Dead Works

The parable of the sower teaches that some receive the word, have life, and grow, only to wither and die. 

Yet in other places the NT seems to indicate that those who ultimately die were never alive to begin with. Tares were sown by the evil one from the outset.

How to put those together?

There are various ways to work that out, but Revelation 3:1-2 offers some help. There Jesus says that the angel of Sardis is actually dead though he appears to be alive. He is dead insofar as his works are not completed (pepleromena). His works never became productive. And Jesus calls this state “death.”

A fruit tree that never produces fruit is not fulfilling the purpose of a fruit tree. It might as well be dead. Sap is flowing. Photosynthesis is happening. But for the purposes of fruit-production, it is dead.