4. Did Adam and Eve die on the day they sinned? Genesis 3:16-17. Consider Revelation 13:8, last part.
NOTE: ‘The Lord had said: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:17. And this was the truth. It was the truth when He spoke it; it was the truth the day they ate of the tree; and it is the truth forever. And the only reason that Adam and Eve did not die in the very hour that they ate is that Jesus Christ stepped in between, and took upon Himself the curse of sin, and its penalty of death. And this He did in order that mankind might be delivered from the death into which they had been plunged by that “one man.” Therefore, since the Lord Jesus stepped in between, and Himself received the stroke of death that must come upon the man the day he sinned; and since the Lord Jesus did this solely in order that the man might have the opportunity to receive life instead of death, it became essential, and in the gift of Christ that day it was given, that the man and all mankind should have sufficient space in which to breathe to allow them to live long enough to fix each his choice of life or death.’ A. T. Jones: Review & Herald, October 9, 1900.
5. What did die that day? Genesis 3:21.
NOTE: ‘The Divine Record simply states that the Lord God (Jehovah, their Creator, Genesis 2:4) made “coats of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), thus for the first time typifying Christ Jesus, who is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30). These divinely provided garments replaced the man-made covering of fig leaves (Genesis 3:7), and made it possible for earth’s first sinners to stand in God’s presence again.’ L. E. Froom: The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, volume 1, page 63.
‘Adam and Eve needed life from that day in the garden; for if Jesus had not then offered Himself, if He had not then thus “come,” death would have come to them the day that they sinned. But the Lord Jesus came and gave Himself, and thus took upon Himself all that was to fall upon them, or upon us, that Adam and Eve might receive what was better. And in the nature of things, they must have breath to enable them to live long enough to give them time to choose that which God had brought, the gift of Himself, which is life. Consequently, at that point He came, that mankind might have life.’ A. T. Jones: Review & Herald, October 9, 1900.
Compiler’s Note: In order to provide the skins which God used to clothe Adam and Eve, the animals, whose skins were used, had to die. (Because some Bible readers miss this point, they try to provide alternative interpretations for death. Some say that Adam and Eve began to die on the day they sinned, but actually went on living for nearly one thousand years! Others interpret death as ‘separation from God’ and propose that Adam and Eve separated themselves from God on that day; people who propose this interpretation generally believe that all people are born with immortal souls. So they have to believe in a ‘death’ that doesn’t involve dying!)