Gen. 2:17, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was quoted to prove that death is a conscious existence, as Adam and Eve only began to die that day. Please explain. B.
There is a difference between "death" and "dying." One is the process, the other the finished fruit. There would be force in this application of the text if Adam and Eve had continued in that state. But they did not; they died. The margin of the text is "dying, thou shalt die." That is, Adam became then a dying man. The great fact is, that he would have died then had not the Son of God intervened, given him a new probation, and put off the final result. Any way we may look at the text, it does not teach that death is continued existence.
Dying may continue a season, but it ends in death, a completed process. If death is continued existence, what is life, its opposite?