What is death?

I believe that all of us, at some point, have asked ourselves what death is, what happens after dying. Is there life after death? So many questions — and they have an answer for the one who believes in the Word of God. Scientifically, life goes only as far as death. For some religions there are other lives: reincarnation. For us Christians, those of us who continue in Jesus, death, like life, exists.

To speak of death, we must first know what life is. What is life? Let us look at John 14:6: «Jesus said to him: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me». Life is God, and since He is life, He lives in us from the moment He breathed His Breath of Life into the body of clay He formed from the dust of the earth. Genesis 2:7: «Then Yahweh God formed man with dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being». To breathe into means to blow — to introduce air into something; that something was the man of clay, who, upon receiving that breath, became a living being. When this breath of life is missing from the body, death results — which for Jesus is nothing more than a sleep, as we see in John 11. In that chapter Jesus speaks of death and made it clear to His disciples in John 11:14: «Then Jesus told them plainly: Lazarus is dead». Now, in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 he tells us that those who sleep in Jesus will rise at the Second Coming, and lets us know that first those who have died in Jesus will rise, and then we the living, those who remain until the Coming of the Lord, will follow. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16: «We say this to you as a Word of the Lord: we the living, those who remain until the Coming of the Lord, will not go before those who have died. The Lord Himself, at the command given by the voice of an archangel and by the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and those who died in Christ will rise first». This is why we can say that there are two lives and two deaths: life at birth and life after death; death without the breath of life, and death unto condemnation. Therefore there are two resurrections, one for life and one for condemnation. John 5:28-29: «Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out — those who have done good, to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to a resurrection of judgment».

After God blew into the nostrils of the man of clay, placing in him the breath of life, the man of clay became a living being: this is what is called the soul — the union of the breath of life with the body of clay. The interval between death and resurrection is like a sleep. There is no consciousness of the time that passes. Made this way, dying is like going into a deep sleep: you know nothing of yourself, and you know of yourself again when you have your next conscious thought, when God, at the Resurrection, places the breath of life in you again — that is, raises you.

Let us remember that the body returns to dust and the spirit, or breath of life, returns to God. Ecclesiastes 12:7: «and the dust returns to the earth, to what it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it». As human beings we are not immortal; the only immortal one is God. 1 Timothy 6:16: «he alone possesses Immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no human being has seen or can see. To Him be honor and power forever. Amen». We shall be immortal only when Jesus comes and raises our bodies with the breath of life. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54: «Behold! I reveal to you a mystery: we shall not all die, but we shall all be transformed. In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the final trumpet — for the trumpet will sound, the dead will rise incorruptible, and we shall be transformed. Indeed, this corruptible being must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and this mortal being must clothe itself with immortality. And when this corruptible being clothes itself with incorruptibility and this mortal being clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written will be fulfilled: Death has been swallowed up in victory». And He will bring us His reward of eternal life. Revelation 22:12: «Behold, I am coming soon, and I bring my reward with me, to repay each one according to his work». God will give us glorious and immortal bodies. Philippians 3:21: «who will transfigure this wretched body of ours into a glorious body like his own, by the power he has to subject all things to himself». And all our physical deformities will be healed (1 Corinthians 15:51-54); in the end we shall have our own paradise.

It is important to clarify what the soul is and what the spirit is. Let us remember that when Yahweh breathed into the man of clay He gave him life, turning him into a living soul. That is why the soul is not immortal — because it refers to man; what does not die is the breath of life, God. In Bible translations the word soul has been replaced by person or living beings. Likewise, soul refers to every living creature. Genesis 9:10 and 12: «and with every living soul that accompanies you: the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals that are with you, with all that came out of the ark, all the animals of the earth». «God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I establish for perpetual generations between me and you and every living soul that accompanies you».

