DEATH IN HUMANITY

Death is the inevitable fate of all people. Why does the human being die? According to the book of Genesis, a text of probably three thousand five hundred years, the human being was created to be eternal, that is, not to go through the experience of death. In it, there is the record of the creator's following speech to the first man: “you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (2.16:17). 

Notice that he would only die if he ate the fruit of that tree. Thus, originally, man was a magnificent being with character and superior structure than the current one. He was created “in the image and likeness" of God (Genesis 1.26) and have made “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8.5). The Apostle Paul, commenting on the effects of Christ's work on fallen man, spoke about some aspects of the original human nature. He said that he who receives Christ in his life must coat the new man, created to be like God in righteousness, holiness, and knowledge (Ephesians 4:24; Colossenses 3.9,10). 

Thus, man before the Fall was eternal, just, holy and endowed with knowledge, which allowed him to walk in the presence of God (Genesis 3:8-21). He was eternal because he lived in a state of perfection according to divine will. He was just because he had no sin, and he was holy because of his perfect moral condition. His knowledge of God, about his being and the world gave him meaning to his existence. The text of Genesis 3 also shows that man, in his likeness to the Creator, was endowed with freedom so much so that he did not follow divine guidance and, acting by his own will, ate from the forbidden tree. 

Why couldn't Adam eat from the "tree of knowledge of good and evil"? Because this divine commandment constituted a reference through which he exercised his freedom before God. Obeying it meant living according to a moral discernment that came from the Creator. But neglecting it indicated giving in to his own will, placing it above the divine. And that posed a risk to man, for he was created for the life of communion with God. Only the Creature-Creator relationship nurtured the conditions of eternal, just, holy, free and meaningful life. 

In disobeying God, the first man opted for an autonomous life under his own moral discernment and thus came upon him the death of your original "self". He plunged into a new existence marked by pain and suffering, for the Creature-Creator relationship broke. Separated from God, the human spirit died, his soul disoriented and his body entered a trajectory that culminates in death. These three dimensions of man, who previously existed integrated, "took off" each other and fell apart until his total disintegration into death [1].

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans on this issue, said, “therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Understanding this question of death paves the way for understanding the mystery of Christ, who came into the world to free man from eternal prison from death. Paul writing to the Corinthians said, “for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will bem ade alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Yes, those who have their confidence in Christ will be resurrected, for He has risen, paving this way back to God for man. In Revelation 1.18, He said, “I hold the Keys of death and Hades”. "Hades" is a word of Greek origin, corresponding to the Hebrew word "sheol" [2], the place of the dead.

[1] MAIA, Antônio. O Homem Em Busca de Si. amazon.com.br

[2] Bíblia Nova Versão Internacional, comentada. São Paulo: Ed. Vida, p. 1644

Antônio Maia - M.Div.

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