Death

Death is not a natural accident but a moral reality. In the classic Reformed and Puritan understanding, death entered the world through sin and remains sin's most visible and universal consequence. Yet these authors also insist that death, though an enemy, is not the final word for those united to Christ. The doctrine matters because how a person understands death shapes how they understand sin, grace, judgment, and the hope of resurrection. Matthew Henry summarizes the scope of the problem when he writes that death means all misery, including temporal, spiritual, and eternal death, and that it came as the wages of sin (Romans 5:12). Charles Spurgeon presses the same point pastorally, warning that sin deceives by promising pleasure but actually brings pain now and eternal death in the world to come (Romans 5:21).

Death as the wages of sin

Henry is especially clear that death is not arbitrary. It is earned. Every sin, even the least sin, earns death as its wage (Romans 6:21, 6:23). This means death is not merely a biological endpoint but a judicial sentence. Henry argues that death passed upon all humanity without exception, reigning as a universal and inescapable monarchy (Romans 5:12, 5:14). He calls death a mighty prince whose absolute and universal monarchy no one can escape, and he adds that it will remain the last enemy (Romans 5:14). Spurgeon agrees, describing sin's reign as marked by blood, iniquity, and misery from the fall of Eden onward (Romans 5:21). The two authors share the same conclusion: death is not a friend or a neutral transition. It is an invader that entered because of human rebellion.

The universality of death and original sin

One of the most striking arguments in Henry's exposition is that the death of infants proves original sin. He reasons that even infants who never committed actual sin died, and their suffering cannot be reconciled with God's justice unless they are guilty through Adam (Romans 5:14). Henry states plainly that death reigned from Adam to Moses, proving original sin, because even infants who never committed actual sin died (Romans 5:14). This is a distinct emphasis in Henry. Spurgeon does not develop the point about infants, but he does stress that every sinner will feel their desperate need of Christ, especially at death (Romans 5:8). The shared premise is that death is universal because sin is universal. No one escapes the reign of death by innocence or by moral effort.

The terror of dying without Christ

Spurgeon is particularly direct about the experience of dying without Christ. He warns that it is hard to die without Christ, and those who reject him now will regret it when facing death (Romans 5:8). He does not soften the reality. A day is coming, especially at death, when every sinner will feel their desperate need of Christ (Romans 5:8). Henry makes a related point about the end of sin. Obedience to sin is evidence that a person belongs to the family on which death is entailed, while obedience to Christ evidences relation to Christ's family (Romans 6:16). The difference is one of tone and focus. Spurgeon emphasizes the felt terror and regret of the dying sinner. Henry emphasizes the legal and familial evidence of whose family a person belongs to. Both agree that death without Christ is a fearful prospect.

Death and the believer's body

Henry is careful to say that even believers remain under the sentence of death in their bodies. The believer's body remains under the sentence of death because of sin, even though Christ is in him (Romans 8:10). He adds that the death of believers' bodies remains a token of God's displeasure against sin (Romans 8:10). This is an important nuance. Salvation does not immediately remove physical death. The body still dies because sin has made it mortal. Henry urges believers not to let sin reign in the body because the body is mortal and hastening to dust, and because sin made it mortal (Romans 6:12). Yet Henry also insists that the soul of the believer is spiritually alive now and will enter eternal life at death (Romans 8:10). The body dies, but the believer does not perish.

Death as the end of the law's condemnation

Henry uses the analogy of marriage to explain how death ends legal obligation. The law of marriage binds only while both parties live; the death of either party ends the obligation (Romans 7:1–2). He applies this to the believer's relation to the law. Every law, including the law of marriage, has power over a person only as long as he lives (Romans 7:1). Death ends both the obligation and the condemnation of the law; the law can do no more after death (Romans 7:1). This is a legal and forensic point. Death closes the old account. Henry also connects this to the believer's former condition. Our former marriage to sin and the law produced actual transgressions that deserve death (Romans 7:5). Lust, strengthened by the law, conceives and brings forth sin, and sin when finished brings forth death (Romans 7:5). The believer is freed from that old marriage through union with Christ in his death.

