77. Did Adam die the same day (Genesis 2:17) or did he continue to live to the age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5)?

(Category: misunderstood how God works in history)

The Scriptures describe death in three ways; 1) Physical death which ends our life on earth, 2) spiritual death which is separation from God, and 3) eternal death in hell. The death spoken of in Genesis 2:17 is the second death mentioned in our list, that of complete separation from God, while the death mentioned in Genesis 5:5 is the first death, a physical death which ends our present life.

For obvious reasons Shabbir will see this as a contradiction because he does not understand the significance of spiritual death which is a complete separation from God, since he will not admit that Adam had any relationship with God to begin with in the garden of Eden. The spiritual separation (and thus spiritual death) is shown visibly in Genesis chapter 3 where Adam was thrown out of the Garden of Eden and away from God's presence.

Ironically Adam being thrown out of the garden of Eden is also mentioned in the Qur'an (Sura 2:36), though there is no reason for this to happen, if (as Muslims believe) Adam had been forgiven for his sin. Here is an example of the Qur'an borrowing a story from the earlier scriptures without understanding its meaning or significance, and therein lies the assumption behind the supposed contradiction.

(for a clearer understanding of the significance of spiritual death and how that impinges on nearly every area of disagreement Christians have with Islam, read the paper entitled "The Hermeneutical Key" by Jay Smith.)

It is objected that: "In the first account Adam may eat from any fruit tree; while in the second he may not eat the fruit of all trees."

However, the tree of knowledge is part of a garden not planted until Genesis 2:8. It did not exist at the time Gen. 1:29 is recorded; Gen. 2:17 is therefore updated instructions.

John 11:26—How could Jesus say we will never die when the Bible declares all will eventually die?

Problem: God Himself said to Adam, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Paul reaffirmed this, declaring that “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). But Jesus seems to contradict this when He affirmed, “whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26).

Solution: First of all, even taken literally, Jesus was not denying that believers would die. In fact, He affirmed it in the previous verse, saying, “though he may die, he shall live.” In other words, Jesus claimed that because He was “the resurrection and the life” (v. 25), He would resurrect those who believe in Him unto eternal life (cf. John 5:28–29).

Further, Jesus may have been speaking about spiritual life and spiritual death. In this sense, those who believe in Him will have spiritual life (John 3:16, 36), even though they will experience physical death. For those who are born only once will die twice, once physically and once again at the “second death” (Rev. 20:14) or final separation from God. But those who are born twice (John 3:3, 7) will only die once (physically), but will live with God forever.