Zoe & Aionios Zoe: Life & Eternal Life. Source: God. He alone possesses life [zoe] in Himself:
"For as the Father hath life [zoe] in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life [zoe] in himself." (John 5:26).
The Son (of God) is the Logos (or "Word") of God who became a human being: "The Logos ("Word") of God was in the beginning with God. In Him was life [zōḗ], and the life [zōḗ] is the light of men." (John 1:2 & 4).
Zao: Living | being alive.
"In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28).
The Bible also calls God "the living God" (the God who is zao - alive).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the first book of biblical scripture we are told 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 or psuche] 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").
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
When used in reference to God, the word zao is not associated with a human body.
When used in reference to the resurrected Man Jesus Christ, the word zao is associated with His resurrected, glorified human body. He has eternal zoe | life in Himself and He is zao forevermore, possessing His immortality:
-- "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).
"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: To live | be alive [zao] forever (the body never dying or decaying).
Scripture NEVER calls a human being whose body has died, "zao". When used in reference to created human beings, to be zao is to be alive in a created human body.
Eternal life in the Greek New Testament is never called aionios zao. Eternal life is always called aionos zoe.
The Greek words zoe, zao, and psuche in the verse below have been taken from the Septuagint - (the Greek translation of the Old Testament):
Genesis 2:7 (Septuagint):
καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.
The words in English:
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [zoe]; and man became a living [zao] soul [psuche]."
God breathing a spirit into Adam meant that he became a living [zao] being | soul that is alive [zao]; i.e the spirit which God breathes into flesh causes that flesh to be alive [zao].
- The soul.
- The mind.
- The life of the flesh.
Zoe: Life | Eternal life (list of verses in the New Testament, quoted in the link).
Conflating psyche, zao, and zoe or conflating zoe and zao can keep your understanding of biblical scripture shackled to a false doctrine (or two, or three). Unshackle your mind.
WHY DON'T CREATED HUMAN BEINGS LIVE FOREVER?
1. Genesis Chapter 3 tells us about how the created human beings sinned against God, and began to die, and were prevented thereafter from eating of "the tree of life" [zoe] and thereby living forever. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that death is the enemy of God, having caused corruption, and the decay that is a part of it, to come into His creation.
2. Ever since, without being born of the Spirit of God, every created human being born into the world does not also have life [zoe] that is eternal, and which is IN CHRIST, GIVEN to it.
DEATH
When we as created human beings are born into the world we are not born with a life [zoe] that's eternal; and because a created human being does not have life [zoe] IN ITSELF, when the body dies, the created human being is no longer alive [zao], and the life [zoe] of the flesh that has died goes back to its source (the spirit goes back to its source):
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7-8).
When Jesus raised a young girl from the dead, we read in the Bible that "her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat." (Luke 8:55).
Created human beings consist of body, soul, & spirit. To be "away from home out of the body" (as Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians 5:6-9) = souls without limbs - because as the biblical scriptures refer to them, they are dead, not alive (not living / not zao].
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONLY GOD CAN SAY: "I have (possess) eternal life" | "I am spiritually alive"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only God is spiritually alive: "For IN HIM (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28).
"The Logos ("Word") of God was in the beginning with God. In Him was life [zōḗ], and the life [zōḗ] is the light of men." (John 1:2 & 4).
"And the Logos became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we (John the apostle and his companions) beheld his glory (the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.)" (John 1:14).
The Logos who became a human being is the Son of God.
They named Him Jesus.
The apostle Paul taught: "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).
"For as the Father hath life [zōḗ] in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life [zōḗ] in himself." (John 5:26).
Life [zoe] is in Christ alone. Uniquely among human beings, the Logos who became a human being, i.e Jesus the Son of God alone possesses eternal life in Himself.
GOOD NEWS
The good news for those who believe in the Son of God is that "God has given to us eternal life [zōḗ], and this life [zōḗ] is in His Son:
He that has the Son has (eternal) life; and he that has not the Son of God has not (eternal) life [zōḗ]." (1 John 5:11-12).
No created human being has eternal life in himself. The eternal life of any created human being who has been given eternal life is in Christ: 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."
If you have been given eternal life by God, your eternal life is not in yourself, but IN CHRIST, who alone has life IN HIMSELF. Christ in you = eternal life in you. 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).
The other part of the good news is the following:
"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.
(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 8:10-11).
"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).
"When Christ, who is our life [zōḗ], shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
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 Chris returns.
All this was bought for us by the blood of Christ when He died for our sins, and rose again from the dead, which was necessary for us because it is the only way for us back to God, and faith in Jesus is the only way in which we can be given eternal life:
"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).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN OFTEN-REPEATED FALSE DOCTRINE:
"When human beings are born into the world, we are born with a 'dead' human spirit."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 12:7-8).
Nothing in creation has life unless it is of God. When Jesus raised a young girl from the dead, we are told that "her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat." (Luke 8:55).
Her spirit was not "dead" before she died - but before she died, she had not received (from God) the GIFT of eternal life [zoe] which exists in Christ, in God alone.
Nowhere does the Bible talk about "dead human spirits" - the hypothesis of so-called "spiritual death" is simply the absence of eternal life [zoe], and eternal life [zoe] is that which in Colossians 1:26-27 Paul calls,
"The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints", which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
"Spiritual life" | eternal life [aionios zoe] exists in God alone. It is given in Christ to those who have been born of the Spirit of God, and without being born of the Spirit of God, a created human being does not also have life [zoe] that is eternal GIVEN to it;
and because a created human being does not have life [zoe] IN ITSELF, when the body dies, the created human being is no longer alive [zao], and the life [zoe] of the flesh that has died goes back to its source (the spirit goes back to its source):
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 12:7-8).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANOTHER OFTEN-REPEATED FALSE DOCTRINE:
"We are 'spiritually alive' because our 'dead' human spirits were 'quickened from death' at the same time that we were born of the Spirit."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being quickened from the dead according to the Bible
The quickening (making alive) of the dead human body is what the verses in the New Testament which talk about the quickening of the dead are ALWAYS talking about, being based on the fact that after He died, His dead body having been quickened from the dead, Christ rose again from the dead, and lived again.
This false doctrine has also lost sight of the fact that the gospel is holistic and applies to the body, soul and spirit of human beings (which is why the quickening of the body from death and the resurrection of the body from death are integral parts of the gospel of salvation from sin AND death). The quickening and resurrection of the dead body is accomplished through the life-giving Spirit of Christ:
"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.
(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 8:10-11).
"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).
"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).
--- ---
