Spiritual deafness is the inability or refusal to hear the Word of God, and it endangers a person greatly because he does not hear the warnings of God's ministers against the enticement of sin and its curses and penalties. Physical deafness limits a person but does not normally lead to death; spiritual deafness is infinitely worse, because it leads to eternal death. Deafness and speech difficulty go together, since people learn to speak by hearing, and this pictures the effect of sin: those who are deaf to God's Word have great difficulty speaking properly about spiritual matters. Even the most educated sinner betrays an impediment in his speech as soon as spiritual truths are introduced. When he opens his ears to receive the truth, his spiritual speech improves greatly and continually. Just as Jesus physically opened the deaf man's ears, He must spiritually heal us so that we can understand God's Word (John 8:47; I Corinthians 2:9-14). Those brought to Christ for this healing are helped by others who show compassion, make sacrifices, and witness by living righteously.