494、“他就死了”表示这种感知不复存在了。这从“死”这个词的含义清楚可知，“死”表示不再是原来样子的事物。如启示录：
你要写信给撒狄教会的天使说，这些事是那有七灵和七星的说的，我知道你的行为；按名你是活的，其实是死的。你要儆醒，坚固那剩下将近死去的；因我见你的行为，在神面前并不完全。（启示录3:1-2）
耶利米书：
我必将生你的母亲赶到别地，并不是你们出生的地方，你们必死在那里。（耶利米书22:26）
此处“母亲”表示教会。
如前所述，教会的情况是这样：它会衰落、退化，丧失它最初的完美，这主要是由于遗传之恶的增加，因为每一代父母都把新的邪恶添加到他所遗传的邪恶上。父母实际犯下的一切邪恶都会取得一种性质，当这种邪恶频繁复发时，就变成他们本性的一部分，被添加到他们的遗传之恶上，并传给他们的子女，进而传给后代。遗传之恶以这种方式在后代当中大幅增加，变得越来越庞大。谁都能从以下事实看出这一点：孩子的邪恶倾向就像他们的父母和祖父母。有些人认为没有遗传之恶，只有他们断言自亚当起就植入我们的原罪，这种观点大错特错（参看313节）。事实上，每个人都通过自己实际所犯的罪制造遗传之恶，并将其添加到他从父母获得的诸恶中。邪恶以这种方式累积，并留在他的所有后代中。它也不会减轻，除非被主重生。这是每个教会，包括上古教会堕落的主要原因。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]494. The meaning of he died as the fact that such perception ceased to exist is clear from the symbolism of the word die as applying to everything that ceases to be what it was. In John, for example:
To the angel of the church in Sardis write, "These words says he who has the seven spirits and the seven stars: ‘I know your works, that you are said to live but are dead. Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is close to death, because I have not found your works perfect before God.'" (Revelation 3:1-2)
In Jeremiah:
I will expel your mother, who bore you, to another land where you were not born, and there you will die. (Jeremiah 22:26)
The mother stands for the church.
[2] The nature of a church, as explained already [407, 468], is that it tends to dwindle and deteriorate and its initial integrity dissolves. The main reason is that hereditary evil increases, since all parents add new evil to what they inherited. Every bad thing that parents actually do appears to be second nature, and when they do it repeatedly, second nature it does in fact become. It adds itself to their heredity and is transplanted into their children and ensuing generations. In this way, hereditary evil grows enormous in later generations, as anyone can recognize from seeing children with a bad character that is just like that of their parents and grandparents.
Some very wrongly believe there is no inherited evil aside from that which they say Adam passed on (see 313). The truth is that we all create an evil inheritance by actually committing sin, and this we add to what we have acquired from our parents. So we amass a legacy that endures through all the generations and is never softened, except in those whom the Lord regenerates.
This is the main reason every church degenerates. The same was true for the earliest church.
Potts(1905-1910) 494
494. That he "died" signifies that there was no longer such perception, is evident from the signification of the word "die" which is, that a thing ceases to be such as it has been. Thus in John:
Unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith He that hath the seven spirits, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou art said to live, but art dead; be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God (Rev. :3:1-2). In Jeremiah:
I will cast out thy mother that bare thee, into another country where ye were not begotten, and there shall ye die (Jer. 22:26), where "mother" signifies the church. For as we have said, the case with the church is that it decreases and degenerates, and loses its pristine integrity, chiefly by reason of the increase of hereditary evil, for every succeeding parent adds new evil to that which he has inherited. All the actual evil in the parents puts on a kind of nature, and when it often recurs, becomes natural to them, and is added to their hereditary evil, and is transmitted into their children, and so to posterity. In this way the hereditary evil is immensely increased in the descendants. That this is so is evident from the fact that the evil dispositions of children are exactly like those of their progenitors. Quite false is the opinion of those who think that there is no hereditary evil except that which they allege to have been implanted in us from Adam (see n. 313). The truth is that everyone makes hereditary evil by his own actual sins, and adds it to the evils that he has inherited, and in this way it accumulates, and remains in all the descendants, nor is it abated except in those who are being regenerated by the Lord. In every church this is the principal cause of degeneration, and it was so in the Most Ancient Church.
Elliott(1983-1999) 494
494. 'He died' means that this kind of perception existed no more. This is clear from the meaning of the expression 'to die', which means everything that ceases to be what it once was, as in John,
To the angel of the Church in Sardis write, These things says He who has the seven spirits and the seven stars, I know your works; you are said to be alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen what remains and is at the point of truth, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of God. Rev 3:1, 2.In Jeremiah,
I will hurl your mother who bore you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die. Jer 22:26.
Here 'mother' stands for the Church. For the course of the Church is such, as stated, that it declines and degenerates, and the perfection of earlier days is lost, chiefly because of the increase in hereditary evil. For every parent adds further evil to that which he has inherited. All evil of their own doing residing with parents takes on a kind of intrinsic nature, and when such evil is frequent in its recurrence, it does become part of their nature. It is added to what they have inherited and is handed on to children and so to descendants. In this way hereditary evil becomes more and more enormous in descendants. This anyone may recognize from the evil inclination in children being just like that in their parents and grandparents.
[2] The opinion of people who imagine that no hereditary evil exists beyond that which, they assert, has been implanted in us from Adam, is utterly and completely false; see 317. In reality everyone is producing hereditary evil through the sins of his own doing, and adding this to what he acquired from his parents. In this manner it mounts up and remains in all his descendants. Nor is it ever moderated except in people who are being regenerated by the Lord. This is the chief reason why every Church degenerates, including the Most Ancient.
Latin(1748-1756) 494
494. Quod 'mortuus esse' significet quod talis perceptio non fuit, constat ex significatione vocis 'mori,' quae significat omne quo desinit esse quale fuit, sicut apud Johannem, Angelo Ecclesiae, quae in Sardibus, scribe, Haec dicit, qui habet septem spiritus, et septem stellas, Novi opera tua, quo dicaris vivere, sed mortuus es; esto vigilans, et stabili reliqua moribunda, non enim inveni opera tua perfecta coram Deo Apoc. iii 1, 2:apud Jeremiam, Projiciam matrem tuam, quae genuit te, super terram aliam ubi non geniti estis, ibique moriemini, xxii 26;
ubi 'mater' pro Ecclesia. Se enim res habet cum Ecclesia, ut dictum, quod decrescat et degeneretur et quod prisca integritas pereat, ex causa imprimis quod malum hereditarium augeatur, nam unusquisque parens novum malum hereditario addit; omne malum actuale apud parentes induit speciem naturae et cum saepe recurrit fit naturale e additur hereditario et transplantatur in liberos et sic in posteros; ita augetur malum hereditarium in posteris immensum; quod unusquisque nosse 'potest ex mala indole liberorum prorsus simili parentum eorum et avorum. [2] Falsissima prorsus opinio est eorum qui putant non dari aliquod malum hereditarium praeter quod implantatum aiunt esse ab Adamo, videatur n. 313, cum tamen unusquisque per actualia sua peccata hereditarium malum facit, ac acquisitis a parentibus suis adjicit, et sic cumulat, quod remanet in omni posteritate; nec nisi quam in illis temperatur qui a Domino regenerantur. Haec primaria causa est quod omnis Ecclesia degeneretur; ita quoque Antiquissima.