When Life Begins - When Life Dies

See also When an Unborn or Young Child Dies

Life begins when the Holy Spirit creates a holy, eternal, spiritual being, a soul and spirit; within the tiny, mortal, sinful, physical being, a body and mind; which has just attached to the womb of the mother, after being conceived by the seed of a man and a woman. 

*For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Ps 139:13-16 NIV+ Inmost being soul + spirit Ps 103:1

 

Note: An embryo is the tiny physical being which attaches to their mother’s womb after growing for 6-12 days from the time they were conceived from a woman’s ovum and a man’s sperm. The Spirit then creates an eternal spiritual being (soul and spirit) within this one week old embryo of many hundred cells; giving them life.

 

We all have a soul and spirit (heart), our spiritual being. We all have a mind and body (strength), our physical being.

*And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  Mk 12:30 ESV+

*And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  Lk 10:27 ESV+

 

Our physical being, our body and mind

 

Our Heavenly Father designed Adam and Eve as a new and unique physical creation. The Son of God took dust from the ground and created Adam’s holy physical being, his body and mind. We know that it was created holy, for our Father saw everything that He had designed, His Son had created, and it was good.

*And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Gen 2:7 NKJV+

*And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Gen 1:31 ESV+

 

Our Father’s plan was for man and woman to marry, become one flesh, and to conceive a physical being, a body and mind. So people could multiply, and replenish the earth

*For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Gen 2:24-25 NASB+

*And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: Gen 1:28 KJV

 

Yet Adam disobeyed God, brought sin and death into the world. Our physical being, our body and mind, will inherit Adam’s original sin. And because of this sin, our body and mind can die at any time.    

*In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."  Gen 3:19 NKJV+

*Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned Ro 5:12 NASB+

 

Our Father uses our parent’s genes to physically design each one of as a unique, different physical being, in the likeness of Adam. No two of us will even have the same fingerprints. Yet we all will inherit Adam’s sin, his image, which is carried in his seed, and all of us will be conceived sinful.

*He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. Gen 5:1-3 NKJV+

*Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Ps 51:5 NKJV+

 

Our spiritual being, our soul and spirit

 

In the beginning God’s Son breathed into the nostrils of the man He had just formed from the dust of the ground, and Adam became a living being. The Son blew the Holy Spirit into the physical man, and the Spirited created a spiritual being within man, a soul and spirit. And when the Spirit gave life to Adam’s spiritual being, life was also given to his physical being, his body and mind.

*And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Gen 2:7 NKJV+

*For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Ja 2:26 NKJV+

*And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Jn 20:22 NKJV+

 

We were created as a new creation, with a physical being, with a body and mind. Yet we were also created in the image and likeness of our God, and His angelic spiritual beings. 

*Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Gen 1:26 ESV+
*God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen 1:27 NASB+

*what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Ps 8:4-5 NIV+

 

We were created holy, in the likeness of our God, in the likeness He created His heavenly spiritual beings with. 

*because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."  1Pe 1:16 NKJV+

*For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels. Lk 9:26 ASV

 

We were created with a spiritual being, a spirit and soul. In the image of our God, in the image He created all of the angelic spiritual beings with. Our God

*God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Jn 4:24 ASV

*Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, And he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. Matt 12:18 ASV

*Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?  Heb 1:14 NIV+

 

Our spiritual being is eternal, like all the heavenly spiritual beings created through the Spirit by our Father.  Our God has been, will always be. His angelic spiritual beings in the Heavens were created to be eternal also, for they do not die. 

*But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. Jer 10:10 NKJV+

*for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. Lk 20:36 NASB+

 

Our spiritual beings are created in the image of all angelic spiritual beings, mature enough to know right from wrong, with a free will to choose to do either one. Angelic beings have to know right from wrong from creation, for they get no second chance if they sin. The devil was once an angelic spiritual being, yet had a free will and choose to disobey God. 

