Constant Coulibaly

My wife and I drove to Northampton on Monday for a funeral on Tuesday last week. There were a lot of tears, as expected, at the funeral service. A dear sister in Christ was going to be laid to rest in a couple of hours.

She had passed away from illness a month earlier, leaving behind a husband and three children, two of them in their teens. Tragically, she did not live to reach the age of fifty.

As we gathered around the open grave, the grave diggers ready to fill the grave with earth, the quiet tears turned into sobs and weeping. It was a heartbreaking scene.

The sadness, sorrow, and pain of the moment brought the problem of death into sharp focus in my mind. I began to reflect on it – once again. 

In fact, each time people attend a funeral, it should be an opportunity to ponder over their own mortality and examine themselves to see if they are right with God (Ecclesiastes 7:3). They should do this before it is too late. Time is precious, and we never know when our earthly journey will come to an end. It is crucial to depart this world in a right relationship with God, rather than being in a state of enmity with Him due to our sins (Colossians 1:21).

When loved ones pass away, the question often arises, why did God create us to die?

The Bible reveals that God did not create man to die. He created us to live (Genesis 1:26, 27; 2:7). The book of Genesis teaches that God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the perfect garden of Eden. There, they had access to the tree of life (not death) which sustained their bodies and renewed their strength each time they ate from it.

Because of His great love for man, God gave a clear warning to Adam about the forbidden tree. He said to him, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)

However, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to disregard God's warning and disobey His command. And they ate from the forbidden tree. When they did so, sin entered the world, with devastating consequences.

Sin brought forth sickness, aging, and ultimately, death into the world (Romans 5:12). This was not God's original plan for the human family. Death, rather, is the result of our own choice to disobey God and thus sin.

The Apostle Paul taught, "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23, cf. James 1:14-15). The word "wages" is the translation of the Greek for "soldiers' pay," and here it means the consequences of sin. Ezekiel said the same thing, declaring, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), and he further emphasized that sin is not inherited. He stated, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son."

That means, each person is responsible for their own sin and its consequences. We therefore cannot be held accountable for the sin of Adam, who happens to be our very first father. Acts 17:26 teaches that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” The phrase “one blood” is a reference to Adam.

Our sins cause us to be alienated from God with the possibility of being separated from Him forever. Prophet Isaiah explained the separation, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Sin not only brings about the physical separation of the body from the soul in death (James 2:26, Ecclesiastes 3:20), but it also leads to separation from God. This separation is spiritual in anture. It means that our soul can no longer have fellowship with our Holy Creator while we remain in that state. The consequence of this separation is spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1).

The Bible defines sin in three main ways. Understanding these definitions can help us better grasp the various manifestations of sin found in passages such as Galatians 5:19-21. Those definitions are:

1. Sin is lust. James taught, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin” (James 1:14-15). The root of sin lies in sinful desires. People’s sinful cravings give birth to sinful actions. The progression from temptation to sinful action is clearly seen in the case of Eve. She “saw" the forbidden fruit as good for nourishment, pleasing to the eye, and desirable to make one wise. Then, she "took" and "did eat" it (Genesis 3:6).

2. Sin is transgression. The Apostle John wrote, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). We learn from this definition that sin is not merely personal indulgence; it is a violation of God’s law.

3. Sin is unrighteousness. John said that all acts of unrighteousness are sin (1 John 5:17). To commit an act of unrighteousness is to sin, as it represents a rejection of God's perfect will.

No matter how one looks at it, sin is deadly. Sin is tragic. But thanks be to God, there is a remedy for it. After Paul said that "the wages of sin is death," he declared, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

God allows sinners to freely receive life in Christ, as it is written, "In Him was life" (John 1:4). Jesus gives us life by taking our sins away (John 1:29). This life is eternal life with God in heaven (Romans 6:23). He accomplished this by offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice, presenting His body to be crucified and bleeding to death on the cross at Golgotha. That is the way Jesus obtained forgiveness from God for us.

We enjoy the benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death when we obey the gospel. A case in point is the Romans. The Romans were freed from sin when they obeyed the gospel (Romans 6:17-18). And they were baptised, meaning they were immersed in water (Romans 6:3-4). For one to be properly (scripturally) baptised, there must be “much water” to immerse them in it (covered in water), as seen in John 3:23.

The blood of Christ has made salvation from sin available to all who will come to Him in humble obedience. They must believe in Christ (Mark 16:16), repent of sin (Acts 2:38), confess Him (Matthew 16:16), and be immersed in water (Acts 8:38).

If you have not yet accepted God's gracious offer of salvation in Christ, we plead with your soul to do so today. Will you submit to Jesus in baptism?