Bible Studies

Moral And Immoral Degeneration Part 1

by Doug Laird 
07/26/26
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No one would appreciate being called a degenerate, especially those who are among those who many would refer to as the “holier than thou” group, in any given local assembly. Yet, as we will see, both immoral and moral degenerates fill the pews of local assemblies on a regular basis.

Romans 3:23 and James 2: 10 reminds us that we all have “been there, and done that,” and that a 2Cor. 5:13 self-examination might reveal that we are still there, doing that!

Immoral degeneration involves making a conscious decision not to do what Scripture requires of us, or a conscious decision to do what Scripture forbids.

To his own hurt, Fallen Man has mastered the art of justifying just about anything he chooses to do, or not to do.

The concept of immoral degeneration should be easily understood. Even though we may not know what the exact theological terminology may be, for the most part, we know in our heart of hearts when we are about to do, or just did, something wrong.

Such misguided justification does not change the fact that sin is sin, and that, “The wages of is death…(Rom. 6: 23 NASB2020).”

Depending on the specific sin(s) involved, the type of inevitable death can be spiritual death of the soul/spirit (Gen. 2: 17), physical death of the body (Acts 5/Heb.12:6) or productive death (Mark 4: 19) in one’s post salvation spiritual life; all of which determines either where or how one is going to experience eternity future.

The wages of sin is what can produce the spiritual, physical, or productive death of the ones that walk, have walked, or will walk among us, or perhaps in the spiritual life of the one we face in the mirror, as well.

We might “otherwise” be a nice, kind, person who does good deeds, but it’s our involvement with unconfessed, unforsaken, attitudes and activities that the Bible labels as sin and or evil, that takes and keeps us out of fellowship with God.

Let there be no doubt. We are all going to leave this world. At that time, some will do so being spiritually alive and some will do so being spiritually dead. Those who had his or her dead spirit regenerated (Titus 3: 5), as a result of being born-again, will leave this world spiritually alive. Those who disbelieve the unadulterated Gospel Message will leave this world spiritually dead.

Being either spiritually alive or spiritually dead is what determines WHERE one WILL spend ALL of eternity future. No number of good deeds or good behavior can regenerate the dead spirit with which we all come into this world. As Jesus told Nicodemus, a very religious and well-behaved man, one MUST be born again (John 3: 5, 7).

There is no 3rd condition to be found anywhere in Scripture. At this very moment, One is either spiritually alive or is spiritually dead.

Note that spiritual death is not the end of the soul’s existence, either in this life, or in the life to come.

The truth is, that every soul, having been created by, and in the (never ceasing to exist) likeness (Gen. 1:26) of God, will continue to live on after separating from the body at the moment of physical death, but not all will be in the same place or environment.

There is not one soul in a corpse, on a death bed, in a casket, urn, funeral parlor, grave, or cemetery. The only thing there are the bodily remains, going through the various stages of decomposing, eventually (or immediately in the case of cremation) returning to dust. There is no “resting in peace” taking place there, as the soul is not there to do so.

The only connection between the bodily remains and the soul of departed believers, is that they will be reunited when the bodily remains (or dust) are raised up in the form of a resurrected body when the Rapture (1Thess. 4: 16, 17) takes place.

Nothing can happen to the bodily remains here on Earth that will prevent God from raising up the bodily remains or dust of born-again believers when the Rapture takes place.

In the meantime, as of the Church Age, the departed, conscious souls of all believers are in interim bodies (2Cor. 5: 1) in Heaven.

The departed souls of all unbelievers during the course of all dispensations (periods of human history) are presently in the Torments of Hades, and will remain there until the Rev. 20: 13,15 event takes place. They too, according to Luke 16: 24, have some type of bodies as well, with the capacity to suffer greatly in the inescapable, intense heat.

Life after death is not a matter of “if,” but a matter of where and how life after death WILL be experienced after leaving the body behind.

We may or may not always concur with what Scripture labels as sin, but once being told, we no longer have an acceptable excuse in the Court of Heaven, where we will all appear and give an account of ourselves at the appointed time.

Every soul that has ever been created will be summoned to the Court of Heaven to participate in one of two events, be it the “evaluation of believers” event outlined in 1Cor. 3: 12-15, or the “judgement of unbelievers” event, outlined in Rev. 20: 13-15.

At the “evaluation of believers” event, born-again believers will receive or forfeit some or all of the reward and privileges that reserved for those who embraced post salvation discipleship. The salvation of those who receive NO rewards remains secure (1Cor. 3: 15).

At the “ judgement of unbelievers” event, unbelievers will have their day in court, but will be tossed into the lake of fire, where they will spend all of Eternity future.

Granted, all born-again believers are assured of no eternal condemnation (Rom. 8: 1), but we are fools to think that eternal security is a license to sin, and that there will not be ANY consequences, either in this life (Heb. 12: 6) or in the life to come (1Cor. 3: 15) for the immoral degeneration that we choose to embrace.

End of Part One