*You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Jn 8:44 NKJV+

*“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt 25:41 ESV+

 

The Holy Spirit will always create all spiritual beings, including our spiritual being. Our spiritual being is created in the image of the angelic spiritual beings. And angelic spiritual beings do not procreate, reproduce, they are created.

*Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. Ps 148:5 NKJV+

*At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Mt 22:30 NIV+

 

No sinful mortal physical being can procreate a holy, eternal, spiritual being.

*That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Jn 3:6 ASV

*Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!  Job 14:4 NIV+

 

Our Father sends the Spirit to create a holy, eternal, spiritual being within us; after our parents have conceived a tiny physical being, which has attached to the mother’s womb. Our inmost being, our spirit and soul, has been given life. 

*When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. Ps 104:30 NIV

*The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, Zec 12:1 NASB+

 

Our holy, eternal, living spiritual being then gives life to the tiny mortal, sinful, physical being in which it now resides. Now a living spiritual being, lives within a living physical being. A baby, a little child, lives within their mother’s womb.

*I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created. Isa 57:16 NIV+

*The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4 NKJV+

 

Our spiritual being from the time it was created:

 

Is mature enough to know our God or reject Him, is able to accept the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Just because our spiritual being is created holy does not mean it will remain holy. Our spiritual being is created mature enough to reject God anytime after it has been created, make the same decision that satan and all of his angels made.   

*From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Ps 22:10 NIV

*Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies. Ps 58:3 NIV

 

Has the power to love, think, and know right from wrong, so we can remain children of God.

*For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2Ti 1:7 NASB+

*For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb 4:12 ASV

 

Is able to sing praises to our Savior, to jump for joy for Him. 

*and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Matt 21:16 NKJV+

*For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. Lk 1:15 NKJV

Note: From the womb usually means the babies were in the womb. For when John was filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb, his mother Elizabeth was six months pregnant with him.

 

What Happens When We Die

 

When our sinful, mortal physical being dies, our body and mind return to dust. Yet though our body will die because of sin, when Christ lives in our hearts, He will take us to Heaven to live with Him forever.

*When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Ps 104:29 ESV+

*I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1Co 1550 ESV+

*If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Ro 8:10 NASB+

 

It does not matter how short the period of life one has, nor does it not matter how tiny their physical being is when we die. After an eternal spiritual being has been created, given life, in the womb of our mother, our soul and spirit will live forever. Our spiritual being will return to God after our physical body has died.

*and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Eccl 12:7 NIV

*Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 2Co 5:1-4 NIV

 

Children of God have a holy spiritual being, our soul and spirit will ascend into Heaven. All other people who have not accepted our God, have a sinful spiritual being. Their soul and spirit will descend into Hell.

*Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2Cor 5:6-8 NASB+

*And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt 10:28 ASV

 

From the time young children are given life in the womb, until our physical minds are mature enough to rule over our spiritual being:

 

We are either Children of God, or lost sinners, no matter what our age.

If we do not have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we do not belong to Christ, this is true at any age. Only when the Spirit dwells in our hearts, can we become children of God, remain children of God. 

*However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Ro 8:9 NASB+

*For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Ro 8:13-14 ESV+

 

We can be assured

All young children who have one parent, who is believer, are made and kept spiritually holy by the Spirit, until their mind is mature enough to rule over their spirit.

*For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 1Co 7:14 NKJV

 

Note: The husband or wife sanctifies their unbelieving spouse only as it concerns their children, their children alone are made holy. A believing husband or wife cannot make their unbelieving spouse holy. For as we continue the verses in context, a believing husband or wife does not know if they will save an unbelieving spouse by having them exposed to their Christian beliefs. And if the unbelieving spouse wants to leave, a believing spouse should let them, so they are not pulled away from their Christian beliefs.

*But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 1Co 7:15-16 ESV+

 

There should be no fear if these young children should physically die. They are children of God and heirs of Heaven.  

