Death

The obvious definition of death is "absence of life". Death means separation of life from the body. Scripture’s simplest definition of death will be found in James 2:26: "The body without the spirit is dead."

In the _Old Testament_, several words are used for death. The words _mut_ (Gen, 1:17), _’abad_ (Job. 1:7,9,11,20), _harag_ (Gen. 12:12), _halal_ (Ps. 88:6), _naka_ (Gen. 4:15) and _tam_ (Deut. 2:14-16) all convey the same idea of cessation and separation. The dead person ceases breathing and praising God, while the living person both breathes and praises the Creator for life.

The New Testament uses _thanatos_ (Mat. 4:16), _nekros_ (Mat. 8:22), _teleute_ (Mat. 2:15) and _apothnesko_ (Mat. 8:32), among other words. The underlying idea is the same as the one we find in the Old Testament writings. Even if their contemporaries in other civilisations have different beliefs, we must remember that the New Testament writers were pious Jews, exactly like the Old Testament authors.

Both Testaments, the Old (Deut. 31:16) and the New (John 11:11-14), use the metaphor of sleep to describe and shape the concept of death, in agreement with Old Testament texts that define the state of the death as one of complete oblivion and inactivity (Eccl. 9:5; Ps. 115:17).

Furthermore, the Old Testament is replete with the idea that death is equivalent to silence and life means praising God (Ps. 30:9-11: Isa. 38:16-20). Thus, the inability to praise Yahweh was a sign of death, even in life. This can help us understand the apparent contradiction between the death curse over the sin of disobedience by Adam and Eve and the lack of accomplishment of that curse. When it became impossible for Adam to be with God he was considered as dead, even of he was physically alive.

Death is, then, a state of separation from God (Isa. 59:2), an impossibility of praise. This is the death Jesus taught His followers to be afraid of (Mat. 10:28), the second death (Rev. 2:11) that will not affect God’s children, death which will have eschatological consequences.

Being the result of sin (Rom. 6:23), death is not well accepted by Man. Nevertheless, in the New Testament, death is qualified. In 75 places, "death" is the object of "awawken" and "raise". Death has a solution. Men need no longer fear death (1 Cor. 15:54).

The first death, the physical absence of life, being the result of the degradation of physical attributes has only a future solution when Jesus returns and the resurrection takes place (1 Tess. 4:13-17).

The second death, the one that creates the real separation between God and Man, has a solution that is already in the past. When asked about the way to be saved, the apostle advised the prison keeper to believe in Jesus (Acts 16:31). Jesus is the solution for the second death. A solution that is in the past and that mercifully fulfils all the requirements for the salvation of God’s followers.