Dead Men Walking

This is a scriptural truth that we in the modern church seem to have forgotten and simply tossed aside.  We seem to have tossed aside a lot of scriptural truth because we don’t like it or it doesn’t fit with our preconceived notions of God and what He’s like.  So have tossed aside the truth in favor of our own idea of God.  A man-made God if you will.

 

We have this idea today that God loves us so much that He would never send anyone to Hell. That’s called universalism.  That’s a lie, of course, and there are plenty of scriptures to prove it.  But I’ll leave that for another time.

 

We also have this idea that all we need to do is pray a prayer at some point in our life, ask Jesus into our hearts and we are saved.  You will not find that concept anywhere in scripture.

 

We have a wrong idea about freewill as well. Do we have freewill? Yes, we do.  But not the freewill that people think we have.  We have the freewill to sin.  We have the freewill to disobey God and we do every second of every day. What we do not have is the freewill to come to Jesus for salvation whenever we choose.  Contrary to the popular preaching of the day, it doesn’t work that way.

 

Jesus said in John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. I know this isn’t popular preaching in this self-centered society we live in today, but it’s scripture and it’s true. What we have done with the false teaching that has so engulfed the modern church is to essentially strip God of His sovereignty. That’s a fact.

 

Let me give you a little lesson in biblical Greek…

 

Greek is the most precise language that has ever existed on the planet. For instance:

 

Greek has 8 different words for “Love.”

 

-Eros: Sexual love or lust

-Philia: Friendly love

-Agape: Godly love.  The love that God shows

-Ludus: flirty love or non-committal love

-Philutia: self-love

-Pragma: longstanding love or love based on duty or obligation

-Storge: Family love

-Mania: Obsessive love

 

The English language has only one word for “Love.”  “Love.” And the meaning depends entirely on the context. Most of us modern humans have no clue what true love is.  We often mistake lust for true love. And we use the word “Love” for everything from sports to cars and money.

  

 

Let’s talk abut “Death.”  The Greek has several different words for “Death” and it depends on the context. For this little discussion we are only focusing on two of the words.

 

Nekros: It’s used 130 times in the NT.  It means “dead.” Literally and physically, “dead.” A dead body, a corpse, lifeless, unable to respond to impulses. “Nekros” can only be used in the context of physical death.  It cannot be used or translated in any other context.

 

Thanatos: It’s used 120 times in the NT.  It can be used interchangeably.  It can mean physical or spiritual death depending on the context, but its primary use in the NT is in the context of spiritual death.

 

Examples: Now, I want you to keep in mind what these two words mean because it’s important. And you will see why.

 

Ephesians 2:1. And you, He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Nekros.

 

Ephesians 2:4-5. But, God who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, made us alive together in Christ.  Nekros.

 

Remember, what did I say the word “Nekros” means? It means physical death.  So, why is Paul using a word that can only mean physical death in the context of spiritual death? I mean these verses are clearly dealing with spiritual death.  But Paul uses the word “Nekros.” instead of the word "Thanatos," which he should have used.

 

Look at James 1:15: Then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is full grown it brings forth death. “Thanatos.”

 

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men. “Thanatos.”

 

We can see from Romans 5:12 that Paul knows which word to use in which context.  He uses “Thanatos,” in the context of spiritual death, as he should.  

 

There are other examples throughout the NT, but this is enough to make my point.

 

Since we know that Paul was highly educated and he knew which words to use in which context, why did he choose to use the word “Nekros,” in the wrong context?  I’m glad you asked.  He was trying to make a point and his first century readers would have understood the point he was trying to make. Unlike we modern, western Christians who find in distasteful to conceive of anything that doesn't involve our freewill.

 

He was trying to say that we were dead in our sins.  Spiritually dead, yes, but we were and are so dead in our sins that we are incapable of making the life changing decision to come to Christ without God’s interference. In other words, we are so spiritually dead that we might as well be physically dead.  That's what Paul is trying to say here.

 

Can a dead man ask for help?  No! 

Can a dead man make decisions? No!

Can a dead man hear a call? No!

Can a dead man hear the gospel being preached? No!

Can a dead man simply wake up on his own? No!

 

The point is that before a sinner can come to Christ for salvation, God has to intervene and call him to wake up and come out of his grave. He cannot do that own his own.  He has no ability to wake himself up. The only thing a dead man can do is be dead.

 

We are such a man-centered and self-centered people today that we think that we are saved, if we are saved, because we made a decision to come to Christ of our own free will without realizing that before we could even consider coming to Christ, God had to choose to wake us up of His own will.

 

Think about that…