The writer believes there are five deaths mentioned in Scripture. I will endeavour to list them as follows:

Death No. 1

Legal death, or death by law. I.e. Judicial or inflicted death: the death which came by Adam's sin but which was remitted in the mercy and foreknowledge of God. Jesus submitting to it willingly in his stead - the typical lamb from which came the covering, foreshadowing this event: Acts 2:22-24. "The Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8.)

Adam's sin brought this sentence of death and not only so but all in his loins were sold under The Sin and came under the Law of sin and death, i.e. they were constituted sinners in him. By Adam's offence therefore, many became dead under the Law, dead in trespasses and sins, having no hope and without God in the world.

It is enlightenment which makes a man responsible and aware of his predicament into which Adam has sold him, but God's merciful provision is there "waiting at the door." In this wonderful way God has concluded all under sin by the offence of Adam so that by the one righteous act of Jesus Christ He could have mercy on all. In effect, then, we were all members of the "body" of Adam. All do not know this, but those who do become responsible, and can, by faith in the symbol of baptism, be crucified and buried with Christ and rise to newness of life in Him, in His body. Romans 5 and 6 explain this as simply as it can be explained providing one realizes that Paul is not speaking of the natural death which is common to all men and all creation. It is Law which governs a man's relationship and position; men are not considered sinners by physical descent, but constituted sinners by Law. Sin is not in the flesh and blood but is transgression of God's Law. If this were not so how can we be made free from sin and still walk in flesh and blood nature? Sinful flesh mongers do not, and cannot understand Romans chapter 6, but those who understand Paul's letter, chapters 5,6,7, & 8 in this light will appreciate that there is "Therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1,2)

Death No. 2

These are dead while they live; dead in trespasses and sins as a result of being sold under sin by Adam and remaining in ignorance of the redemption which is through Christ Jesus unto eternal life. There is much proof of this in the words of Jesus such as: "Let the dead bury their dead." (Matthew 8:22.) "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." (John 6:49,50.) Jesus was not referring to Abraham as being the father of those whom He addressed, for Abraham was not dead in the sense as He considered their fathers to be: "God is not the God of the dead but of the living" for all the faithful live unto Him, having passed from death (that is, the -first death which came by Adam - not natural death) unto life - John-5:24; the death from which we are quickened or raised to life through the waters of baptism.

There is ample proof in the record of John's gospel that everlasting life is conferred on the faithful followers of Christ through His grace; though of course it is not a change of corruptible substance to incorruptible, but it is a legal status the physical status to be observed at the coming of Christ when those whose life (everlasting life) is hid with Christ in God shall be raised incorruptible, or changed, as the case may be. "This is the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power." Natural death, as we are always at pains to point out, has nothing at all to do with Genesis 2:17, neither is Genesis 3:19 a confirmation of Genesis 2:17. Genesis 3:19 was a result of not being changed to incorruptibility by continuing in obedience to God. Inflicted death "in the day thou eatest thereof" was the sentence. God was not a deceiver; He did not expect Adam to know a day was a thousand years and a thousand years as one day with Him. The words uttered were for Adam's understanding, and Adam understood the evening and the morning to be a day of 24 hours. To return to our subject. Death No. 2, this death is applicable to all who remain in a state of ignorance as a result of being sold under sin. By the law is the knowledge of sin. As many as have sinned without law (without knowing the law) shall also perish without law: and as .many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." (Romans 2:12 & 16) Every man and woman owe their existence to Jesus Christ's sacrifice, therefore none can ask the question Why do we die for a sin committed by Adam? because the question should never arise.

