Did the Fall Lead to Physical Death? (Genesis 2:17)
Many Christians believe that the penalty for Adam and Eve eating the “forbidden fruit” from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—a.k.a. the Fall—was physical death (Gen. 2:17). Therefore, physical death must one day be overcome so that things will be restored to what they were like before the Fall.
As popular as this view is among Christians, the Scriptural evidence is stacked against it. To start with, the Bible teaches that the penalty for eating the forbidden fruit (aka sin) was spiritual death—not physical death. Back in the Garden of Eden, God had warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Yet after eating the forbidden fruit, Adam lived physically to 930 years old (see Genesis 5)! Adam and Eve even had children afterward (Gen. 4:25). Clearly, their punishment was not physical death; it was spiritual death, which is defined as separation from God.[1]
Since the punishment for eating the forbidden fruit (sin) was spiritual death, then the restoration—aka resurrection—must be spiritual too.
Common objection #1: It’s true that Adam and Eve did not die physically on the day they ate the forbidden fruit; however, they began to die that day. The literal Hebrew rendering of Genesis 2:17 is “In the day you eat, dying you shall die” (italics mine). So Adam and Eve began dying physically on the day they ate the forbidden fruit; and eventually, after nine hundred years, they finished dying.
Since the Fall eventually led (after nine hundred years) to physical death, therefore, physical death must one day be overcome in order to restore things to what they were like before the Fall. This is what the general resurrection is all about.
Response: Doesn’t it seem odd that God would threaten Adam and Eve with a punishment that would not be meted out for nine centuries? That would not be much of a motivation not to “eat.” In fact, most people today would probably consider it a blessing—not a curse—to make it to 930.
There is also a glaring scriptural problem. Compare God telling Adam, “In the day you eat, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17) to the serpent telling Eve, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4).
Both passages say something would happen “in the day you eat.” Yet we know for certain that the latter event happened right away—not nine centuries later:
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Gen. 3:6–7, italics mine).
Adam’s and Eve’s eyes were opened the day they ate—not nine centuries later. Their eyes did not begin to open that day; they opened in full! Therefore, they must have also died that day in full. And since they died in full on the day they ate, their death could not have been physical.
Common objection #2: The reason why Adam and Eve did not die physically on the day they ate the forbidden fruit is that God sacrificed an animal in their place. This sacrifice is implied in the statement, “God gave them animal skin tunics with which to clothe themselves” (Gen. 3:21). And this animal sacrifice prolonged Adam’s physical life to age 930.
Response: First, the passage does not say what proponents of that view suggest; it’s an assumption.
Second, if the animal sacrifice suspended physical death for nine hundred years, why didn’t it also do that for the spiritual aspects (the “opening of their eyes”)? And why weren’t Adam and Eve allowed back into the Garden? It’s highly inconsistent to say the animal sacrifice suspended their physical death for nine hundred years…yet it did absolutely nothing for the other aspects.
Third, are we really supposed to believe that an animal sacrifice prolonged Adam’s physical life to age 930, yet Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross cannot get the average Christian to 93? What would that say about the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice compared to animal sacrifices?
In fact, why do Christians die at all? Didn’t Jesus die in our place (Rom. 5:8)? And didn’t Jesus say, “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:26)? If these passages are referring to physical death, then Jesus and the apostles were sorely mistaken because Christians have been dying physically—just like unbelievers—ever since the passages were uttered 2000 years ago.
Keep in mind, I’m not denying that Jesus died/rose physically. But there was more to Jesus’ death/resurrection that merely the physical aspect. In fact, Jesus’ physically resurrection is specifically called a sign (Matt. 12:38-40 and John 20:30-31). Signs point to, or prove, greater spiritual realities. And the greater spiritual reality in this case was that Jesus was restoring mankind’s broken relationship with God, which had begun the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.
