What does the Bible say about death? 

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, and pastoral care focused on death. 

Death as a consequence of sin 

• Genesis 2:15-17, do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or you shall die
• Proverbs 8:36, those who hate me love death
• Romans 5:12, death came because of sin Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death

Death as part of the rhythm of life 

• Genesis 6:3, God said the spirit wouldn't abide in people forever; they are mortal
• Genesis 49:33, Jacob breathed his last
• Ecclesiastes 3:2, there is a time to be born and a time to die

Spiritual death 

• John 3:6, what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit
• John 3:16-17, God sent the Son into the world to save the world

Dying in the Lord 

• John 14:1-4, do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God and in me; I go to prepare a place for you
• Romans 14:8, we are the Lord's, whether we live or die
• 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, all will be made alive in Christ
• 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, we walk by faith and not by sight
• Philippians 1:21-22, living is Christ, dying is gain 
• Revelation 14:13, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord

Christ defeats death 

• Romans 6:2-6, we have been united with Christ in death and will be united with him in resurrection 
• 1 Corinthians 15:25-26, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death 
• 1 Corinthinas 15:51-57, Death, where is your sting? 
• Revelation 21:4, death will be no more

Dead in sin, alive in Christ 

• Romans 8:11, God, who raised Christ from the dead, will also give life to your bodies
• Colossians 2:13, God made you alive and forgave your trespasses

Sermon ideas about death 

Tragic consequence of sin 

Sermons about death can point out that in Genesis 2 and Romans 5, death, both physical and spiritual, appears to be a tragic consequence of sin. In 1 Corinthians 15, death is called the last enemy to be destroyed. Elsewhere in the Bible — perhaps to be understood within this frame of death-as-enemy — physical death is a familiar, expectable part of the rhythm of existence. There is a time to be born and a time to die. People perish, thus making room for newcomers. 

Yet most Christians at most times have thought that physical death does not mean the end of our existence. We depart to be with Christ and that is to our gain, our enjoyment, Paul says in Philippians 1. Most Christians at most times have therefore resisted the claim that we are simply identical with our bodies. As in the case of God and the angels, you don't necessarily need a body to think and love and exult. 

Life 

In some parts of the Bible, especially in the gospel of John, it's hard to know whether the writer, when speaking of life, means spiritual vitality in this life or everlastingness in the next or (most likely) both. This is the case, for instance, in the famous verses of John 3:16-17. 

Sin and physical death 

Sermons about death can also acknowledge the many questions surrounding the idea that physical death is the tragic consequence of the human fall into sin. We now know from the fossil record that there were animal deaths for millions of years before humans were on the scene. So is carnivorousness a part of God's original design? Judging by the fossil record, and by the incisors of carnivores, it seems so. Judging by the biblical prophecies of shalom and by our own hearts and minds, it seems not so. In Isaiah's picture of God's peaceable kingdom, for example, we find some of the loveliest of all prophecies, and in them carnivorousness is only a memory: 

The wolf shall live with the lamb; 
the leopard shall lie down with the kid; 
the calf and the lion will feed together, 
and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6) 

This portrait captures our imagination because we wince at the stark realities of nature that is, in the words of a Tennyson poem, "red in tooth and claw." If you watch one of those National Geographic specials on TV in which young lions chase down a deer and sink their incisors into its flesh, it all looks more painful than anything we imagine God to have delighted in when he called creation very good.  

Here's a place where Christians who read the Bible, read the fossil record, and consult their own sensitivities may come up with more questions than answers. If carnivorousness is part of God's original design, is God less sensitive to animal pain than we are? If not, why do we have what looks like a design for it? Could a pre-fall in the angelic world have anything to do with an answer? Or is that mere speculation? If actually, in the "real" world, carnivorousness is one day to cease in the coming of God's peaceable kingdom, how will lions keep up their strength? 

Sin and spiritual death 

If there are hard questions about the connection of sin to physical death, there are only hard certainties about the connection between sin and spiritual death. Sermons about death can affirm that healthy dependence on God is our lifeline. When we turn our backs on God, or grieve God in some other way, we start a spiritual death spiral. People "dead in their trespasses" have succeeded in sinning themselves out of existence, spiritually speaking. They have become inert. 

Disintegration is in fact the main event in the corruption of the human person — the breakdown of personal and social integrity, the loss of shape, strength, and purpose. Near its nadir, the disintegrated human spirit is affectless, as in reported cases of juvenile killers whose gaze is wholly blank. At its nadir, the disintegrated human spirit moves beyond affectlessness to generate a demonic inversion of values — the sort of upside-down morality we see in those mafia movies in which ruthlessness is respected and the refusal to accept a bribe is taken as a sign of contemptible self-righteousness. 

Because sin deadens us, the grace of God in a mighty miracle must regenerate us. In fact, if anyone questions whether there are contemporary miracles, the plainest answer is a convincing example of a hard, dead heart that has been softened and regenerated by God Almighty's grace. To hear today of regeneration in a difficult person in a difficult culture is to hear the story of a Holy Ghost miracle. 

Practically the last thing the Bible says about death, in Revelation 21, is that a time is coming when death will be no more. Sermons about death, including funeral homilies, can bring this message of hope to the gathered listeners. 

Excerpts about death 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about death: 

"If God didn't make death and doesn't delight in the death of the living, then why do people we love die, and who thought up heaven and hell?" Sermon by Susanna E. Metz from Sermons that Work

Worship ideas about death 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org worship resources about death: 

"… the ash from last year's palms, symbolized by the mark on this cross, reminds us not only of death but of the victory and joy of new life found in Christ. Penitence and mourning arise to hope, peace, and rest." Artwork by Elizabeth Steele Halstead from Calvin Institue of Christian Worship  

"May your relationships be healed, and your soul at peace. And when death comes, may it do so not as an enemy but as a friend." Blessing by Cara Heafey from Worship Works