Decay

Decay was decreed as a result of the fall

In human beings

Genesis 2:17 LSB

but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

In the world

Genesis 3:17–19 LSB

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In pain you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

See also Ro 8:20

Decay is the common experience of humanity

Psalm 90:3–10 LSB

You turn man back into dust And say, “Return, O sons of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it blossoms and sprouts anew; Toward evening it withers away and dries up. For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to might, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and wickedness; For soon it is gone and we fly away.

See also Ps 49:8–9

A decaying world is not worth clinging to

Matthew 6:19–20 LSB

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

See also Ps 102:26; Lk 12:33; 1 Jn 2:15–17

Jesus Christ is free from decay

Acts 2:24–31 LSB

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. “For David says of Him, ‘I SAW THE LORD CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME; BECAUSE HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. ‘THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT FORSAKE MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR GIVE YOUR HOLY ONE OVER TO SEE CORRUPTION. ‘YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ “Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SET one OF THE FRUIT OF HIS BODY ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER FORSAKEN TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SEE CORRUPTION.

See also Ps 16:8–11; Ac 13:34–37; Heb 7:26; Heb 13:8

Believers are redeemed from decay

2 Corinthians 4:16 LSB

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

See also Job 19:26; Jn 3:16

Christians are “salt” in a decaying world

Matthew 5:13 LSB

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men.

See also Mk 9:50; Lk 14:34

The world to come is free from decay

1 Peter 1:3–5 LSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

See also Ro 8:21; 1 Co 15:42; Heb 12:28; Heb 13:14; Re 21:4

Examples of the link between sin and decay

Le 26:14–16; Le 26:39

The curse on the unfaithful wife:

Nu 5:20–22; Nu 5:27

Curses for disobedience:

Dt 28:22; Dt 32:24

Job 18:13; Ps 32:3; Ps 49:13–14; Ps 106:15; Ps 106:43; Ps 112:10; Is 5:24; Is 10:16; Is 17:4; Is 24:16; Is 64:7; Je 49:7

The destruction of Jerusalem lamented:

La 2:6; La 2:8

Eze 4:17; Eze 24:23; Eze 33:10

Punishment for Israel’s sin:

Ho 4:3; Ho 8:10

Hab 3:16; Jas 5:2