Spiritual Death Never Follows Spiritual Life

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God can raise the spiritually dead to life, but He never murders the spiritually alive, returning them to spiritual death. God is of life not death. He transfers people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Nowhere does the Bible say that He transfers people from the kingdom of light into the kingdom of darkness.

All sin comes from spiritual darkness, but even those who are spiritually alive can sin. A pattern of ongoing sin might indicate spiritual death, however, God is the sole determiner of who has life and who has death. Therefore, we must be careful not to judge (eternally) believers based on sin that surfaces in their lives.

Saul and Spiritual Death

We all start in spiritual death. No one is born into this physical world spiritually alive. Did Saul become alive and then dead again?

On the ground that King Saul did a great deal of evil, some say that he “fell from grace” and was lost. First, I grant that Saul did very many wrong things, and had he been dealt with according to his life, he would have been lost. But if our sins were marked against us, we would all be lost. If Saul ever had been born of the Spirit, which I will not deny, then, notwithstanding his life had many things connected with it that were evil, yet in God’s account these evil things were not imputed to him.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1 John 3:9 ESV

Have you or I the right to say that King Saul was not interested in this text?

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Romans 7:20 ESV

Romans 7:20 explains 1 John 3:9. Who has a right to say that King Saul shall be excluded from the benefit of this text? Paul claimed it, and Saul needed it as much as Paul. But I deny that any man has a right to say that Saul had no interest in these passages. But I know that if he was born of God, he could not continue in sin. To say he could is to flatly deny God’s word.

“Blessed is the man unto whom God will not impute sin.” Who knows that Saul was not such a man? If God did not impute sin to him, how could he fall? If God should mark but one sin, and that the least of all our sins, none of us could be saved. So, the reason why Saul or anyone else is saved, is that God does not impute sin to him. We are told that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” Here we see that God’s way of reconciling is by not imputing sin to those whom he reconciles.

Now, if Saul was one that God ever reconciled, he was one that sin was not imputed to, and if sin was not imputed to him, we can know what happened to him; he experienced physical death, not spiritual death. The sin against the Holy Spirit is the only unpardonable sin, and I am certain there is no evidence that Saul had committed that sin.

There is not a single passage that proves Saul was lost. There were marks of repentance in Saul at different times. An evil spirit troubled him from God, and if you take pains to examine the whole history of Saul, you will be convinced that no man living has a right to say that the plan of salvation would not embrace him. He was rejected from being king over Israel, and truly this was a sore punishment, both to him and his posterity, but who has the boldness to say that God not only afflicted him but also sent him to hell?

Suppose Saul did, in the heat of battle (seeing himself about to be delivered into the hands of his enemies), prefer death at his own hands. Shall he for this be called a murderer in the sense that excludes him from Heaven? Let no man say that Saul’s sins were not all washed away in the blood of Christ unless he has some evidence of that fact.

When Samuel arose from the dead and communed with Saul, he said, “Tomorrow shall you and your sons be with me.” Therefore, if Saul went to hell, Samuel must have been in hell. Not only he but also Jonathan, the man whom David so greatly loved. If there is nothing better than the case of Saul to sustain apostasy, it will have to fail.

Israelites and Spiritual Death

Some say that the Israelites, who died in the wilderness, all “fell from grace” and went to hell. Question: What evidence have we that they were all Christians, or that they all went to hell? Where is Miriam, the sweet singer, who led in praise to God on the banks of the Red Sea? What about Moses, the mighty man of God, who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with our Savior, and many other devoted servants of God that might be named? They all must have gone to hell, to make this argument good.

When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die.

Ezekiel 18:26 ESV

Read the entire chapter. Some say this chapter teaches the possibility of apostasy. But this could only be a valid argument if eternal salvation was the intended subject.

I do not deny that many of the Israelites did die, as a penalty of law, from the time Moses went up into Sinai, and amid smoke and fire received the law. All Bible readers know that the law, or first covenant, did not require men to keep its conditions in order to live naturally (if there were so everyone would die instantly). However, physical death (not spiritual death) was a penalty attached to the violation of that law. There never was a law given to men that could give eternal life.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

Galatians 3:21 ESV

There is no place in the scriptures where eternal life is promised to those (non-believers) who keep the law of Moses, or eternal death to those (believers) who violate it.

