After God had created the first man in the garden, and after he had generously offered him food from every tree in the garden, he had just one serious warning to give: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”.
If you are familiar with the Genesis story, then perhaps you may have felt the confusing tension that follows this warning. For we know that as the plot escalates, both the man and the woman do indeed eat of the fruit, but on the day that they eat of it appears that they certainly do NOT die!
Now, what's going on here? Did God make a bad call? Did he make an empty threat; one that he could not follow up on? Was that crafty serpent actually right when, in defiance of God's warning, he said, “You will not surely die”? Well, No! But this needs some explaining. If God was not at all mistaken, then perhaps it is our definition of “death” that needs to be reconsidered…
What is “death”? For some, death is only a physical thing. Death happens when we stop breathing, or when our heart stops pumping blood, or when our brain activity ceases, or when our bodies start decaying (let's not dwell on this too much longer!). But this only captures one aspect of death, and its likely not the only aspect of death that the opening chapter of Genesis is concerned with. So, what aspect of death is Genesis talking about? Well, here its important that we allow the biblical text to speak for itself. We need to allow the text to determine what “death” means in this case.
When the man and the woman finally succumb to temptation and eat of the fruit what do we notice? Well eventually they will physically die because of their sin, but first, they became ashamed of themselves (3:7). Second, the man and woman hide from God (3:8). Third, the man finds fault in God for having created the woman (3:12). Fourth, there is a broken relationship between the man and woman (3:16b) and fifth, there is a cursed relationship between the man and the land (3:18).
Now, if we allow the text to determine what “death” means, then we find it to be something quite different from the simple shutting down of our “vital signs”. For the writer of Genesis, “death” is a matter of broken relationship: and this is in three senses – 1) broken relationship with God, 2) broken relationship with our neighbor, and 3) broken relationship with the creation. The writer of Genesis makes the shocking claim that even if all of our vital signs happen to be in check, we still experience the triple reality of death.
Now, with this meaning of “death” in mind, what might it mean for a Christian to have had the joyous experience of passing from “death” into “life” (1 Jn. 3:14)? First, it must mean that a Christian lives with a restored relationship with God. But let's not forget what else is implied! The Christian who has passed from “death” must also live a restored relationship with his or her neighbour. And furthermore, the Christian who has passed from “death” must also seek the restored relationship with the rest of creation. In your own Christian walk, in what ways have you shown to have passed from death to life?