Dead Men Don't Listen

Question

As a result of Adam's fall we are dead in our sins and transgessions. If we take that meaning of dead back to Genesis, how did Adam hear God when God talked to him in the garden after the fall?

Answer

Generally, we speak of being "dead in our sins and transgressions" as being "spiritually dead." Some people understand this to be a positional or legal status. Others see it as a lack of spiritual vitality, an inability to function and will from a positive spiritual perspective. Still others understand it as a combination of these two. But spiritual death does not entail any lack of actual consciousness. Moreover, for Adam to hear God in the garden, there was no need for him to be spiritually alive. God is capable of making himself heard by anyone or anything. Adam, in turn, was still physically alive, still conscious, and even though his sin had affected him terribly, he was still capable of hearing, speaking and reasoning -- not perfectly, but sufficiently to hear God speak to him.