God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24).
The One who exists from eternity unto eternity is the source of all existence. The life [zoe] that is in Him is eternal life [aionios zoe]. He alone has life [zoe] in Himself (John 1:4; John 5:26).
The One who alone has life [zoe] in Himself is spiritually alive [zao] and is the source of all life [zoe].
The One who is spiritually alive [zao] is the God of all the living | of those who are alive [zao].
THE DISTINCTION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
BETWEEN LIFE [ZOE] AND LIVING | BEING ALIVE [ZAO]
1. ZOE (LIFE)
God is the source of all life [zoe] and only God has/possesses life in Himself.
(B) God exists (from eternity to eternity): The life which is in God is eternal life [aionios zoe].
The eternal life God has given to created human beings who are born of His Spirit is in His Son (1 John 5:11-12), who alone has/possesses eternal life in Himself John 5:26.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
Jesus told those who believed in Him:
"I am in my Father, and ye (will be) in me, and I in you."
(John 14:19b-20b)
In Colossians 1:27 Paul talks about "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,
which is Christ IN you, the hope of glory."
Jesus said, "The kingdom of God does not come with external evidence (that can be observed). Nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For take heed, be discerning, and perceive this: The kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21).
Eternal life:
(Greek): aionios zoe. The Greek texts of the New Testament never call eternal life "aionios zao".
Only God has life [zoe] in Himself, therefore only God can of Himself be alive [zao] forever.
Eternal life [zoe] is given in Christ to created human beings who have been born of the Spirit of God.
2. ZAO (TO BE ALIVE | TO BE LIVING | TO LIVE)
Only God has life [zoe] in Himself, therefore only God can of Himself be alive [zao] forever. As for created human beings,
"In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28).
"There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we IN HIM; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we BY him." (1 Corinthians 8:6).
In the case of human beings, to live / to be alive [zao] forever is to be immortal, but the source of all life [zoe] is God, who alone has life [zoe] in Himself.
THE REALITY OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY
"If Christ's Spirit is in you,
(1) your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit (of Christ) is your (eternal) life [zoe] because of (Christ's) righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
-- "When Christ, who is our life [zōḗ], shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4) --
(2) Moreover, if the Spirit of the one who raised [egeiro] Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised [egeiro] Christ from the dead will also quicken [zōopoiéō] your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you." (Romans 8:11).
"For the law of the Spirit of the life [zoe] (which is) in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2).
The result of Christ's Spirit in a human being quickening the dead body (making it alive again) is the resurrection of the body from the dead when Christ returns.
So take a look at the long list of verses in the New Testament talking about the resurrection of the human body from the dead in the above link and ask yourself why this (the resurrection of the body from the dead) would be such an important subject in the Bible.
========================================
The Bible teaches us about the living [zao] God, who has life [zoe] in Himself, creating human beings and breathing life [zoe] into them in order that they may become living [zao] souls [psyche], so that they may live | may be alive [zao], each one in his own created body on the created earth.
========================================
The Bible does not teach us that God created human beings so that Adam or anyone else should "die and then go to heaven when they die". The resurrection of the human body from the dead is an integral part of the gospel:
- In 1 Corinthians 15:26 we read that death is the enemy of God.
- In Ezekiel 18:32 God says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."
- In the Deuterocanonical (apocryphal) book of the Wisdom of Solomon it is written that "God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things, that they might have their being." (Wisdom 1:13-14).
"In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28); and "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Corinthians 8:6).
===================================================
IMMORTALITY
God is a Spirit. When used in reference to God, the word zao is not associated with a human body - except when the word is referring to Christ - and when it was used by Jesus in reference to Himself, He was associating the word with His resurrected, glorified human body:
-- "I am the First and the Last, and the Living [zao] One,
and I became dead [nekros], and behold, I am alive [zao] to the ages of the ages, Amen.
And I have the keys of hades and of death." (Revelation 1:17-18).
Jesus has eternal zoe | life in Himself and He is zao | alive forevermore, possessing His immortality: Paul wrote, "He (Christ) alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen." (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
- In Christ we have eternal life. Only in Christ. Eternal life exists in the Messiah alone:
- "When the Messiah (the Christ), who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
The source of immortality is the continual supply of life. The continual supply of life is eternal life. The only source of the continual supply of life, is God.
The analogy Jesus and biblical scripture gives us of this, is living [zao] water (water that is alive). (John 4:10-11; John 7:38), fountains of living waters (Revelation 7:17), a river of water of life [zoe]; the tree of life:
===========================================
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life [zoe] - water as clear as crystal - pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On each side of the river is the tree of life [zoe] producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22:1-2).
===========================================
The water of life [zoe] flows continually. This implies that created human beings need to continually drink of the living [zao] water, because unlike Jesus, we do not have life [zoe] within ourselves - it is given to us in Christ.
--- I am the vine, ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you, because if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned, and as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. --- (John 15:4-6, verses rearranged).
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life [zoe]." (John 6:63).
In the Word of God is life [zoe] (John 1:4).
