Edward E. Stevens – May 1, 2024
Advocates of the Collective Body View (CBV) often ask us IBV folks the question that is posed in the title. They base this question on their mistaken belief that the only kind of death that was threatened and carried out against Adam (Gen 2:17) was spiritual death, and therefore the only kind of death Jesus needed to die in order to overcome the death of Adam was likewise spiritual.
Here is their logic:
• Since Adam did not die a physical death on the day he sinned,
• Then physical death cannot be the kind of death that was threatened.
• And since Adam did die a spiritual death on the day he sinned,
• It means that Jesus had to die a spiritual death to overcome it.
• So, since the death threatened against Adam was spiritual-only,
• And since the only kind of death Jesus needed to die was spiritual-only,
• Then the physical death of Jesus was NOT his substitutionary death to overcome the death of
Adam, nor did His physical death save us from dying physically.
They mistakenly think that we IBV folks are teaching that the physical death of Jesus was for the purpose of abolishing physical death, and therefore since physical death has obviously not been abolished for anyone (i.e., all men still die), then physical death could not have been the death that was threatened against Adam, nor could it have been the death that Jesus had to die in order to overcome the death of Adam. That is why the CBV folks claim that the death that was defeated by Christ must have been spiritual death only.
However, in the associated article (Death of Adam.pdf) we show why the death threat against Adam (Gen 2:17) DID include a penal physical death which had to be carried out on the very same day that Adam sinned – NOT at his natural death nine hundred years later.
That article shows how God sacrificed an innocent animal which died as a substitute for Adam on the very day he sinned (Gen 3:21), and that substitutionary sacrifice was a TYPE which pointed straight to Jesus who would likewise die physically as our full and final substitute sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 9:22). Be sure to read that article to get the full story on this.
So, here is the logic behind their CBV question:
• If the death threatened against Adam was physical death,
• And if the physical death of Jesus overcame that physical death of Adam,
• Then there should no longer be any physical death.
• Therefore, why do we still die physically?
Of course, the short answer to their question is simply that we still die physically for the same reason Adam died physically after he left the Garden. It is because he lost access to the Tree of Life which would have sustained his life on earth forever. And all of his descendants, including us today, still die physically because we do not have access to the Tree of Life (immortality). That access is reserved in heaven for us.
And it was an act of mercy and grace on God’s part to remove Adam from the Garden and allow him to die so that he would not be doomed to live forever on earth separated from God. God wanted Adam to dwell with him in heaven where he would once again have access to the Tree of Life and live forever.
However, even though the Tree of Life was restored to the saints at the Parousia, full experiential access to it is only found in heaven. That is why those first century saints had to be taken to heaven in order to eat from the Tree and have eternal life (immortality). All of us saints after the Parousia have the same right to eat from the Tree of Life, but we have to die and go to heaven before we can experience the full immortal benefits of it.
Thus, the Tree of Life (immortality, eternal life) is just like perfection, knowing fully as we are known, seeing Christ face-to-face, and all the other things that were supposed to arrive at the Parousia. They arrived once-for-all back then, and they are available NOW (in heaven), but NOT HERE (on earth). They are reserved in heaven for us, and we have to go to heaven at death to take possession of them and experience them in their fullness.
I hope that helped. Be sure to take a look at the other document (Death of Adam.pdf) that was attached to this same email. And feel free to email me and ask for more info on this.