By What Means Death: By What Means Life

Many discussions about salvation and assurance focus on behavior, perseverance, or emotional experience. Scripture, however, grounds assurance in something far deeper: the nature of the life God creates in the new birth.

Scripture speaks plainly about the cause of death and the source of life. Death, both spiritual and physical, comes as a result of sin, and by no other way. This is not a hidden doctrine nor a matter of inference; it is stated openly and repeatedly. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die…” (Ezekiel 18:20). Scripture affirms the same truth: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). James traces the line with equal clarity: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15). And again Paul concludes, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Death is not arbitrary. It is not natural. It is not a feature of creation as God made it. Death comes by sin.

If death comes by sin, then the remedy for death must be the remedy for sin. Scripture identifies that remedy as the new birth. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, acknowledging His divine commission, yet unaware of the necessity laid upon every man. Jesus answered him directly: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus, thinking only in terms of the flesh, asked how such a thing could be. Christ Jesus replied, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:1–6). The sinful cannot be patched up, dusted off, or made better. The sinful must be born anew.

Christ Jesus Himself illustrated this truth. “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:16–17). The old cannot contain the new. The sinner cannot contain righteousness. A new vessel is required. A new man must be created.

Scripture declares that this is exactly what God does in the new birth. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The new man is not the old man improved. He is God’s workmanship, created, not reformed. “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Scripture does not say “improved in righteousness.” It says “created in righteousness.”

This new man is created by incorruptible seed, not corruptible. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God…” (1 Peter 1:23). Incorruptible seed produces an incorruptible nature. A nature created in righteousness cannot produce sin, for righteousness cannot bring forth unrighteousness. Therefore Scripture speaks with unmistakable force: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). And again, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18).

If death comes by sin, and the born again sinneth not, then death cannot touch the new man. The life given in the new birth is not subject to the old curse, for the cause of death, sin, is not found in him. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). None of these can touch the life that is born of God. Jesus Himself seals the matter: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

Death comes by sin. Life comes by the new birth. The old man dies because he sins. The new man lives because he is born of God. This is the plain testimony of Scripture, and the foundation of the believer’s assurance: the life God gives is eternal because the nature God creates is righteous, and the righteous nature cannot sin, and death is by sin. And as death comes by sin, and the new man cannot sin, therefore he cannot die, cannot lose his place, cannot lose his salvation. This is not the work of man, but the work of God.

The security of the believer rests upon this single, immovable truth: the new man is eternally secure. His life is not maintained by human effort, nor preserved by human strength. It is preserved because it is born of God, created in righteousness, sustained by incorruptible seed, and untouched by the sin that brings death. The new man cannot sin, and therefore the new man cannot die. He cannot fall from grace, cannot be severed from Christ, cannot be cast out, cannot be lost. His life is as secure as the God who gave it.

The old man dies, for he is corruptible and tied to Adam. But the new man does not die, for he is incorruptible and tied to Christ. The old man is subject to death because he sins; the new man is immune to death because he is born of God. This is why Scripture speaks with such finality: “They shall never perish.” The life given in Christ is eternal because the nature God creates is righteous, and the righteous nature cannot sin, and death is by sin.

Therefore the new man cannot die. Therefore the new man cannot be lost. Therefore the new man is eternally secure.

Salvation is not the fragile achievement of man; it is the sovereign creation of God. This is the believer’s assurance, not because he holds God, but because God holds him.

~Tony

© A.K. Pritchard 1990 -

Free to use with proper attribution