Consider Deuteronomy 28 to see what is promised to the obedient, and also to the disobedient. Here we have the obedient blessed in the city, field, the fruit of his body, his cows, sheep, store, and basket. His enemies shall be smitten and all people shall fear him. Not one promise of eternal life, but every solitary blessing there named is of a natural kind. Why? Because men never did nor ever will go to Heaven for their works of any kind. We also see in that chapter that the wicked is cursed in the city, field, basket, store, and the fruit of his body, etc.

The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.

Deuteronomy 28:20 ESV

Not one word about being lost. Compare Deuteronomy 28 with Ezekiel 18, and you will see that it is plain that the prophet is setting forth God’s purpose revealed to Moses. Neither of these chapters mentions eternal life or eternal death, in connection with obedience or disobedience. If you carefully compare these two chapters I am sure you will not find either of them referring to saving faith in Christ.

Besides, we have the plain words of scripture, setting all this aside. In Hebrews 8 we learn that God’s people are not under the old covenant of works, but under one of grace, — a new one. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). The Bible says sin shall not have dominion over you; apostasy says it may. Reader, which do you believe?

In verse 15, Paul considers the reasoning of those who believe apostasy is possible, saying, “What then? Shall we continue in sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” Apostasy and its friends say, “Yes, go your length in sin if you are to be saved freely by grace.” But true piety says, “How shall we that are dead to sin live in it any longer?”

Therefore, we have shown the argument for apostasy to be a straightforward misapplication of God’s word, as you will find every other argument brought in favor of apostasy.

Spiritual Life and Spiritual Death

The spiritually dead remain so without the fullness of God’s help. The spiritually dead can only change their appearance, to look like life, for some time.

What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

2 Peter 2:22 ESV

So that you may see clearly that this has no reference to losing salvation, consider the following:

1. The whole chapter shows that these are mere external professors; “spots they are, and blemishes;” “having eyes full of adultery;” “hearts exercised with covetous practices;” “cursed children;” “they are servants of corruption.”
2. “It is a true proverb.” It is a proverb that never fails; therefore, all such referred to in this chapter will certainly go back into open sin.
3. They are compared to the dog that vomited up his foul contents. However, he yet has the stomach of a dog and consequently goes back to the old mess. The sow likewise, being only washed on the outside, retains her swinish nature.

Because this is a true proverb, it is one that never fails. Therefore, if it even proves that God’s children can fall, it proves that all will certainly fall. We have seen enough to declare that the advocates of apostasy are ready to grasp at anything to support their beliefs.

We can see that how much a person sins does not primarily determine whether a person is saved, but it is their status before Christ that matters. Who does God see when He looks at you? Does He see His forgiven child, with all sin cast onto His Son Jesus, or does He only see a person yet living in spiritual death, separated from life in Jesus? Only God can truly know and judge this for anyone other than yourself.

I would not knowingly falsely comfort God’s children; but certainly, we are kept by the power of God, are in his hand, and none can take us from him, for he is greater than all; he keeps us as the apple of his eye. A woman may forget her baby, but God will not forget us. No weapon shall prosper against us. He that has begun a good work in us, shall perform it till the last.

Oh, let us praise God for His faithfulness. In the last day, Jesus will say, “Behold I and the children which God hath given me.” All will be there — none left behind. Praise the Lord, all His saints!

Thy works, not mine, oh Christ,

Speak gladness to this heart,

They tell me all is done;

They bid my fear depart.

To whom, save thee —

Who can alone

For sin atone —

Lord, shall I flee?

Thy pain, not mine, oh Christ,

Upon the shameful tree,

Have paid the law’s full price,

And purchased peace for me.

To whom save thee —

Who can alone

For sin atone — Lord, shall I flee?”

This is post 18 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
https://www.gotquestions.org/was-King-Saul-saved.html
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