What Is Death? (and the Second Death)

Death is something very few of us truly understand. Some define it as no longer being in existence. Others describe it as “falling asleep.” Still, others simply define it as the end of life. But what is death, really?

The truth is, the only thing we all seem to agree on is that it happens to every one of us. Yet, the Bible talks about death in many places, and we can learn from it.

When we hear the word ‘death,’ we usually think of the body dying. But the Bible describes more than one kind of death—spiritual and physical. As we continue our study we will explore both kinds of death.

Before we can talk about death, we have to talk about life. Let’s define it first. The National Library of Medicine quotes Erwin Schrödinger as saying a living being is:

A natural entity whose internal changes and external behavior cannot be predicted by the universal laws and forces of physics alone at all times.

In other words, something that is alive has a mind of its own. It makes its own choices. If it wants to move a limb, it moves that limb. It doesn’t require an outside force to make it act. To quote another famous writer: “I think, therefore I am.”

This may be the best definition of life. When Moses asked God who He was, God replied, “I AM THAT I AM.” He had no one to name Him. He simply is who He is. He is life itself.

So now we understand what life is: the ability to think and act of our own accord. We have that ability because God Himself gives it to us. Life is only possible because of—and through—the I AM.

What is Death

Now that we understand life, we can talk about death. To put it simply, death is the alternative to life. If life is the ability to think and act of our own accord, then death is the inability to think and act of our own accord.

According to the Bible, the power of death was in the hands of the Devil. So what is the “power of death”? Now that we understand what death is, we can answer that. The power of death is the ability to remove one’s capacity to think and act independently.

Since death was first introduced in the book of Genesis, perhaps we should begin looking at the subject from there. The Bible tells us how death entered the world: Adam ate from the tree of knowledge. He disobeyed God, gained an intimate knowledge of good and evil, and realized he had committed a sin.

Adam discovered death at that moment.

We touched on this briefly in Unit 2:1, but we didn’t go into detail about it. The Scripture is very clear: God told them that on the very same day they ate from the tree, they would die.

But the Bible also tells us they lived for hundreds of years after this event. They didn’t stop existing. They didn’t fall to the ground from heart attacks. They just kept going. Why?

Paul explains what God meant when He told Adam that he would die that very day. It meant Adam would be brought under bondage to sin. It meant Adam would no longer be able to do whatever he wanted. He would be ruled by evil. He would not even be able to control his own thoughts.

Imagine standing in a beautiful room with the door wide open to freedom—but your ankles are chained to the floor. That’s what sin does to us. You can see the good. You can want to reach it. But you’re stuck, held down by something stronger than your will.

Every one of us knows what this feels like. We are tempted in our minds, having thoughts we wish we didn’t. We do things we know we shouldn’t. As humans, we are subject to the temptations of the Devil, hindering our ability to act and even think as we may wish.

Some of us may think we’re in charge of our own minds and lives. And to a point, that’s true. Because we are alive, we can act as we wish—but we also have to deal with being restricted and prone to sin, even if we don’t want to be.

This is where we find ourselves: both alive and dead at the same time.

Different Types of Death

Notice Paul says “this death.” This implies there is more than one type of death. We just talked about Adam being spiritually dead, but there is also a physical death—which, of course, we all understand.

Now that we’ve seen how Paul describes spiritual death, let’s talk about physical death.

Here we see the Bible saying that the body of Abraham was “dead.” Why? Because Abraham could no longer perform in the bedroom. He couldn’t act as he wished due to physical limitations. His body was in bondage to the effects of sin in our world.

Their bodies had broken down—from once being capable to now being incapable. This is a physical description of death. It is being broken down and deteriorated from being healthy, vibrant, and useful. It is turning into something less than its original, brand-new condition.

God told Adam and Eve they would die that very day, and they did. Not with a funeral—but with the onset of decay. Their minds, emotions, and bodies began unraveling from perfection to brokenness. Even today, our skin is covered in dead cells—small reminders that we are constantly in the process of dying.

Eventually, we all return to dust. Our bodies stop working. No breath, no heartbeat, no action. That is the first death.

The Second Death

The Bible speaks of two deaths: the first and the second death. Remember, death is corruption and a lack of ability to operate on your own accord. So the Bible tells us there is a first death and a second death. It’s referring to two levels of corruption.

We all die. We all decay. But not all of us die twice. Let me explain.

Our bodies will return to dust. This is the first death, the one all people are appointed to—it is a physical death. But we are not just bodies. We have a soul as well.

When the body completely dies, the spirit departs from it. The body has lost all ability to function. It doesn’t even have a pulse. But the soul continues.

At this point, we will reach the judgment. Will God allow our soul to live, or will He cast us into hell to once again experience death—a second time? First, it was our body that lost the ability to think and act. The second death is our soul losing that ability, too.

Some may believe that hell is not eternal. They believe the soul will simply vanish. But remember—death isn’t non-existence. Even the body that died still exists. It has just broken down into useless dust. But it is still there in some form.

The soul doesn’t vanish. It becomes trapped, unable to move forward or change. Like a person locked in a room with their worst memories and feelings echoing forever, with no windows, no clocks, and no end.

The Death of a Soul

So, if the body breaks down to the point where it no longer feels pain, shouldn’t our souls break down like that too? Well, that’s exactly why hell is such a terrifying thing.

What is the soul made of? What would it break down into? It isn’t made from dust. It doesn’t feel pain because of nerve endings that can disintegrate like the body does.

The soul can never break down to the point that it stops feeling pain—because there is nothing physical in it to break down. The soul is the very essence of who a person is. It is our mind, will, and emotions. It is our energy—our life force—that gives animation to the body. It cannot degrade into a lesser form.

So, if the soul doesn’t physically break down, does it really die?

Let me ask you this: How sane are you? Because sanity can be broken down into insanity. How strong is your willpower? It can be reduced to nothing. How emotionally stable are you? You can become a wreck. In short, the soul can break down—into chaos.

It can break down to the point where you are no longer in control of yourself. Your feelings, your thoughts—everything that defines your identity—can slip into complete disorder. Pain doesn’t have to be physical. It can be mental, emotional, or spiritual. And this is the kind of pain a soul experiences.

It’s because the soul cannot vanish or physically deteriorate to numb the pain that makes hell a place of eternal torment. The soul will endure forever. And yet, the soul will still die—because the death of the soul is the rotting of your sanity, your will, your emotions, and the very core of who you are.

Later, when we talk about the resurrection, we’ll see why there is also physical pain in the lake of fire. Those who suffer the second death will experience not only the internal torment of madness but also the external pain of fire and darkness.

Truly, death is something none of us want to experience. But thank God—He has provided a way to save our souls from the second death. Even our bodies, though they must die the first death, can be raised to new life. But a soul that has never been made right with God will remain corrupted—and will suffer for all eternity.

In each of these cases—spiritual and physical—death means the same thing: the breakdown of what was once whole. It’s not about disappearing, but about losing purpose, control, and ability.

In our next study, we’ll talk more about the place of the dead itself, called Hell. What does the Bible really say about it?

Continue To Unit 2:9 – What Does the Bible Say about Hell OR

Return To Christianity 101 Unit 2 – Sin and Eternal Judgment