The end of physical and/or spiritual life. Ancient Israel’s official response to mortality was, first, to accept it as God’s design and, second, to forbid worship that was concerned with the dead (Lev 19:28; Lev 20:1-11). Neighboring cultures believed that the dead lived on in the underworld in a communicative state (Deut 18:9-14), but Israel’s theologians taught that they were, for practical purposes, nonexistent (Eccl 9:5-6). Nonetheless, foreign ideas and practices continued (1Sam 28; Isa 8:19). The NT writers emphasize that mortality can be countered. This has been done through the appearance of a new “Adam” (Christ), who empowers his followers, just as the old “Adam” affected those who came after him (1Cor 15:45-49). His resurrection demonstrates that death has lost its power.
