Origin of Death

Because God is a holy and just judge, Adam and the woman suffered the consequences of their disobedience; they immediately died spiritually and eventually died physically.

All of a sudden the man and woman did see something they hadn’t noticed before: they were naked! And they knew something they hadn’t known before: they were embarrassed to be walking around like that. They didn’t know what to do, but they tried plucking fig leaves from a tree and tying them together to make some kind of clothes for themselves. What they didn’t realize is that big, beautiful, soft, green leaves shrivel up and die soon after they are no longer attached to the tree. But for now, it seemed to work.

Then the first man and his wife heard God moving about in the garden in the cool evening breeze. They quickly hid among the trees of the garden.

“Where are you?” God called out to the man.

“I . . . uh . . . I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

“Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat the fruit from the tree of which I told you not to eat?”

“Well, that woman you gave me as a companion—she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

So God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “Serpent tricked me; that’s why I ate it.”

When Adam and his wife disobeyed (or sinned) that day, the gradual process of physical death began to work in their bodies. The Bible tells us later that Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. He did eventually experience the penalty of physical death. But on the very day they sinned, Adam and his wife died spiritually. Even though God was right there with them, they had a rift in their relationship; they were separated from God. Their right relationship with Him had become tarnished.

And on that very day when Adam first disobeyed God, sin and death entered the world and so would infect all mankind. We all sin and we all die as payment for our sin.