I understand (and have read) your view of the old earth theory. I was wondering how would you line up the old earth theory with Romans 5:12. It seems that if death were already occurring prior to the fall of man (which would be the case if the earth is billions of years old) than this would violate this passage. What would you say? -- Roy Ingle (Thomson, Georgia)
I would say that "death" in Romans 5 refers to death in the human realm. (I would also be wary of trying to tie this passage too closely to 8:22ff.) Death must have been a part of God's plan from the very beginning, in so far as there are millions of microscopic organisms whose life and death is integral to human physiological function. In addition, God had already given the plants to man for food; botanical death was part of God's original economy before the Fall.
If this is literal physical death, then wouldn't Romans 5:18 need to refer to literal physical life? That is, physical death comes to all who sin (all humans), yet as soon as someone is in Christ, he or she does not die--spiritually or physically. That person is immortal on the earth. Since that interpretation seems highly dubious, I think we are constrained to take death in verse 12 as spiritual death.
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