Sin has severed man’s vital link to God through the spirit of man. The soul has now lost its spiritual input from God and has begun its long descent into the realms of darkness and death. Man’s life depended upon the truth that came from God, which brought balance into his soul. As Jesus later said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Now that man’s fellowship with his Creator was broken, so also was his source of truth. As with the spirit, the soul did not literally die as we think of the meaning of the word. Again, death means separation from the One who is life. However, the consequences of man choosing to disobey God have, to a very great degree, disfigured the image of God that he was created in. Man is now out of balance. The soul, which once was the center of man’s being, and was meant to control man’s actions, has now become subservient to the fleshly desires of his body. Where once God influenced man through the spirit, now Satan, through the flesh and the darkened spirit, now influences man’s thoughts and actions. Where once higher principles guided our decisions, now the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life now govern fallen man. Man is no longer led by a desire to love, honor, and obey God, but he now has come to love himself, how he can satisfy and honor himself.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

The complete domination of sin over man’s soul can be seen in what he now thinks about, what he now loves, and what he now wills to do in his life. Whereas before, man fellowshipped with his Heavenly Father and his mind was illuminated by the truth that came from God, now, “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart (is) only evil continually.” Instead of man’s mind dwelling on the things of God and how he might honor and serve Him, man now only thinks about himself and how he may please his own fleshly desires. Covetousness, immorality, and every other kind of wicked thought now dominate his thinking.

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

Man’s emotions and affections have now been changed from that of loving God and the things of God, to that of loving himself, loving the world, loving money, and loving evil. His whole emotional state is now so perverted that he begins to hate the things of God, and instead loves evil and darkness.

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Man’s will, which was once able to decide what is right and God honoring for him to do, is now totally dominated by sin. Because man’s spiritual nature no longer influences him to do what is right, and because his emotions are now dominated only by the things of the flesh, his choices are now limited to that of doing evil. Man lost his so-called “free will” in the Garden, and now only obeys the lusts of his new masters, the flesh and the Devil. Man’s last act of his completely uninhibited and unrestrained will was to choose to disobey God’s warning to him. Men in their pride and in the darkness of their souls may think they are free, but they are only serving sin and Satan. Men may choose to do what is right, and that is their condemnation, but they will not and can not because they are chained to their sin. Therefore, they are “the servants of sin.” Only those who are in Christ are free to express their unchained wills.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Man’s soul, apart from God, will continue to fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of sin and death. There is no limit to how bad man can be; and, as has been said by others, “Every one of us can be another Devil.” Also, because man’s soul was created in the image of God, it is a never dying soul. We were created to live forever in fellowship with God, but now in our fallen condition, we will continue to exist in an ever-dying, but never dead state of being. When man’s spirit departs from his body, the body dies and his soul must leave his earthly house. However, it will continue to exist in hell, awaiting the final judgment, called the Great White Throne. After standing before God and being judged for those things that were done in the body, it will then be sent to its final home—the Lake of Fire. This is also called “the second death,” because after the unsaved are resurrected to stand before God, they will then die the eternal death.

Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

This process of death to man’s soul however, was neither final nor was it irreversible. Sin has affected us completely in every area of our being, but we are not as bad as we can be, nor is our situation as hopeless as it appears. The soul of man, though it is corrupted by sin, is still redeemable. However, it is not within man’s ability to redeem himself; but as we shall later study, we must look to another to reconcile us back to God.

Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: