Bible Question:

Where is the scripture that states we are born spiritually dead? Genesis? Does the term born again come from being dead in spirit?

Bible Answer:

God tells us that our spirits are dead! Maybe one of the most interesting passages in scripture is about spiritually dead men and women. It is found in Ephesians 2.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (NASB) Ephesians 2:1-3

What an illustration! The Holy Spirit describes Christians as having been dead men and women who were walking around. This is the walking dead. We are described as walking around in this world. We were disobedient and living as we pleased. We were alive in body, yet we were dead. Now how can that be? There is only one way – alive in body and dead in spirit. Dead men and women do not walk around!

When did our spirit die? It happened when Adam sinned back in Genesis. God had warned Adam that he would die. He had warned Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our English translations miss a very important word in Genesis 2:17.

. . . but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. (NASB) Genesis 2:17

God did not just say, “you shall surely die,” the original Hebrew records God as saying, “you shall die die.” God repeated the word “die” twice. This Hebrew root word MUT means “to be executed – to die.” Was God merely adding emphasis when He used “die” twice or did He imply physical AND spiritual death?

Whatever the answer, Adam and Eve died spiritually.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (NASB) 1 Corinthians 15:21-22

So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (NASB) 1 Corinthians 15:45

We are spiritually dead. But Jesus has made it possible for us to be spiritually alive.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, (NASB) Ephesians 2:4-6

Conclusion:

Yes, to be born again means to “now be born spiritually alive.”

And if Christ is in you . . . the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (NASB) Romans 8:10

If you would like to be sure that you are spiritually alive, I would encourage you to visit the page Searching for God.