There are 3 ways in which the word “death” is used in our English Bibles. There is physical death as presented to us in Gen 5, where Adam is said to have lived 930 years, “and he died” (Gen 5:5). There is spiritual death which Paul speaks about in Ephesians 2 when he says that we were all “dead in the trespasses and sins.” And there is also eternal death which is referred to as the “second death” in Revelation 20:14.

The first place that we encounter the subject of death is in Genesis 2 where God warns Adam “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). This raises the question: “What kind of death did God mean?” We know that Adam and Eve did not die physically, so what did God mean when He warned them about death?

In the creation account God placed 2 trees in the garden. There was the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The tree that is mentioned after the fall is the tree of life. It is this tree that gives eternal life (Gen 3:22). Banished from Eden, Adam lost access to eternal life. From what is described in these verses it seems that man was not created as an immortal being. Paul reinforces this point in 1 Timothy 6:16, where he states that God alone is immortal.

Before being banished from the garden Eve recounts to the serpent that God warned, if they ate of the tree they will surely die (Gen 3:3). The serpent deceives Eve by saying to her “You will not surely die” (Gen 3:4). If the death that is spoken about is physical death then the serpent was right, for Eve did not die when she ate of the tree. We know the serpent lied. God is faithful—His words never fail. So the death that Adam died may not be the physical death which we have traditionally been led to believe.

Some may say that physical death was included in the curse for God told Adam, “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). While Gen. 3:19 mentions dust, the real curse was lost immortality via the tree. Adam’s sin did not bring physical death into the world, it restricted access to the tree of life which provided immortality. Therefore, Adam would return to the dust because he no longer had access to the tree.

This pattern holds in Romans 5, where it speaks about death and sin. In Romans 5:12 Paul speaks of sin coming into this world by one man, that being Adam, “and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The context of Romans 5 is justification by faith alone, and that this justification reconciles us with God. Paul says that “we also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom 5:11). Paul then goes on in verse 12 to explain how we were alienated from God by the sin of one man. The death that Paul is speaking about in Romans 5 is spiritual death, separation from God. This is confirmed for us in the Greek where Paul does not speak simply about “death” but about “the death.” In other words, Paul actually wrote “and the death through sin, and so the death spread to all men because all sinned.”

The phrase “the death” appears a total of 42 times in the New Testament. Just to clarify, “death” in the New Testament appears 77 times without an article (the) which usually refers to physical death. Of the 42 times “the death” is used, 14 instances are in the nominative case which points to the phrase being the subject of the clause. (Rom. 5:12, 14, 17; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; 2 Cor. 4:12; Rev. 6:8; 9:6; 20:13-14; 21:4, 8). In all 14 cases, our modern English translations have simply used the word “death” rather than “the death”. Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) is an exception. So what should we make of “the death”?

It seems that where “the death” is used in the nominative case that the author does not have physical death in mind but “the death” which entered the world due to the fall. Adam did not die physically on the day he sinned, but his covenant relationship with God was broken. Adam died “the death” which we could describe as covenantal death. Adam was separated from God as a result of sin. He suffered “the death.” This covenantal death then passed to all men.

Jesus came into this world to reconcile us to God, which meant the destruction of conventional death. Jesus came to solve “the death” problem. Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die….” (John 11:25-26). We know that Jesus was not speaking about physical death because death is still present in this world. The death and life that Jesus spoke about was spiritual.

Paul wrote, “For if by the transgression of the one, [the] death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:17)

I am convinced that God’s primary objective in His plan of redemption is not saving us from physical death, but doing away with “the death”. When Adam sinned “the death” entered the world, and when Christ came, He came to put an end to “the death.” In Christ we are reconciled to God, we have victory over “the death” and life everlasting. This is why Paul can say “For I am convinced that neither death (physical death), nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39) Thus, "the death" has been conquered, we have been reconciled to God and even though we will all one day experience death, nothing will separate us from God in Christ Jesus.