If Adam received his wages of inflicted death we would never have lived, but since God foresaw who would redeem Adam the result was different. Therefore everyone owes his very existence to Christ and is without excuse, and until enlightened by the Word of God to a realisation of God's purpose in Christ, is in a state described by Paul in Ephesians 2:13, "But now in Christ ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." And verse 5, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ," is confirmation of Paul's words in Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." And in verses 9 & 10 of Ephesians 2 we have confirmation of the teaching of Paul that a man is legally justified through faith and baptism but is not morally justified unless he has "fought a good fight, finished the course and kept the faith." "Not of works lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Much of the doctrine propounded by the Nazarene Fellowship has been grossly misunderstood and consequently misrepresented from time to time up to this very day. As a Christadelphian of the Temperance Hall section I was of the opinion that where the discussion of Truth was concerned we feared no one, and were always ready for discussion and debate. Never was I so shocked and disillusioned when refused permission to discuss the sacrifice of Christ and all things for salvation, from the Word of God with the whole Ecclesia to which I belonged. My resignation was the obvious result!

Death No. 3

Now we come to the third death, which is the death common to all animal nature in whose nostrils is the breath of life. When Adam was created he was of the same make up as the beasts of the field, flesh and blood of corruptible nature - a nature which left to itself returned to dust, as it was not intended to continue for ever. The words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:44 confirms this, "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body, and so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterwards that which is spiritual." There is no support here for the assumption that the flesh or nature of Adam was changed after he transgressed. A notable Bible scholar wrote, "Seeing that man had become a transgressor of Divine Law, there was no need of a ‘miracle' for the infliction of death - left to himself he would have returned to the ground from whence he was taken." But you will notice he mentioned the words "infliction of death," he realised therefore, that inflicted death was necessary. It was necessary, then, to do something to Adam if death were to be inflicted; left to himself Adam needed not to be touched in any way, natural death from the gradual process of decay would ultimately have overcome him. This would not be inflicted death and would make "the shedding of blood" insignificant; for the blood-shedding can only be associated with inflicted death.

When refuting the doctrine of the immortality of the soul some are fond of quoting Genesis 2 which deals with the creation of Adam, in order to prove such a doctrine false, but how inconsistent they are, for in Genesis 2 is a description of Adam before he transgressed, and if their changed nature theory is true, we should not compare ourselves with Adam before he transgressed, or use it to thwart the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. We must, however, accept the Bible facts that Adam was capable of obedience or disobedience in the nature of which he was constituted. Adam sinned in this very good nature, but God did not condemn the nature for the simple reason that it was capable of obedience. God condemned Adam for transgression of law, and flesh is no more obnoxious to God now than when it was first created; it is the unlawful acts of men which are obnoxious to God. Jesus came to vindicate the righteousness of God and of His Law by proving it was possible to please Him in the likeness of the very nature in which Adam sinned. Dr Thomas expressed words very near to the above (unfortunately, he had different ideas in mind) when he wrote in Eureka Volume 1 page 106, "Sin had to be condemned in the nature which transgressed." For this to be fulfilled it was necessary to possess the same nature as Adam when created. This has never been fulfilled according to current Christadelphian teaching, yet Dr Thomas considered it had to be fulfilled in Christ, but again confused the issue, for he thought sin was a fixation of evil in the flesh and the only way in which it can be condemned is by destroying it. In other words we must all commit suicide. "Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus if it had not existed there," says Dr Thomas. But the fact of the matter is that sin did not exist in the body of Jesus, nor in any one else's body. It was sin or transgression of God's law which was condemned - by a man of the same flesh and blood nature, proving that obedience was possible, by living a sinless life and then by becoming the offering for sin. Jesus did what the Law of Moses could not do - set humanity free from the (legal) bondage of sin. If, therefore, the penalty of sin was "dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return," then the death of Jesus had no relation to the sin of Adam. Firstly, Jesus did not die a natural death, and secondly, He did not return to dust; and, incidentally, the flesh of Jesus which some presume was obnoxious to God was not destroyed but came back from the tomb energized by the Spirit of God - incorruptible.

