If this is a kind of generalisation, it would sound more natural in plural form in English:
Only the dead are eternal and sacred, the living live in sin.
Would that fit with the meaning of the original text?
I haven't received your message that's why I didn't respond... It is a generalization but if it goes plural, won't it connote people as subjects? The original speaks not only of people but living creatures at all. Accordingly, the original is in neuter gender...