When Scripture speaks of death and life, I want to pause before assuming that every passage describes someone dying physically.
A person can be physically alive while being described as dead. A person can also be described as having died with Christ while continuing to live in the flesh.
Those distinctions matter to understanding the life we have been examining.
The Dead Who Bury the Dead
In Luke 9:59–60, Jesus calls someone to follow Him. When the man asks first to bury his father, Jesus answers:
“Leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Those doing the burying are physically alive. The same word therefore reaches beyond physical death within this statement.
For my study, this raises a question: what does it mean to be alive before God?
Ordinary human activity cannot, by itself, answer that question. This is part of why I distinguish physical existence from the spiritual life received from YHWH (יהוה).
Alive in a Mortal Body
Romans 6:11–13 makes another distinction explicit.
Paul tells his readers to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Yet he still describes their bodies as mortal and instructs them not to let sin reign there.
They are being addressed as people who can make choices, respond, and present themselves to God.
This is life that matters while they are still here.
The instruction concerns what governs their conduct: whether they offer themselves to wrongdoing or to righteousness. Their physical mortality has not prevented Paul from speaking of them as alive to God.
That is the distinction I want readers to notice before treating spiritual life as something that can begin only after the body dies.
Crucified, Yet Living
Paul brings these descriptions together personally in Galatians 2:19–20.
He describes having been crucified with Christ and Christ living in him. He then speaks of the life he now lives in the flesh through faith in the Son of God.
His earthly life continues, but he describes a profound change in that life’s relationship and direction.
For me, this helps explain why being born again is life-altering. It concerns more than adopting different language. What I trust, what I follow, and how I respond begin to change.
What Does “I Die Daily” Describe?
Paul also writes:
“I die daily.”
He is physically alive as he writes those words.
In 1 Corinthians 15:30–32, the immediate discussion concerns continual danger and the reason for enduring it in light of resurrection. I want to preserve that setting.
Alongside it, Jesus speaks of denying oneself, taking up one’s cross daily, and following Him. Luke 9:23–24
These passages bring daily faithfulness and its cost into view. Romans 6 contributes the related instruction to refuse sin’s rule in the life we are living now.
I compare these passages because they help me examine continuing allegiance. Each contributes something to the study without requiring every use of death to mean exactly the same thing.
Recognizing the Conflict Within
Romans 7:15–25 describes the painful conflict between wanting what is good and finding another law at work in one’s members.
That language became meaningful to me as I examined my own responses. Recognizing a harmful desire and wanting to resist it did not mean every struggle immediately disappeared.
But awareness brought responsibility.
If I recognize resentment, dishonesty, or cruelty in my response, what will I do with that recognition? Will I excuse it, or bring it before God and work to respond differently?
Romans 8:12–14 connects putting the deeds of the body to death through the Spirit with living and being led by the Spirit.
The direction is toward life. The conduct being rejected is what harms that relationship.
Living the Change
For me, turning from old ways is something I must continue to practice in the life I have been given.
It may mean admitting that I was wrong, refusing to repeat something untrue, or choosing patience when anger would be easier. It also means accepting correction without treating it as a threat to everything I believe.
I remain dependent upon YHWH (יהוה). I cannot produce spiritual life through my own effort, but I can take seriously the responsibility to follow.
Being physically alive, being alive to God, and allowing sin to govern are different questions. Keeping those distinctions visible helps me understand why receiving life and learning to live faithfully belong together.
Threads to Follow
Physical existence and being alive to God.
The dead who bury their dead.
A mortal body and a changed allegiance.
Daily faithfulness, endurance, and turning from sin.
Hearing, discernment, and learning to follow the Spirit.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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