Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

Dead in Sin
A Scriptural Synonym for Slavery to Sin
May 13, 2003

Introduction In the Free-Willery series of articles I introduced the biblical truth that unsaved man is a slave to sin and is therefore bound in heart (mind, will and emotions) to sin. This means that his will is not really free after all as our culture commonly understands freedom. Instead, Gods grace in Christ frees the heart from its sin, taking it captive to the love of Jesus Christ. This article is simply a short follow-up, intended to examine the Scriptural phrase dead in sin as a synonym for being enslaved to sin. In Free-Willery III I touched on a couple of Pauline texts relating to the issue of freedom and slavery. Great emphasis was put on the fact that as Paul sees it there are only two groups of mankind those who are slaves to sin and those who are slaves to righteousness or Christ. This slavery terminology is quite common for Paul. Numerous times he refers to unsaved or natural man as being "dead in sins and trespasses" or something similar in thought. Now, the reason I have not used this argument to begin with is because there seems to be some confusion among some theologians as to what exactly dead means. Im not sure how this can happen to be honest. I cant tell you how many times I have heard, whether in arguing with someone else or in listening to debate on this topic, that dead doesnt really mean dead! I have heard over and again that we are not to take that word and apply it so literally when it comes to issues pertaining to salvation, such as in Ephesians 2:1. So the question that is constantly raised is whether or not we are to interpret dead to mean just that - a literal/spiritually dead corpse. It may seem striking to note that out the many theologians who would hold to the normal, literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of Scripture many don't seem to want to interpret this word normally, literally, historically and grammatically. If language means anything at all then this word dead must mean exactly what we conceive it to be!. If Paul did not mean for these verses to teach that natural man is dead in sin then why did he use this word dead? Why did he not use some other word which more clearly portrays the type of preaching which we hear and see today, something more along the lines of man perishing, sinking, dying, or being very sick, or even mortally wounded? This would have fit the context of today's preaching much better than the word dead. But instead he uses a derivative for the Greek word nekros which literally means "a corpse."
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

To illustrate this point above I want to offer you two examples of wellknown evangelists. Im not going to name names. But I am going to mention something I heard when each was preaching and evangelistic sermon. The first illustration used went something like this. There was a man who was lying on his deathbed, about to cross the threshold of eternity. He is on his deathbed because he is extremely sick from a disease. At this point the doctor comes in and stands over the man's bed with the medicine necessary to completely heal him. The doctor has even poured the medicine on a spoon and placed it to the man's lips, for the man is too weak to even move. But there remains one thing left to happen in order for the man to get well. He must open his lips to receive that medicine or else he will suffer and die. The other illustration has the same underlying idea. This one speaks of a man who is drowning amid the waves of the thrashing sea. He has already gone under twice and is about to go under for the third time. As he goes under his last time someone on shore throws him a life-preserver, which happens to land right next to his fingers. The man has now gone under and is about to die a drowned man at the bottom of the sea. If he wants to live he must reach out his fingers to take hold of the life-preserver and be pulled to safety. Both of these illustrations pretty much reflect the kind of preaching that takes place today. The majority of people hearing either of these illustrations would consider them to be biblical illustrations, or at least biblical sounding. The truth that is constantly resounded in pulpits everywhere is that God will not make you do something you do not want to do, which for the most part is only a half-truth. But there is one HUGE problem with these illustrations: they are not the whole truth and so they are not biblical. The Bible doesn't speak of a man who is on a deathbed about to die. The Scriptures do not talk of a man who is drowning in the sea who is about to go down into a watery grave. Here is how the Scriptures describe man in his unsaved state: 1. 2. Ephesians 2:1 - Paul tells us here (as he was talking to the that we were dead in our transgressions and sins. Ephesians)

Romans 4:17 - Paul again tells us that it is God who gives life to the dead, which according to the context is not speaking of physical, but rather spiritual death. Ephesians 2:5 - Again, Paul speaking here, speaking of the fact that believers have been made alive with Christ when they were dead in their transgression and sins. Colossians 2:13 - The twin epistle to Ephesians states the same concept here also, that when believers were dead in their sins and sinful nature, God made them alive with Christ. 2
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3.

