Scripture never uses spiritual death in relation to believers. Every time it is in reference to the lost. True, sin will affect the relationship between a child of God and the Father, but it does not separate us relationally. We still remain a child. My son doesn't cease being my son when he does something wrong. If it did, salvation ceases to be eternal.
On the contrary. One must go by Scriptural definitions. The question is not whether one is a Christian or not. Rather what is the definition of "death"?
Death is consistently defined in the Bible as "separation," whether applied to unbelievers or believers. Death = Separation. We cannot arbitrarily change the meanings of words to suit our theology. All the way through Scripture death means separation.
Let's look at it more extensively this time.
1.
There is physical death or separation.
James 2:26 For as
the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
--Death occurs when the spirit is separated from the body. Death is separation. This is physical death which we are all acquainted with.
2.
There is eternal death or eternal separation.
Romans 6:23 For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Notice the contrast Paul makes: eternal life is contrasted to death, meaning eternal death. Eternal death is eternal separation from God. Eternal life is to be with God for all eternity. Eternal death is to be separated from God for all eternity. Death is separation.
3.
There is spiritual death or separation for the unbeliever (before he dies or gets saved).
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
--Paul says that these Ephesian believers were once dead. They are now alive, made alive through the Holy Spirit, but before then they were dead. How? They were spiritually dead. That is they were separated from Christ and would be separated from Christ until Christ would make them alive or bring them into communion with him.
Every man has a spirit. The spirit isn't "dead" as in a corpse. It is dead as the spirit is spiritually inoperable until it is made operable or given life by the Holy Spirit. These believers were told that they were dead. That simply means that they were once separated from God in their unsaved state.
4.
There is spiritual death or separation for the believer.
There is much Scripture that tells us that sin separates us from Christ.
Keep in mind death is separation. That is the definition. So a believer can be dead to Christ if he is in sin. It is a loss of fellowship. This is what the first chapter of First John is all about.
1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
--If we are saved we ought to be having fellowship with Christ. But if we are living in sin we may be saved, but our fellowship is broken, and we are only lying to ourselves.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
--If our sins are confessed and we are walking in the light then we do have fellowship with Christ, and are not dead or separated from him.
--How can we do that? The answer is given in verse 9.
Psalm 66:18 tells us that sin can separate us from God. God does not hear our prayers if there is sin in our hearts. It separates us from God. Death is separation.
Death is separation whether one is speaking of the believer or unbeliever.