Now let us ask the question, "What is the opposite to natural death?" The answer must obviously be "Natural life." We need not go to any other source than Genesis 2:7 for an explanation of natural life, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." It is evident that food was necessary for the continued existence of Adam and Eve, and all other animal creation, otherwise they would have died from starvation as they were not constituted to live without food. This knocks out completely the suppositions and erroneous theory that the flesh and blood nature of Adam and Eve was changed, for if that were true then the animal creation in general was also changed, for "man has no pre-eminence above a beast (in nature) for "as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath," "all are of the dust and all turn to dust again." (Ecclesiastes 3:19 & 20.) Paul, writing to the Romans, in chapter 8, speaks of the natural creation of Adam thus: "For the creature was made subject to vanity (i.e. corruptible - see verse 21) not willingly (i.e. not by choice) but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope." Paul is not referring here to beasts, but to man. A beast does not posses the intellect to hope for deliverance from corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Paul is also describing how he, and others who had the first fruits of the Spirit, were eagerly waiting for the redemption (deliverance, is the correct translation) of the body from corruption to incorruptibility; for redemption was already a thing of the present with the children of God. They could not be called children of God otherwise.

If God changed Adam's nature to sinful flesh, why the words in Genesis 6:5 & 6? "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." Should God have expected anything better from sinful flesh, defiled nature, condemned nature, fixation of evil in the flesh, etc., as propounded ‘by sinful-flesh mongers? The Truth is that men in the days of Noah were capable of keeping God's ways (example Noah) and because of this His judgements came upon them after 120 years of warning under the preaching of Noah. Is it any use preaching to people who have sin in the flesh, this fixation of evil which makes them automatic sinners? "Noah, thee only have I seen righteous before me in this generation;" yet Noah had the same flesh. What did Noah do by his righteousness? He condemned the world for its disobedience and sin. Jesus, in like manner, by His righteousness condemned sin. He showed that it was possible to be obedient to the commandments and in this way He vindicated the righteousness of God in inflicting death upon wilful sinners; but He went further than this in that He suffered the death due to Adam for transgression in Eden. Anyone who disputes this must believe the alternative - that Adam received the wages of sin for services rendered, when he died natural death and returned to dust. Those who hold this belief hold out no further hope for a future life for Adam, though some may even deny the fact. When Noah condemned sin, it was not in his flesh, it was in the world outside - the transgressors of God's law. It was so in the case of Jesus in His contending with the hypocrisy of the Jewish hierarchy; He condemned their sin by His own obedience and righteousness, and it was while in flesh He did so.

There is another factor we must not overlook and which is a stumbling block in the path of those who believe the penalty for Adam's sin was a return to the ground by a gradual process of disease, decay and finally death. This important factor is found in the very works which Jesus performed in the name of His Father "I do always those things which please my Father therefore He loves me." Was Jesus speaking the truth? Undoubtedly. But the belief in natural death as the wages of sin by a process of disease and decay makes Him a liar. Why did Jesus heal the sick, the diseased, the halt, the lame, and the blind? Why did He raise the dead? Was this not fighting against God? Was He not arresting the course of justice which said, according to popular belief, the penalty for sin is a gradual process of decay by disease, and a returning to dust? Was He not also causing those whom He raised to receive double wages? As I said previously, wages are for services rendered; the person you serve pays you your wages. If you serve sin, then sin pays your wages, which is death; if you serve righteousness you receive a righteous man's reward through Jesus Christ. Nothing can be explained more simply than as Paul puts it in Romans 6, and, mark you, he is addressing those who are alive from the dead (not in the literal senses but in the legal). What death then have they risen from? The answer is obvious and simple, "the death which came by sin;" the death which passed upon all men, and which death Jesus suffered; the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. Those whom Paul was addressing had already died this death in symbol by baptism into Christ and risen to newness of life (not Adamic life) in Him; Adamic life had been crucified with Him, so that the "body" belonging to "Sin" (Personified as a Master) might be destroyed. He that is dead is freed from "Sin" even as a woman, by the death of her husband is freed from the Law which binds her to him while he lives. The evidence of Scripture points to the fact that man is as God made him in the beginning - capable of dying, susceptible to pain by reason of the nervous system - capable of hunger and thirst - capable of reproduction, which, in fact, was required of him upon God's own instruction.