*"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Isa 46:3 NIV+

*Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. Ps 22:9 ESV+

 

We can have hope

We also have hope in the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father for young children who die without a believing parent. Our Father has a foreknowledge of those who will love Him, makes them His children, and will take them to Heaven. This includes a parent who has become a believer, yet while they were an unbeliever, had a young child die. This includes grandparents, other relatives, any in the family of God, who have a young child they nurtured in the love of Jesus die. All believers can have hope in the love and grace of Jesus, that we will be united once more in Heaven with the young child we loved so dearly. 

*And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Ex 33:19 NIV+

*who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: 1Pe 1:2 NIV+

 

We must also realize

Yet we must also realize that God’s Word tells us that parents’ attitudes, their sins, can carry over to their young children, and those who are still in the womb. Making these young children go astray, unable to accept Jesus as our Savior. And when these young children physically die, their eternal spirit being descends into Hell.

*You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, Dt 5:9-10 NIV+ Part of 1st commandment

*You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, Jer 32:18 NIV+

*Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb. Isa 48:8 NKJV+

 

When our physical mind is mature enough to rule over our spiritual being, we must be renewed, or be born again, by the Spirit, to remain children of God. See Baptism of the Spirit

 

Our physical mind inherits Adam’s original sin, which will make us hostile to our God. We are physically procreated by our parents, at conception with a sinful physical mind, which must develop to be able to think and make our decisions for us. When our sinful physical mind becomes mature enough to rule over our spiritual being, our spiritual being will likewise become sinful, full of the desires of our human mind. 

*among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were , like the rest of mankind  Eph 2:3 (ESV)+

*The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Rom 8:6-7 NIV+

 

The only way we can overcome our physical minds hostility to our God, is to give up our free will, the decision making of our mind, and accept the will of our Heavenly Father. So our Father can spiritually wash away our inherited sin, so we can have the Spirit renewed in our hearts. Or so our Father can wash away our inherited sin, all of our other sins so can the Spirit we can be born from above, and have the Spirit come into our hearts.

*Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Ro 12:2 NIV+

*For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, Ro 8:5-6 NASB+

*Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Eze 36:25 NKJV+

 

Renewed

Though as little children we can have the Spirit of God living in our hearts, we must still have the inherited sin of our physical being forgiven. Before our sinful mind matures enough to rule over our spiritual being, making it sinful also. Our Father knows those little children who love Him above all things, will submit our will to Him. He will wash away our inherited sin through the spiritual washing of regeneration, and renew the Holy Spirit within our hearts. To renew means we must already have the Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit can remain in our hearts as long as we love our God above all things. Guiding and keeping us children of God,

*When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mk 10:14 NIV+

*not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-7 NKJV+

 

Born Again

If we have a mature mind, and the Spirit is not living in our hearts, we are not children of God. We must be spiritually born again, so the power our hostile human minds does not block our ability to accept our God, the Holy Spirit from coming into our hearts. We must surrender our human will so we become like little children again, where our sinful mind is not strong enough to rule over our spiritual being, and we can accept the will of our Heavenly Father. He will spiritually wash away our inherited sin, all of our other sins, and put the Holy Spirit into our hearts.

*Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Jn 3:3 NASB+

*and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3 NKJV+

*And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Eze 36:27 ESV+

 

When the Spirit lives in our hearts, He sanctifies us, keeps us holy, by continually forgiving our sins through the grace of Christ’s atoning death on the cross for us. The gift of the Spirit is our guarantee that we are holy children of God, that we will live in Paradise forever with our Lord.  See How Our Sins Are Forgiven

*But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 2Thess 2:13 ESV+

*who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 2Co 1:22 NKJV+

 

Next

 

Life, Death, Heaven or Hell

 

Home

 

Copyright 2013 by Ron Borkey

+ ESV “Scripture quotations marked [ESV] are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,” copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good New Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

+ NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (1995 Update) Copyright © 1981, 1998 The Lockman Foundation, A Corporation Not for Profit, La Habra, California. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

+ NIV Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

+ NKJV "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Some words in the verses from these Bibles may be emphasized with bold letters.