It is important to know what the soul is and what the spirit is: they are two different things. Soul, in the Hebrew language, nefesh, means to breathe. That is why death is identified with the lack of air — that is, of the breath of life — which gives the man of clay the name of living soul or living being. The spirit is called in Hebrew ruah, and in Greek pneuma. Let us clarify this biblically: in Psalm 104:29 the psalmist, addressing Yahweh, says: «You hide your face and they are dismayed; you take away their breath, and they expire and return to their dust». If Yahweh takes away His Spirit — that is, the ruah — one expires and returns to dust. We see in the Epistle of James 2:26: «For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead» — the body without the spirit (pneuma) is dead. That is, the spirit is what infuses life into the body. It is an invisible force — as we say colloquially, it is the spark of life. Without the spirit there is no life.

Let us look at what Ecclesiastes 12:7 says: «and the dust returns to the earth, to what it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it». When the spirit leaves the body, the body dies and returns to its origin: the earth. And the spirit, in the same way — the breath of life — returns to God.

From all this we can say that man consists of three parts: the body, which is the physical; the soul, related to the emotional; and the spirit, related to the spiritual. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 confirms it: «May He, the God of peace, sanctify you completely, and may your whole being — spirit, soul and body — be kept blameless until the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ».

The body is the outer part, which allows us to be conscious and to have contact with the material world. The body contains the soul, and the soul contains the spirit. Through the body we can touch the tangible things of the material world using the five physical senses (hearing, sight, taste, smell and touch).

The soul refers to the living being, to man himself, to the I. Let us look at Matthew 16:26: «For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he ruins his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?» And Luke 9:25: «For what does it profit a man to have gained the whole world, if he loses or ruins himself?». The soul stands between the spirit and our body. Through the soul we are conscious of ourselves and have our personality; with it we experience our emotions — happiness, love, sadness, anger, relief, compassion. Through it we are able to have, to choose and to make decisions.

The spirit is the deepest part of a living being or person. Through it we can perceive God, or find God, in the spiritual sphere — only man can do so.

Now let us look at the following: the Spirit of God dwells as spirit. In the soul dwells our I, and in the body dwell the physical senses. God sanctifies us by taking possession of our spirits through regeneration, the second birth. Let us look at John 3:5-6: «Jesus answered: In truth, in truth I tell you: no one who is not born of water and Spirit can enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit». Then His Life-giving Spirit extends to our soul to saturate and transform it. Romans 12:2: «Do not conform yourselves to the present world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God: what is good, pleasing and perfect»; 2 Corinthians 3:18: «And all of us, who with unveiled faces reflect as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that same image, ever more glorious: such is the work of the Lord, who is Spirit». In the end, He gives life to our mortal body through our soul. Romans 8:11-13: «And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, my brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the works of the body, you will live» — and He transfigures our body with the power of His life. Philippians 3:21: «who will transfigure this wretched body of ours into a glorious body like his own, by the power he has to subject all things to himself».

So then, the parts of the soul can be seen as three: conscience, intellect and will. In the conscience our emotions exist. The intellect is the seat of our mind — all the knowledge acquired through education and what we have learned. And the will is the power of free will.

God dignified us with free will — with the power to make our own decisions, rather than He being the one to predetermine our destiny.

We must make a distinction between liberty and free will. Liberty is the act of coming and going as we please; free will is acting in pursuit of a desire or need, to satisfy a command of our own will, even against the will of God. The action of the soul, where the emotions are, is what determines using its liberty to act by free will — that is: I do this because I so desire.

Each action of the soul, each action of man, will later determine in his spirit his salvation or condemnation. Now, because of free will, man will be judged in his spirit at the hour of his death. It is important, then, to help that spirit be filled with light through prayer in the Novena, which will light its way toward salvation, since each spirit will be judged in a Particular Judgment before Jesus for its good or evil works.

According to this Particular Judgment, each spirit must then purge the penalties of its sins. It is important to remember that sin carries guilt and penalty; one can be absolved of the guilt, but not of the penalty. Thus, once judged, the spirit will enter what is known as Purgatory, according to how it was judged by its works in love, to await the Final or Universal Judgment. Consequently, according to the penalties its sins deserve, it will purge in the dimension of the repentant and absolved of guilt, or in the dimension of holy men.