1 Corinthians 15:40 to 52 is very plain teaching by Paul and no other interpretation can truthfully be put upon it. Paul speaks only of an animal body and a spiritual body. The animal body being first and afterwards the spiritual body.

There is no room here for changed nature ideas, and those who hold such are wise beyond what is written. If Adam was changed then all the animal creation was changed, for you cannot have one without the other and you cannot hold such a theory without rejecting Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul. "He that made them in the beginning made them male and female," "what therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder." Yet some say this was the nature of the transgression, thus making God its author! "And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:44.)

Someone wrote, "The first man Adam was neither mortal nor immortal but in an intermediate state as per nature; the second Adam became a body of sinful flesh as a result of sinning, this sin running in the blood thereby giving it the title "Body of sin." Such an idea is derived from the apostate teaching of Original Sin and the misinterpretation of Paul's teaching, and is yet another example of being wise beyond that which is written.

Death No. 4

Here we are considering the Symbolic Death through Baptism as a result of enlightenment. Adam, by transgression of the Law, merited inflicted death - in other words he forfeited his natural life (which was in the blood); he sold himself to Sin, and all in his loins. Paul terms this as being under the Law of sin and death (and were it not for the merciful providence of God in finding a substitute Adam would have been put to death, for the Law demanded it), but God foresaw One who could meet the requirements of the Law and save Adam and all in his loins, from extinction, and give them a hope of eternal life. This One was typified in the provision of the coats of skins (which necessitated the slaying of an animal). The life blood of the animal had been poured out instead of Adam's own blood, and by putting on the covering of skins by faith he was continually reminded of this fact. This lamb (for I believe this animal was a lamb) foreshadowed Jesus, who, being begotten of God, obtained life direct from His Father, and, therefore, was not in the loins of Adam as were all others; and was not consequently sold under The Sin, and so required no redemption therefrom. The life and flesh of Jesus was no different from that of Adam. Adam's life came from God, Christ's life came from God, the difference was in the legal sense. We, as descendants of Adam, are begotten in (legal) bondage, being sold under sin and are therefore in need of redemption. Jesus, begotten of God, was therefore; also First-born, not being in the loins of Adam, and was in the unique position of redeeming Adam and all in Adam, by remaining sinless, and then laying down His life - giving His life a ransom for the many. Jesus submitted to the requirements of the Law and this pleased His Father who highly exalted Him and gave Him a Name above every name. Jesus did not again experience natural existence, for the law had claimed that (Life in the blood), but the law could not claim anything else. Jesus had not served Sin, therefore Sin had no claim; Jesus had served God, and God gave Him eternal life in an incorruptible body - with the same character and mind which He had when crucified. Jesus received no wages from Sin, for He never belonged to Sin, neither served Sin to expect Sin's wages.

It can be Scripturally shown that Adam did die in the day he ate of the tree, but not in the physical sense, but by associating himself with the death of the animal in acknowledgement of his transgression and worthiness of death - he died by the Law and he died in symbol, and he was reconciled to God, though not restored to his former position and status. This position and status were given, with additional glory, to Jesus who is styled the beginning of a new creation. Adam can therefore be expected to take his place among the redeemed at the appointed time.

Redemption through Christ must take first place. The promises to Abraham, yea, all things, are valueless without it. Indeed Paul gave the promises second place in his preaching because he recognised the importance of putting first things first. Let us hear Paul on the matter: 1 Corinthians 15:3, "For I delivered to you among the chief things, what else I received, that Christ died on behalf of our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried; and that he was raised the third day, according to the scriptures." 1 Corinthians 2:2, "For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." I emphasise, those who are truly enlightened realise the importance of believing and understanding the sacrifice of Christ first and foremost to an understanding of God's scheme of redemption and salvation. It is the lack of understanding the meaning of Christ's sacrifice which has forced religious leaders into making silly statements in regard to salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ; for example, "Christ died and rose again that He might open the way by which we might be saved from death - that to be saved from death is to be raised from the grave and given eternal life." Silly, because the writer thinks this death is natural death - the death common to all animal creation, including man. The correct means of saving anyone from death is to prevent that person from dying, death being the cessation of life.

