlachos
[10] St. Maximos the Confessor, On Difficulties in Sacred Scripture: The Response to Thalassios. Trans. Fr. Maximos Constas (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2018), 150.
[11] Deuteronomy 31.16
[12] 2 Kingdoms 7.12
[13] 2 Chronicles 9.31
[14] Mt. 9.24
[15] Adaptation of 2 Maccabees 15. 37-39
Image: Resurrection of Christ
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