The believer's hope in death and resurrection

For the believer, death is not the end. Henry writes that Christ has purchased final deliverance from sin, which will be completed through death and eternity (Romans 7:24–25). He also teaches that God will raise the mortal bodies of believers from the dead and glorify them (Romans 8:11). The indwelling Holy Spirit is a second assurance that believers' bodies will be raised (Romans 8:11). What believers wait for is the redemption of the body, when the body will be rescued from death and corruption and made like Christ's glorious body (Romans 8:23). Spurgeon adds a pastoral warmth to this hope. Grace sustains believers in death, giving them comfort, hope, and visions of eternity as they pass from this life (Romans 5:21). Because the believer is at peace with God, he need not fear death, the grave, or any affliction, since Christ has conquered them (Romans 5:1, 8:37). Henry agrees that neither the terrors of death nor the comforts and pleasures of life can separate believers from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38).

Dying in the Lord

Jonathan Edwards adds a necessary caution. To be blessed after death, a person must die in the Lord, not merely have once been in him (Revelation 14:13). This is not a denial of perseverance but a warning against presumption. A past profession is not enough. The decisive question is whether a person is in Christ at the moment of death. Henry's teaching on mortification reinforces this. Believers must be dead to sin, having no more correspondence with it or regard for its pleasures than a dead man has to his former life (Romans 6:11). Living according to the flesh leads to eternal death, but mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit leads to eternal life (Romans 8:13). Spurgeon's evangelistic urgency fits here as well. The day of death reveals whether a person truly has Christ.

Christ's death and the state of the dead

Henry offers a clarifying note on Christ's descent. Christ's descent into the deep refers to his going into the state of the dead, not a literal descent into hell (Romans 10:7). Spurgeon emphasizes the reality of Christ's death. Christ truly died, enduring all that death means, becoming a lifeless corpse and being buried like other dead people (Romans 5:8). This is essential to the gospel. Christ did not merely appear to die. He entered fully into the state of death. Henry's clarification guards against misunderstanding. Christ went to the dead, not to hell as a place of torment. Spurgeon's emphasis guards against docetism. Christ really died. Together they affirm that the Son of God entered death itself, and in doing so he transformed death for his people.

Thou mayest live without Christ now, but it will be hard work to die without him. Thou mayest do without this bridge here; but when thou gettest to the river thou wilt think thyself a fool to have laughed at the only bridge which can carry thee safely over Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation” So death passed, that is, a sentence of death was passed, as upon a criminal, dielthen—passed through all men, as an infectious disease passes through a town, so that none escape it. It is the universal fate, without exception: death passes upon all Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” It is a great proof of original sin that little children, who were never guilty of any actual transgression, are yet liable to very terrible diseases, casualties, and deaths, which could by no means be reconciled with the justice and righteousness of God if they were not chargeable with guilt Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” We cannot say but that the body is dead; it is a frail, mortal, dying body, and it will be dead shortly; it is a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. The life purchased and promised does not immortalize the body in its present state. It is dead, that is, it is appointed to die, it is under a sentence of death: as we say one that is condemned is a dead man Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” And so, Beloved, when you come to die, Grace shall bear you up in the midst of Jordan and you shall say, "I feel the bottom and it is good." When the cold waters shall chill your blood, Grace shall warm your heart Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace” In order to persons being blessed after death, it is necessary not only that they should once be in him, but that they should die in him Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone” This plainly shows that Christ's descent into the deep, or into hades, was no more than his going into the state of the dead, in allusion to Jonah. It is true that Christ was in the grave, and it is as true that he is now in heaven; but we need not perplex and puzzle ourselves with fancied difficulties, nor must we create to ourselves such gross and carnal ideas of these things as if the method of salvation were impracticable, and the design of the revelation were only to amuse us Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” All that death could mean Christ endured; he yielded up the ghost, he resigned his breath; he became a lifeless corpse, and his body was interred, even like the bodies of the rest that died Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”