Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary

Death is unnatural in the sense that it is not the design of the Creator. It’s not supposed to happen to you. When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden, it was not His purpose for them to die. Death is not just a part of the “circle of life” as in that horrible Disney song. Holy Scripture describes death as the curse for sin (Romans 5 [show]Romans 5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV)
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As a thing unnatural, death is not something I am willing to make peace with. There will be no coming to terms. No armistice. Contrary to the well-intentioned but ethically challenged right-to-die crowd, death is not a friend to be welcomed as the deliverer from this world’s troubles. Death is the enemy whom Christ has destroyed! 1 Corinthians 15:26 [show]1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (ESV)
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Our time, once coined the Culture of Death, wants to redefine death, to domesticate it. The Culture of Death believes that death is nature’s way of making room for life. The Culture of Death believes that a person’s value is determined by his productivity so that when a person becomes a burden or a drain, then he should die. It’s a “survival of the fittest” thing.

Of course, one must accept the reality that biological death is inevitable for all of us (except those alive at the parousia). And there are times when a dying person must be allowed to die - though not because it is his/her “right” but because it has become the lesser evil.

At the same time, I confess that by His own dying and rising, our Lord Jesus has transformed death so that for those who are baptized into Christ, death has lost its sting. We are set free from the fear of death and, as the Apostle writes, we do not grieve as the world does. For the new creature in Christ, death is no more a threat than a night of sleep.

Christians may inadvertently contribute to this domestication of death when we emphasize that so-and-so has gone to a better place. That’s true. And it is comforting. Jesus told the penitent thief, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.” And St. Paul does write that to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. But the focus must not be upon the soul residing in heaven.

Our final hope, after all, is not that one day this ol’ body will give out and we will be liberated from the prison house of the flesh to soar with God. Our final hope is to share in Christ’s bodily resurrection, having already been made a participant in it through Holy Baptism. And thus will be overturned the curse of sin and the reign of death forever.