What About Plant Death?

Genesis teaches that God’s creation was perfect—without any death or suffering. Death didn’t come until after Adam and Eve sinned. But Genesis also tells us that people and animals were originally vegetarian. So how did plants die before the Fall?

Well, the Bible never describes plants as living—or dying—in the same way as humans and animals. For example, when an animal dies, the breath of life leaves it; but when a plant dies, it simply withers. Along with their other functions, plants were designed to serve as a food source in a perfect world.

Before sin, there was no death. One day when Jesus returns … the world will be like that once again.

Dig Deeper

• Do Plants and Leaves Die?
• ‘Life’ According to the Bible, and the Scientific Evidence