“but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die,” (Genesis 2:17).
According to most annihilationists (those who hold to conditional immortality), death is the cessation of both physical and spiritual life. In other words, when the physical body dies, the human spirit also dies. It either doesn’t exist anymore or goes into a state of soul sleep. The latter is not very well explained by annihilationists who sometimes disagree amongst themselves as to what it really means.
Nevertheless, Gen. 2:17 is where God himself speaks of death. It is the first place that the concept is mentioned. So, what does God mean by the death spoken of here? We have two main options.
- The traditionalist view would say that when Adam and Eve sinned, they became spiritually depraved (fallen) and were separated from God at the time of their sin (Isaiah 59:2), with the threat of future eternal damnation and eventually physical death (Rom. 6:23).
- The conditionalist view would say that when Adam and Eve sinned, they would begin to die physically and years later would be destroyed and become non-existent. The spiritual aspect of separation from God is minimized.
Which is it? Let’s see if we can shed some light on this.
God said that Adam would die when he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. More specifically, God said, “for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die”? What is meant by this phrase “in the day”? We have three options.
- That very day
- A long period of time
- Both that very day and a long period of time.
These options are significant because if option 1 is the case, then God was saying that the very same day that Adam ate of the fruit that he would die. This would mean that the death God was speaking of would have to be a spiritual separation from Him that is experienced by the sinner while he is still alive physically (Isaiah 59:2). This would work against the conditionalists view of annihilation.
A similar problem would arise for the conditionalist if option 3 were the case since it contains within it option 1. So, the only option available to the conditionalist would be option 2. Because of the annihilationist assumptions, they cannot allow options 1 and 3 to be valid. To them, the only possible acceptable position is that when God said that, “in the day” that they ate of the fruit, they would “begin to die physically,” instead of actually dying.
How do we find out what the correct option is?
How does God use “in the day”?
I am a firm believer that every word in the Bible is inspired by God. Every word order, phrase, letter, etc. are all inspired. Furthermore, I believe that we can learn what God means by words and phrases by looking at how he uses them and examining their overall context. For example, the Greek word ‘agape’ is often proclaimed by people to mean divine love. But we find out that Jesus said, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love [agape] the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places,” (Luke 11:43). Obviously, the Pharisees were not expressing divine love. Therefore, the word “agape” must include a kind of adoring and intense love that can also be ungodly. My point is simple. Words mean what they mean in context and how God uses a word or phrase in different contexts can tell us a great deal.
How does God use the phrase “in the day” in the Bible?
I did a study of every occurrence of the English phrase “in the day,” singular (not ‘in the days’), as it occurs in Old and New Testaments to see what I could learn. Of particular importance was finding the equivalent Hebrew phrase for “in the day” that matches Gen. 2:17 in the Old Testament. That was easy. To see the results go to Word study on “in the day”.
Here is the summation of what I found regarding how God uses the phrase in different contexts. I found four types: declarative, descriptive, effective, imperative.
- Affective, cause with necessary effect
- Gen. 2:17; 3:5
- Declarative of future effect. Cause and effect are related, but not necessary
- Exodus 10:28; Deut. 31:18; Job 20:28; Psalm 27:5; 50:15; 56:9; 110:3, 5; Prov. 11:4; 24:10; Isaiah 11:16; 13:13; 14:3; 17:11; Jer. 18:17; 51:2; Ezek. 7:19; 33:12; 34:12; Hosea 5:9; Matt. 10:15; 11:22; 11:24; 12:36; Rom. 2:5; 1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; Phil. 2:16
- Descriptive of fact without cause
- Gen. 2:4; 5:1, 2; 35:3; Exodus 32:34; Lev. 7:36, 38; 14:2; Num. 10:10; Deut. 21:16; Josh. 10:12; 14:11; 2 Sam. 22:1, 19; Psalm 18:title, 18; 20:1, 9; 59:16; 77:2; 78:9; 86:7; 95:8; 102:2; 140:7; Proverbs 27:1; Ecc. 7:14; 12:3; Jer. 7:22; 11:4, 7; 16:19; 17:17; 31:32; 34:13; Lam. 2:1, 7, 21, 22; Ezek. 22:24; Nah. 1:7; John 11:9; Rom. 13:13; 2Cor. 1:14; 1 John 4:17
- Imperative, giving a command
- Obad. 12, 13, 14; Zeph. 2:3; Zech. 8:9; Heb. 3:8; 1 Pet. 2:12
You will see that Genesis 2:17 falls under the category of causation with necessary effect. But not only that, there is another place where the phrase “in the day” means cause with a direct result.
Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The Hebrew construction of “in the day” is exactly the same in both Gen. 2:17 and 3:5.
| for | in | the day | that you | eat | from | it | |||
| Gen. 2:17 | God said, | כִּ֗י | בְּ | י֛וֹם | ךָ֥ | אֲכָלְ | מִמּ | ֶ֖נּוּ | you will surely die |
| Gen. 3:5 | Satan said, | כִּ֗י | בְּ | י֛וֹם | ךָ֥ | אֲכָלְ | מִמּ | ֶ֖נּוּ | your eyes will be opened |
Gen. 3:5 is where Satan is speaking to Eve. He is trying to get her to disobey God. Now, there’s the obvious problem with using the devil as a source of fact. But linguistically, what he is saying is that there is a direct cause and effect relationship. Also, his phrase is exactly identical to God’s phrase, “for in the day that you eat from it…” Furthermore, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, their eyes were opened to good and evil (Gen. 3:6). And, it happened right away, that very day. The result was that they were ashamed. Remember, before the fall in Gen. 2:25, it says, “and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” After the fall, they covered themselves (Gen. 3:7), meaning that they were ashamed of their nakedness. So, there was an absolute and definite effect “in the day” that they ate the fruit – that very same day. Therefore, it appears that “in the day” in Gen. 2:17 is that very day, not a prolonged period of time because when they ate the fruit, their eyes were immediately opened and they were ashamed. They hid from God and were separated from him, which is a sign of spiritual death (Isa. 59:2). This is what Moses declared as fact, as the immediate consequence of their disobedience to God. The effect happened right away, in that day.
Conclusion
Genesis 2:17 is best interpreted to mean that the very day Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they died. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, their eyes were opened to good and evil (Gen. 3:6). This “opening of the eyes” happened right away, that very day they ate of the fruit. “In the day” means right then and there. Furthermore, this would mean that the death they experienced was immediate as well. The death they experienced was a spiritual separation from God which manifested itself in their hiding from Him on the very day they ate of the fruit. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and sin caused the separation between God and us (Isaiah 59:2). Therefore, it is consistent with the rest of Scripture to conclude that “in the day” as used in Genesis 2:17, is that very day with a manifestation in the continued experience of Adam and Eve the rest of their lives until physical death took them. Finally, the pre-incarnate Christ covered Adam and Eve with skins which many commentators suggest is an atonement, since the covering implies the killing of animals, and shed blood, in order to obtain those skins. Though it is not explicitly stated as an atonement, it is consistent with the rest of Scripture (Lev. 17:14). Therefore, the atoning work was necessary right then and there to cover Adam and Eve. Why? Because the effect of their spiritual death and separation from God was immediate, and they needed an immediate atonement. Therefore, Adam and Eve died that very day they ate of the fruit.
Return to Annihilationism Page
