Jesus said,
"And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him should have everlasting life. And I will raise [anistemi] him up at the last day." (John 6:40).
The above statement made by Jesus involves two things that mark human existence:
1. Life [zoe].
2. Living | being alive [zao].
It also involves two gifts given by God to human beings through Christ:
1. Eternal Life [zoe aionios] IN Christ.
2. The promise of being alive [zao] forever (immortal) following the resurrection of our bodies from the dead THROUGH Christ's bodily resurrection
- which cannot happen unless the dead body is 'quickened' (made alive again).
So let's see what the Bible means each time it uses the words zoopoieo (quickened); and syzoopoieo (quickend together with Christ):
'QUICKENED'
(Made alive [zao] again)
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.
When Paul wrote: "Fool! That which you sow is not quickened [zoopoieo], except it die." (1 Corinthians 15:36), he was answering the question:
"How are the dead raised [egeiro]? With what kind of body [soma] will they come?" (1 Corinthians 15:35),
- and he was talking about the resurrection of the body from death/the dead.
DEATH OF THE BODY, QUICKENING OF THE BODY
(Christ's dead body was quickened - not His Spirit: When Jesus died, His Spirit did not die: His soul went into hades - Acts 2:27 - where by the Spirit He preached to the spirits in prison- 1 Peter 3:18-20 - and His dead body, being quickened [zoopoieo] (made alive by the Spirit), was raised from the dead).
So it is written that the dead bodies of Adam and the seed of Adam who have been given eternal LIFE [zoe] IN CHRIST will be:
made alive [zao] again ("quickened"), having been quickened with the quickening of Christ's dead body (Romans 8:10-11)
- because by the Spirit of God we have been:
* buried with Christ [sunthapto] in baptism, wherein also all of us are
* risen with Christ [sunegeiro] through the faith of the operation of God, who
* has raised Christ [egeiro] from the dead, - and we,
* being dead in our sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh, he has
* quickened together with Christ [syzoopoieo], having forgiven us all trespasses."
(Colossians 2:12-13)
* God has (past tense) quickened us together with Christ [syzōopoiéō], (by grace we are saved); and
* God has (past tense) raised us up together with Christ [synegeírō] and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"; and
* God has done this (through Christ) even when we were dead in sins, and
* He has done this for his great love wherewith he loved us, because He is rich in mercy.
(Ephesians 2:4-6).
Paul states that this is "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
Paul is not talking about a so-called "spiritual regeneration of a 'dead' human spirit", but about baptism into Christ, because by the Spirit of God we have been:
* buried with Christ [sunthapto] in baptism, wherein also all of us are
* risen with Christ [sunegeiro] through the faith of the operation of God, who
* has raised Christ [egeiro] from the dead, - and we,
* being dead in our sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh, he has
* quickened together with Christ [syzoopoieo], having forgiven us all trespasses."
(Colossians 2:12-13)
So Paul says,
"If then ye be risen with Christ [sunegeiro], seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life [zōḗ] is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life [zōḗ], shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:1-4);
and Paul also says,
"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).
So because we have been quickened with Christ when His dead body was quickened, our dead bodies too will be quickened, and we will rise again bodily from the dead - having been raised with the resurrection of Christ's dead body (because He is the Son of man and the latter Adam) - hence we will LIVE | BE ALIVE [zao] forever (be immortal, never dying) :
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be quickened [zoopoieo]."
(1 Corinthians 15:22 - where Paul is talking about the resurrection of the body).
(i) The word zoopoieo (quickening, being made alive) is being applied to the mortal body in all the above verses, and we are going to list the other verses using the same word soon, but first also bear the following in mind:
(ii) The words egeiro (raised), sunegeiro (raised with) and anastasis (THE resurrection of the body from the dead) - whenever the words are referring to resurrection from death - are always referring to the resurrection of the body in the New Testament. (Each and every New Testament verse using one of those three words in reference to resurrection from death, as well as the word anístēmi, is quoted HERE).
The words are referring to the positional reality in Christ of those who belong to Him.
Jesus said,
"It is the Spirit that quickens (makes what was dead, alive again [zoopoieo] ); the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life [zoe]." (John 6:63).
PASSING FROM DEATH TO LIFE
Passing from death to life is not being "raised" from death to life: Jesus said:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life [zoe aionios], and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed [G3327 metabaino] from death unto life [zoe]." (John 5:24).
G3327 μεταβαίνω metabaivnw metabaino {met-ab-ah'-ee-no}: from 3326 and the base of 939; to change place:--depart, go, pass, remove.
To be 'quickened" (made alive again) is to be placed in Christ through new birth (being born of the Spirit of God), but the new birth is not talking about spiritual "regeneration" (or the "quickening" of a 'dead' human spirit)
- it's talking about the life (Spirit) of Christ coming to live in you, giving you eternal life IN CHRIST - the key words are IN CHRIST, who possesses (eternal) life [zoe aionios] in Himself.
When the New Testament tells us about being quickened from death (made alive again), it's never talking about the so-called "quickening of a ("dead") human spirit". The New Testament is always consistent. There is never any contradiction.
Peter wrote:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth [anagennáō] into a living (záō) hope THROUGH the resurrection (anástasis) of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3).
Paul wrote:
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4);
and the hope that Peter is talking about in 1 Peter 1:3 is the confident assurance of the resurrection of our dead bodies (at the time of the return of Christ) - even after we have died - as Paul also wrote,
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
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Eternal life [AIONIOS zoe] is only given to created human beings through "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). It is IN CHRIST.
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It follows that if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ in him, he does not have eternal life in him - which is what John taught in 1 John 5:12:
11 "God has given to us eternal life [zōḗ], and this life [zōḗ] is IN HIS SON:
12 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)
and without being born of the Spirit of God, created human beings simply have no eternal life [zoe] in them.
- The consistent message in the scriptures that have already been mentioned on this page, is that Christ's dead body has (past tense) been quickened and raised from the dead, and those who have been born of the Spirit of God and belong to Him have been (past tense) quickened and raised together with Him, because He has put His Spirit - the Spirit of the last Adam - in them:
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be quickened [zoopoieo]."
(1 Corinthians 15:22 - where Paul is talking about the resurrection of the body).
and because the New Testament is always consistent and there is never any contradiction, it's the quickening of the body that is also being spoken about in all the following verses (the word zōopoiéō is used in each verse:-
* The only passage in the New Testament that speaks of a "natural body" and a "spiritual body" is 1 Corinthians 15:44 where Paul, speaking about the resurrection of the body from death says,
"It is sown a body, natural [Greek: sōma psychikós], it is raised a body, spiritual [sōma pneumatikós]. There is a body, natural [sōma psychikós], and there is a body, spiritual [sōma pneumatikós]."
* The word psychikós is from the word psychḗ (soul / life / mind).
* The word pneumatikós is from the word pneûma (spirit / breath).
No Christian who has been taught in any church that the 'dead' human spirit is 'quickened' (a.k.a spiritual 'regeneration') when someone is 'born again' (and accepted that doctrine as true) will understand these things unless the person also first understands the distinction that the New Testament makes between being given life [zoe]; and being alive | living [zao].
"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).
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