4.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

5.

Romans 5:15 - This teaching tells us the place from where our death in sin came. It came from Adam's sin. Believers were dead in sin because they were born dead in sin because of Adam's sin. His choice to disobey God had a deathly effect on the entire human race. When Adam sinned the whole human race died in sin with him (spiritually speaking, of course, but also physically because physical death is the result of spiritual death).

6. 2 Corinthians 5:14 - Paul speaks of the same concept as mentioned just previously. The Scriptures speak of man, not as a man lying on his deathbed about the die, but as a man who is already laying there dead and that for some time. I love the narrative of Jesus and Lazarus in John 11. Lazarus had been dead for three days when Jesus arrived on the scene to raise him from the dead. When He asked them to open the grave they replied, Lord, he stinketh! Dont you love the King James English there! Lazarus wasnt on his deathbed. He was dead and stinking. And so is the dead man of whom Paul spoke over and again throughout his epistles. Likewise, the Scriptures do not speak of man as drowning but as having already drowned and dead at the bottom of the sea. After reading these six verses, how could there ever be any mistake on what exactly dead means? Another point to be observed is that the verses themselves make it plain what dead means and how it is to be interpreted. How so, you ask? Simply by contrasting the death to the life spoken of in the same passage. Therefore, if the word dead doesn't literally mean dead then we have no choice but to think that the word life doesn't literally mean life. Instead, Paul must be using life as an non-literal spiritual analogy. He cant really mean life as in the opposite of death, could he? According to the verses mentioned above in numbers two, three, and four, God gives life to those who are dead in sin. Christ made them alive. Certainly there can be no mistaken meaning here for the word life. If man is not a spiritually dead corpse then there would be no reason at all to make the statement that he is made alive by Christ. It is foolish to think of one who is not yet dead as being made alive again. So we must interpret this word dead to literally mean just what it says. When every person is born into this world, he or she is born as a spiritual corpse, totally dead to the things of God. It is argued, though, that this is only an analogy and that we would be guilty of wrong thinking if we took this word dead to its farthest extent spiritually. To this I reply with another statement: There is obviously and definitely a difference between being physically dead and spiritually dead. Therefore the analogy must end somewhere, right? In most cases, yes, but in this case no. Why? Well, a physically dead person cannot exercise any of his mental faculties or his five senses. He cannot use
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

them because he has no power to do so. So is this to mean that a spiritually dead person cannot do the same? The answer to this question is affirmative. Since it is a literal spiritual analogy, one who is spiritually dead cannot exercise their spiritual mental faculties. They bear some marks of the image of God in which man was originally created, but he cannot exercise any of those abilities effectively to salvation because he has no power to exercise them. The Spirit of God is the one who regenerates or makes a man alive in order to exercise spiritual abilities. But, alas, he is dead to the things of the Spirit of God. He cannot operate or exercise any spiritual senses because he is spiritually dead to Christ. So then, we can and must take this word dead to farthest extent, in a literal-spiritual manner, or else Paul would have used another word. Everything that would apply physically to a dead person would apply to one spiritually who is not a believer. That is what Paul is so emphatically stating here to be true of natural, carnal, unsaved persons. The reader would do well to think through this point and consider the extent to which we may take this word dead in reference to spiritual things. At this point, if I have a reader who still disagrees then I offer then the opportunity to help Paul out if there is another word that would better convey the concept you are after or that you feel Paul is trying to get across to his readers. If there is no other word to be used then we left to nurse another deadly harpoon shot at Free-Willery. A man who is totally and completely dead in sin to the things of God will not and cannot come to Christ when offered the gospel. He will not because he does not think God's will is the best way for him to go; he does not desire to go that way; and so he does not go. Thus he will not go because he cannot go. If he is in slavery to sin and dead in sin then his position in his natural unsaved state is solidified and concrete. If he is born in this state then he can do nothing to get himself out of it because he does not have the power to accomplish that supernatural act. To move from a state of opposition to God to a position of loving God cannot be accomplished by that man because that man is only going to do that which is most in agreement with his mind, will, and emotions. His mind, will, and emotions tell him to love his sin more than God. Therefore, his mind, will and emotions, as stated before, are in slavery to sin and now dead in sin and cannot remove themselves from this slavery or death. Thus it must be done by someone else, namely the Spirit of Christ. It must be Christ Who comes down, opens the lips of the dying man and puts the medicine into the man's mouth, causes him to swallow it thus making him alive again. It is Christ who dives into the watery grave of the sea of death, brings him to the surface and blows that spiritual breath into his mouth making him alive. This is that which is described in Scripture.