The idea is usually expressed that Jesus prayed that He might be saved out of, death or from the grave, by being raised therefrom, but this is far from being correct. Hebrews 5:7 is quoted to bolster up this idea but is misrepresented and misinterpreted. Jesus prayed to Him who was able to save Him from death (inflicted death), and I emphasise "Him who was able." This does not infer that His Father Who was able to save Him from crucifixion did save Him from death, but this does not rule out the fact expressed by the writer to the Hebrews that God was able to do it. Read the words of Jesus on the same matter in Matthew 26:53-54. "Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to the Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" Jesus certainly tasted death for every man - the death which came by sin - not natural death; for He did not taste natural death. To pray with strong crying and tears to be saved from the death state in the grave is to infer that the individual is continually conscious of agony and torment while in the grave, thereby contradicting Ecclesiastes 9:4 & 5. Such a construction is as foolish as going to bed and praying to God with strong crying and tears to be saved out of an 8 hour sleep. Everyone knows how welcome 8 hours or more of sleep is to a person who has toiled all day. No, it was the prospect of an agonising death, impaled upon the cross in the burning heat of a Syrian sun which caused Jesus to pray "If it be possible Father, let this cup pass from me." He was heard in that He feared, but the cup was not taken from Him, but nevertheless He was strengthened by the ministration of Angels. And we also are assured of the same measure of strength in proportion to our needs for there is nothing commanded us to do that we are unable to do if we pray as Jesus prayed. If it were otherwise, as sin-in-the-flesh believers affirm, then why exhort one another to do things they believe they are incapable of doing? Such theories make mockery of God and of His Word. Paul did not write or utter the words so often expressed by some people - "In the flesh there dwelleth no good thing." These words cannot be found in Scripture. What Paul did say was "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." From the context we see he was speaking of himself as an unregenerated Jew, under the Law, and he regarded this position as "in the flesh." He was not referring to the physical flesh at all but that state of mind in which both legally and morally a person is alienated from God. How otherwise can we understand him when he says of himself and others of like faith "Ye are not in the flesh" - "We have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." - "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Surely we must discriminate, or, as we are exhorted, rightly divide the word of truth. The symbolic death, burial and resurrection is expressed beautifully and accurately by Paul when he says "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." "For I, through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3. In other words "Passed from death to life." That is, the death which came by sin, which was judicial and which Jesus tasted for every man. There are deaths which Jesus certainly did not taste for any man - natural death, and what is styled, the second death. Adam brought the first death, by sin, but he did not suffer it for God was merciful and found a substitute - His Own Son. Those who by enlightenment realised their position of hopelessness under the Law of sin and death, and consequently took advantage of the redemption through Christ and were reconciled to God, became His children; His servants, or slaves, and were therefore liable to punishment for their own individual sins as He judged fit. The Israelites were a redeemed people- responsible to God, and with many of them He was not well pleased and their carcases fell in the wilderness through His judgement upon them Had they pleased Him they would have entered the land and would still have died the common death to all men - a death which would have been precious to Him for "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints." Yet some maintain there was no difference in the case of the Israelites. Analyse it and you will find that wilful sin, considered as such by God, committed by responsible, that is, enlightened people, is punishable by death - the Second Death – from which there is no Atonement. See Hebrews 10:26-30; Hebrews 6:4-8. Notice the words at the end of verse 8, "Whose end is to be burned" and consider Revelation 21:8, "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death." But, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." (Revelation 20:6.) There are only two resurrections; the one at the coming of Christ when, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, "The Dead shall be raised incorruptible." This resurrection is confined only to those on whom the second death hath no power; it is obvious that none of the unjust are raised at this time. The Scripture is very clear on this matter of the second death and of the resurrection.