The Price of Sin
Scripture is clear that the penalty for sin is spiritual death, not physical death. Paul said, “I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died” (Rom. 7:9, italics mine). As a child, Paul was spiritually alive (prior to the age of accountability -Isa. 7:16, Deut. 1:39). But eventually, Paul became aware of the law, broke it, and died—spiritually, that is. (Had Paul died physically, he would not have been able to tell us about his experience.) Paul died spiritually after breaking the law/sinning, just like Adam and Eve died spiritually after eating the forbidden fruit/sinning. This is when their “face to face” relationship with God was severed.
But Jesus is the solution to this problem: “For as in Adam all die [because all have sinned], even so in Christ all [who put their faith in Christ] shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Jesus restored/restores man’s broken relationship with God, which had begun back in the Garden on the day Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.
This restoration/resurrection had been the hope of Israel—in fact, the hope of mankind—ever since that faithless day back in the Garden. And Jesus made it a reality in the first century!
Jesus Overcame Adamic Death—not Abelic Death
Another way to show that the Fall led to spiritual death (as opposed to physical death) is by considering Paul’s statement to the Corinthians:
“For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Jesus] also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21–22).
As this passage says, Jesus overcame Adamic death. Now here’s the clincher: Adam was not the first person to die physically; Abel, his son, was (when Cain murdered him)! Yet Jesus overcame Adamic death, not Abelic death. In other words, Jesus overcame spiritual death (caused by sin), not physical death (caused by Cain).
Here’s further evidence of this. Consider what Paul said in Romans:
“Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…even so through one Man’s [Christ’s] righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life” (Rom. 5:12–18).
As this passage says, the kind of death which Jesus overcame had entered the world through sin (at the Fall). Yet physical death existed before the Fall (see below)! Therefore, the kind of death that Jesus overcame must have been spiritual death.
There are many reasons we know that physical death existed before sin/the Fall. One, “when scientists investigate God’s creation, they find that humans appear very late in the history of life. The fossil record shows that many creatures died long before humans appeared. In fact, many entire species went extinct millions of years ago (the dinosaurs are the most famous example), long before humans lived.”[2]
Two, without physical death the planet would have quickly been overrun by bacteria, insects, and animals. Bacteria double every four to twenty minutes. An African driver ant can produce three to four million eggs every twenty-five days. A seahorse can produce tens of thousands of offspring. A rabbit can have thirteen litters a year. Without physical death, the earth would have quickly been overrun by life.
Three, there were animals that killed in God’s original creation (Job 38:39–41, Job 39:29–30, Ps. 104:21), and God called it “very good” (Gen. 1:31). “Lion” in Hebrew means “violent,” and “hawk” in Hebrew means “tearing.” The reason why God made animals with fangs and claws was so that they could kill. And God called it “very good.”
Four, the Bible says God purposely made an ostrich so dumb that she allows her eggs to be crushed (Job 39:13–17). This is an example of physical death before the Fall.
Five, death leads to new life: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:23–25). Moreover, seeds were reproducing before the Fall (Gen. 1:12), which means there was physical death before the Fall.
Clearly, physical death existed before the Fall. Yet Jesus overcame the kind of death that entered the world through sin at the Fall (Rom. 5:12–18)—which was spiritual death!
Keep in mind, also, that physical death is not always bad. Consider the following examples:
- God’s pre-Fall creation contained physical death (see examples above), and God called it “very good” (Gen. 1:31).
- Paul considered dying (physically) and being with Christ far better than living in the world: “For I am hard-pressed between the two [living or dying], having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23).
- The psalmist said, “Precious in God’s sight is the death of godly ones” (Ps. 116:15).
- The angel of Revelation said, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on” (Rev. 14:13).
- Physical death gets people thinking about God and eternity—which is good.
- Physical death can be a blessing to those in extreme pain.
As these examples show, physical death is sometimes good; therefore, physical death does not have to be overcome. Spiritual death, on the other hand, is always bad. It equates to separation from God. Thus, it had to be overcome. Thankfully, it has been—through Christ!
For more information about this topic, please see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available NOW on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 6/7/25
[1] Don Preston, The Death of Adam, the Life of Christ
[2] Biologos, “Did Death Occur before the Fall?” Oct. 2, 2023.