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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

I believe that the problem among Christians today concerning this doctrine is that we want to hang on to every last bit of our own self-effort. This is natural because that is the normal function of our hearts when we are born, as we have abundantly seen. But no matter how convinced intellectually we may be there is still a wall of self-thinking and self-consciousness which tells us that while God does most certainly 99% of the work man still has to do that 1%. Man still has to either open his heart to the gospel when preached or close his heart and reject it. It is entirely up to him. "God can only do as much as He can, but He cannot and will not do man's part for him," many say. But my heart cries out for those who believe in such a way, because they have missed the glorious truth of the wonderful grace of God. That grace of God, taught in Scripture says that since our hearts are dead in sin and in slavery to sin it was utterly impossible for us to desire the things of Christ. It was impossible for us to think affectionately of the things of Christ. And so it was impossible for us to choose for Christ. The doctrine of man's fallen nature most certainly precedes the doctrine of salvation. If it does not then we have to face the fact that it was most certainly we who made that final and 1% decision. Sure it wasn't much but we are the ones who made it, arent we? If we take that attitude then God's grace has no place at all in our gospel message. "Sure He has exercised 99% of His grace and worked as hard as He could to get us to a point of accepting the gospel. But He will certainly not make that decision for us," I hear some saying. But according to Scripture, if God doesn't make that decision for the sinner, he will not make it for himself. He will continue in his enmity towards God and continue in his life of seeing the things of Christ as undesirable and unthinkable. He cannot open his heart up to God anymore than Lydia did to Paul's preaching of Christ (Acts 16:14). God had to open Lydia's heart to respond to the gospel just as He must still do the same today also. God does not change and neither does His message and method of evangelism. Man is sinful, doesn't desire God, and so God must change that. He comes in and completely transforms and regenerates man's heart so that man will desire the things of God. As 1 John 4:10,19 tells us: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...We love (Him) because He first loved us." How much more simple can it be to understand? Maybe John 15:16 will help even more: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to do and bear fruit - fruit that will last." We, as unsaved men and women, did not love or choose God, but He first loved and chose us. And now the only reason that we love and choose for the things of God is because He first loved and chose us. This is grace, my friend, and to claim otherwise is a complete denial and mockery of God's grace. Grace is the undeserved favor and kindness of God shown to sinners who deserve nothing more than an eternity in hell. I was one
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Thoughts on the Doctrines of Grace Pastor Rob Wilkerson

of those sinners, and God was gracious to me. If I had done 1% of the work and God 99%, then it would have no longer been completely of grace that I was saved because I would have done some of what it takes to be saved, even if it is so small a percentage. But grace, that saving grace of God, says that God did 100% of the work, and we did none. Let this factor forever remain in your minds because no unsaved man has any ability, with the fallen heart that he has, to desire for the things of the gospel of Christ and choose to be saved. And once again, this is why it has been told to us by Christ that no man can come to Christ unless the Father has given Him the ability (John 6:65).

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