The How and Why of Christ’s Suffering Part 1: Sin Brought Two Deaths

It’s hard to imagine the suffering Jesus went through in both the garden of Gethsemene and on the cross. It’s also hard for many to imagine why he had to do so. For some, it was a cruel act, perpetrated on Jesus by a cruel God. Many have turned away from Christianity because of this one seemingly cruel act.

Even so, I would like to make an attempt at trying to explain this seemingly awkward scenario, if I can. However, rather than dive right into the New Testament account of this event, we must go all the way back to Adam and Eve, if we are going to begin to understand this two-thousand-year-old mysterious event.

When Adam and Eve were created, they were created immortal. That is, they could not die, as death had not yet entered into the world. This is attested to by the pronouncement of God himself:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17.)

If death was in the future tense, then death could not be in the present tense. Thus, Adam and Eve were immortal and could not at the present time die, as death had not yet entered into the world.

As it turned out, and as all believing Christians know, Adam and Eve did partake of that forbidden fruit, whatever it may have been. This indeed did bring forth that prophesied death into the world, albeit 900 plus years later, bringing into focus that a day unto the Lord is equivalent to a thousand years of man (2 Peter 3:8).

That act of disobedience also brought sin into the world. And here, we must understand that sin, in the context of the Bible, is simply disobedience to God’s commandments—nothing more, nothing less. No one outside of Christianity appreciates the concept of sin. Even for many Christians, the idea of sin has a somewhat sinister connotation.

However, in addition to this physical death of which God spoke, Adam and Even underwent another kind of death—a spiritual death. This spiritual death occurred when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden eastward in Eden and thus were separated from the physical presence of God. Previous to this, they both walked with and talked to God. Hence, they were literally in the presence of God when they were in the garden in Eden.

As mortals living in today’s world, we continue to suffer from these two deaths—physical and spiritual. Our physical bodies die and molder in the ground, or would, were it not for the embalming process. On the other hand, our spirit bodies leave our physical bodies, which, ultimately, is the real cause of death, although illness and old age hasten that finality.

Without our spirit bodies, our physical bodies have no life in and of themselves. And in dying, we continue to be separated from the presence of God. That is, we would were there no atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we’ll get to that.

So, thousands of years later, we continue to suffer from these two deaths because of Adam and Eve’s transgression. However, we are not born in sin, as many Christian religions believe and teach, due to Adam and Eve’s transgression. We are each responsible for our own sins and no one else’s. That is what the scriptures teach us, although there is one verse that suggests that we are born in sin. However, this is not supported by the rest of scripture, so I have to assume that some self-serving copyist inserted that one verse. You may, of course, believe as you have been taught, but I tend to view the scriptures as a whole, rather than a single verse, with very few exceptions.

What it all boils down to is this: we as mortals are all subject to sin or disobedience. All have sinned.

“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20.)

And if there’s not a just man living on the earth who does not sin, then we can assume that those whom God considers unjust also sin.

And I’m sure it’s commonly believed that no unclean thing can enter into heaven, else heaven becomes polluted and unclean. If that’s not in the Bible, it should be because it’s true.