Dr Paul Allen

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God ! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ  ( 1 Corinthians 15:56–57). Death is the curse visited upon the human race for the sin of Adam , but in Christ , death is swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). Death is the appropriate punishment for sin because death destroys sin. In a sense, then, death is welcome because we agree that sin must be destroyed. The question is, Will we ourselves die when death comes, because we are in sin, or will we in our death triumph over death, participating in the judgment upon sin that death brings? To unpack that question, let us consider the calling of Jesus Christ. He was called to come into the world, called to suffer, and called to die for our sins. In union with Him, we are also sent into the world, we are called to suffer from time to...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." ( John 8:51 )   This passage has been a difficult one for commentators. Most would interpret it to mean that a Christian will not experience spiritual death . While it is very true that a Christian--one who has been born twice (the second birth being a spiritual birth) will not experience spiritual death, in this passage Jesus seems to be talking about physical death . This is evidenced by the fact that the Jewish skeptics around Christ called Him a heretic for saying it, since it was obvious that Abraham and the other prophets had died physically. Christ did not correct them by clarifying His words to mean spiritual death. Despite the fact that the grave is full of those who physically died while believing in Christ, He teaches that His followers will "never see death."   Actually, the Greek is very emphatic here. The combination of wo...

"To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace . Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." ( Romans 8:6-7 )   This passage defines for us both the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, not with formal definitions, but by giving equivalent terms.   First, the carnal mind is identified as being "enmity against God" ( v. 7 ), a rampant disregard for God’s law. Furthermore, the carnal mind is equated with death, specifically eternal, spiritual death . A physically living person may have a carnal mind, bringing with it a spiritual deadness and eternal doom. This also serves us as a working definition of death--being hostile toward God, or minding the things of the flesh . "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" ( vv. 8-9 ).   Next, we see that the sp...