Paul said, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of the LORD: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Abiding in Christ and continually drinking of the water of life that is freely given to us in Christ is not the same as working for our salvation from eternal death. Our salvation from sin and eternal death is not dependent upon ourselves. Death cannot give itself life. Sinful flesh cannot put sin in the flesh to death - it is through the Spirit of Christ that we are able to put to death the deeds of the body - through His death for our sin and His death to sin:
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." (Romans 8:13).
"For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." (Romans 6:10).
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4).
Jesus condemned sin in the flesh on the cross, through His death (Colossians 2:10-14; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:2-11).
Our salvation and our sanctification is the work of God in His grace through Jesus Christ, and it comes to us through our faith (believing) in Jesus Christ, who said:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. (John 3:16-18a).
We do need to continue to believe in Him in order to continually drink of the Living water:
"Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine; no more can ye, except ye remain in me." (John 15:4).
Jesus has eternal zoe | life in Himself and He is zao (alive) forevermore, possessing His immortality (of Himself):
Can created human beings possess our own immortality (be immortal of ourselves)?
The Bible teaches us about the living [zao] God, who has life [zoe] in Himself, creating human beings and breathing life [zoe] into them in order that they may become living [zao] souls [psyche], so that they may live | may be alive [zao], each one in his own created body on the created earth.
To live | be alive [zao] forever and possess our own immortality (be immortal of ourselves), created human beings need to possess eternal life [zoe] in ourselves, but created human beings do not possess eternal life [zoe] in ourselves. It is given to us in Christ.
Adam and Eve were the first created human beings, and they represent all created human beings, all other human beings having been procreated from the same genetic seed. After creating Adam, God commanded him: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof dying you will die." (Genesis 2:17).
But "the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall NOT surely die.'" (Genesis 3:4).
Life [zoe] is in the Word of God (John 1:4). It is the Word of God Himself that the first created human beings sinned against by believing the lie.
Adam evidently did not possess (his own) immortality, or have eternal life IN HIMSELF, because the moment he disobeyed the commandment, his body began to slowly die.
He was also prevented from eating from the tree of life [zoe] and living [zao] forever after this (Genesis 3:22-24).
In Romans 5:12 Paul explains that "sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned" (all sinned in Adam, and all have sinned);
and in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul tells us that "since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be quickened [zoopoieo: made alive]" - and it's the quickening of the dead body that Paul is referring to.
In the last chapter of the Bible the tree of life is seen as having been made available to created human beings again (Revelation 22:1-22).
The logical deduction to make from these facts is that a created human being, though one day he may once again be immortal (as Adam was), yet he cannot possess his immortality (of himself) the way only Christ does, because the source of immortality is eternal life, which a created human being does not possess in himself;
and the evidence of this lies in the fact that when Adam disobeyed the commandment, his body began to slowly die, and he was also prevented from eating from the tree of life [zoe] and living [zao] forever after that (Genesis 3:22-24).
Uniquely among human beings, the Logos who became a human being, i.e Jesus the Son of God, possesses eternal life in Himself and possesses immortality of Himself. As for created human beings, "IN HIM (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28):
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
Our salvation from sin and death was bought for us by the blood of Christ when He died for our sins, and rose again from the dead - and this is the only way back to God for us - faith in Jesus being the only way in which we can be given eternal life, because:
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6).
"For all (of us) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
"He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter 2:24).
"For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"For this reason Christ died [apothnesko] and rose again from the dead [anistemi], and lived again [anazao: lived again in a body that is not dead], so that he may be the Lord of both the dead [nekros] and living [zao: those who are alive in a body that is not dead]." (Romans 14:9).
"For the law of the Spirit of the life [zoe] (which is) in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2).
"When Christ, who is our life [zōḗ], shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
The quickening and resurrection of the human body from the dead results in immortality (to live | to be alive [zao] forever in a body that never dies or decays) - but created human beings cannot possess our immortality of ourselves, because it is dependent on the continuous provision of eternal life, which only God possesses in Himself.
EVERLASTING LIFE OWNED
-- "In the beginning was the Word, the Word existed with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him life [zōḗ] exists, and the life is the light of mankind." (John 1:1-4).
-- "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself" -- John 5:26
EVERLASTING LIFE GIVEN
-- "And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life." -- 1 John 5:11-12.
RIGHTEOUSNESS OWNED
-- "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One. -- 1 John 2:1
RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVEN
-- "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. -- Philippians 3:9-10
RESURRECTION OWNED
-- "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" -- John 11:25
-- "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." -- John 14:6
RESURRECTION GIVEN
-- "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming." -- 1 Corinthians 15:20-23
IMMORTALITY OWNED
-- "He (Christ) alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen." -- 1 Timothy 6:15-16
IMMORTALITY GIVEN
-- "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." -- 1 Corinthians 15:52-54.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The living [zao] God, who has life [zoe] in Himself), created human beings and breathed life [zoe] into them in order that they may become living [zao] souls [psyche] and may live | may be alive [zao], each one in his own created body on the created earth (God did not create human beings so that Adam or anyone else should "die and then go to heaven when they die"). Death is a tragedy in the eyes of God and the Bible calls death the enemy of God (1 Corinthians 15:26).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- ---