Death No. 5.

The second death is operative at the end of the thousand years reign of Christ, after the second resurrection when all whom God considers responsible will be raised and judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. But you will notice that another book was also opened which was the book of life, and it is evident that those whose names were written in the book of life were not judged out of the other books, for they would, no doubt, have been raised incorruptible - the very fact of their names being in the book of life signifying they had already been judged faithful during their life time. Once the second death is operative upon a person (in the legal sense) there is no deliverance from it, the name is blotted out of the book of life; a very serious thought, is it not? "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels" - Revelation 3:5. "And with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life" - Philippians 4:3. Christ came to atone for the sin which caused the first death, not the second death. He was made a little lower than the angels for this express purpose that He, by the grace of God, should taste the death for every man, the death which came by Adam. Were it not for the grace of God Adam would have died a judicial death there and then, but God foresaw a multitude of redeemed who would reciprocate His Glory and rejoice in the work of His hands, and through His Mercy and Grace provide a healer of the breach - One who would suffer the death due to Adam and still retain His title to life through His position and obedience. Eternal death was not the penalty; death is the complete cessation of life. We know that if Adam had suffered the penalty he would have perished for eternity because he was a sinner, but Jesus did not substitute Adam's character, He was a substitute for Adam in the sense of forfeiting His natural existence by the shedding of His blood; it was life that was forfeited and it was life in the blood which Jesus gave. It is impossible to sacrifice character; if Jesus had come from the tomb without His character what use would He have been as an High Priest? Yet some would entertain the view that the lamb sacrificed under the Law, which had to be without spot and blemish, was typical of the spot- less character of Christ. Yet the character of Christ was not sacrificed, which to fulfil this foolish idea, would be a necessity, as the lamb was sacrificed in the physical sense only, having no moral character. The lamb typified Jesus in the legal sense - free from the condemnation His life having been derived direct from God and not through Adam by the will of the flesh; and, like the lamb, without any moral sin (there is no physical sin), bearing the sin of the individual by dying in the stead thereof.

This is a subject which has been dealt with time and again in various literature of the Nazarene Fellowship and here I must stress the fact that we do not carry substitution as far as saying that Christ's righteous character was substitutionary although it was of great importance to the act, for a sinner could not free a sinner seeing that his own life was become forfeit by that sin.

To summarise here are the five deaths which I have tried to explain as scripturally and simply as possible.

1. Legal, or Judicial Death. That is, the death which came by Adam's sin: atoned for through Christ.

2. Dead in Trespasses and Sins - through ignorance. That is, sold under sin. "Because we thus judge, that One died for all, then were all dead (or died)" - 2 Corinthians 5:14.

3. Natural Death - to which Adam and all creation were subject apart from Divine intervention. (See 1 Corinthians 15.)

4. Symbolic Death - through baptism upon enlightenment of the fact of redemption (released for a ransom) from under the Law of Sin and Death. That is, Sold under sin (Sin's Bondservants) and the hope of life in and through Christ.

5. The Second Death - operative on all responsible (as God judges) whose names are not in the book of life but experienced at a specific time. See Revelation 20 and 21 verse 8.

Please note: The second death can be the first death experienced by an individual who nevertheless is worthy of it, which proves that the penalty for wilful sin is inflicted death. This does not alter the fact that it is the second death, for it takes its order of merit from the first death of its kind which was judicial or inflicted death, typical though it may have been in Eden yet actual in the case of Christ for by Adam came the death which Christ suffered which in effect was the first judicial death. Operative firstly yes, upon the animal as a type and symbolically upon Adam through his acknowledgement of what was due to him, but the true pointer was to Christ - God's provision.

"And they cast him out... And Jesus said. For judgement I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." John 9:34 & 39.

Phil Parry.