This is why understanding the nature of Christ, (GodHead/Trinity) is essential. You have to understand who God is and how He became flesh and suffered the death we deserve, and how He was 'sundered' when He laided down His life.

Jesus "tasted" the FIRST Death

It is true that Jesus died the first death which is the physical death on the cross. This is the death he has “tasted” (g1089 geuomai, to taste; by implication, to eat; figurartively, to experience).

Jesus refered to this “tasting of death” as the first death in Mat 16:28 [i]“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste (g1089 geuomai, to experience) of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” (see also Mar 9:1; Luk 9:27; Jn 8:52) Here Jesus is referring that some will not taste death(die the first death) at his second coming. Here we are talking about the first death, not the second.

First Death = Physical, Second Death = Spiritual(Submission)

However, I do believe that Jesus also died the second death as you said from Gethsedmane to Golgotha, and I will add also at his baptism and even when He will succeed to subdue all things under him(1Cor 15:28), Jesus will submit to His Father even when the Great Controversy will be over so that the Father can be All in All. Jesus’ life on earth and before and after = always-- is a continual submission to His Father, as Paul refers to this as dyeing daily.

The second death is a spiritual death as opposed to the first death which is physical. Jesus described the first death as only a sleep because He knew that He will swallow up death with His resurrection.

There is a first death and a second death, like there is a first birth and a second birth. The first birth is physical, and the second is spiritual, just like it is for the first death which is physical and the second is spiritual. The physical is first, then the spiritual is second which is explained in 1 Cor 15:44,46 “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body... Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterwards that which is spiritual."

For us, the second death is the process of " DYING TO SIN", "BURYING THE OLD MAN OF SIN". It is a Spiritual Death and not a physical death.

Elle, thank you. Yes, there is a spiritual aspect of the second death experience. However, there is also the literal aspect of the experience. That is, at the end of time, after the second resurrection, the wicked will revisit their sins and perish in the lake of fire in the consuming presence of God's fiery glory. In this sense, it is Satan who will suffer and perish with our sins and second death - not Jesus.

The wages of sin is death. What death? The pain of hopeless separation from God. Did Christ experience that? "My God, My God,
why have you forsaken me." Incidently, if the wages of sin is suffering eternal torment in hell, then there is no hope for anybody, because that is not the price that Christ paid.

Mike, you are making the water quite muddy by fusing the definition of the 2nd Death with the 1st Death. They are distinct and totally separate and needs to be refered and viewed with their disctinction. The first death is a physical death which deals with the physical body, whereas the second is a spiritual death which deals with the spiritual aspect of the person. .

1st Death= Physical Death – This is what Jesus TASTED at the cross(see Mat 16:28) = also Jesus calls it a sleep.

Your statememt above is not true. According to Mat 16:28, Jesus define the “tasting of death” as the first death – which is a physical death.

2nd Death = Spiritual Death – This death has noting to do with the physical body it is a spiritual experience which for us is a repentance from following our own ways and its result is a Submission to the Father’s Will which Jesus has demonstrated always.


Since your understanding and definition of the Second Death is not in harmony with scriptures therefore your interpretations of the lake of fire needs revision.

Are you saying that the second death is the seperation from God? If so, it's still not the Biblical definition.

Also, is your main point here on the eternal aspect of hell? However you do believe in the torment in hell which will result in the anihilation of the person? Right? There's not much difference in these doctrines. Both is based on a punitive judgment system which is the way of the WORLD.

God's judgments that He showed us in the Law of Moses are Righteous Judgments based on Mercy which restore the offender by making him pay restitution to the victim.

The punitive Judgment of this WORLD and in the anihilation doctrine does not (1)restore the offender and (2)bring restitution to the victim. Therefore Justice is not served.

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:14&15.
What is the result of death being cast into the fire? Rev 21:4
"And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death." Whatever is cast into the lake of fire is consumed.
Malachi 4:1,3 "For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn them as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch.(3)
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under
the souls of your feet in the day that I shall do this,saith the Lord of hosts." Now link this with Isa. 59:2
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you." The first death is described as a sleep, because for every one there will be a resurrection. But in the second death, there is no resurrection,
but as it says in 2 Thess. 1:9 "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. When Christ took our sin upon Him, He experienced the hiding of His Father's face and the prospect of eternal destruction from his Fathers presence, the hopeless despair of the second death. Gal. 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written Cursed (by God) is everyone that hangeth on a tree."
That is why the jews wanted Him crucified, even though the punishment for blasphemy was death by stoning. If they could get him on the cross, it would prove that He could not be the Messiah, because He would be dying the death of one cursed of God. The wages of sin is not a temporary sleep, as is the first death, but to be cut off from God with no hope of resurrection,
the second death.

My understanding of the 2nd death is being resurrected from the 1st death, which is the 2nd resurrection at the end of the 1,000 years, or resurrection of those who rejected Christ,only to suffer the 2nd death from which there will not be another resurrection. As the 1st death is physical and the 1st resurrection will also be physical, the 2nd resurrection will also be physical and the resulting 2nd death will also be physical.

So do you think Christ died the first death?

No, if the wages of sin is the first death, and if that is what Christ died, then how come Christians are still dying? If Christ took my place and died for me, I still die the first death, but
not the second death, because that is the death Christ experienced for me. It was not the death of a martyr or a saint, but the death of a liar, an adulterer, a murderer, and everything that is bad, as He took our sin upon Himself, or as Isaiah says, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Or as 2 Cor. 5:21 says,
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." No wonder Paul exclaimed, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things." Rom. 8:32.