The New Testament was written in Greek. Some of the doctrine | theology taught in churches conflates ζωή [zoe] (life) with ζάω [zao] (to be alive | to live) in respect of the way certain passages are interpreted.

The first three and the last three chapters of the Bible


A thousand years that commences following the return of Christ seems absurd to many - especially because common themes in the Revelation also have the new heavens and earth immediately following the return of Christ

- yet a thousand years that commences following the return of Christ is in line with the fact that the last three chapters of the Bible are a reflection of the first three chapters of the Bible:

First three chapters:  Beginning of time: God's creation (Genesis 1:1-31).
Last three chapters:  Christ makes all things new (Revelation 21:5).

First three chapters:  Perfectly good (Genesis 1:31).
Last three chapters:  Only righteousness dwells in it (Revelation 21:27).

First three chapters:  Tree of life (Genesis 2:9, 16-17).
Last three chapters:  Tree of life (Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1-2, 14, 17).

First three chapters:  Adam given dominion (Genesis 1:26-28).
Last three chapters:  The dominion of the last Adam (Revelation 20:4 - also see Revelation 3:21).

First three chapters:
Satan's deception

(a) Satan's deception of Adam & Eve (which began with the words "You will NOT surely die" - Genesis 3:1-7, 11-19).

 --  in Adam all mankind failed the test --

(b) Expulsion from Eden (Genesis 3:22-24).

(c) Death of Adam (the first death) - 930 years later (Genesis 5:5).

IN-BETWEEN THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS 
AND THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS:

--- "I am the Resurrection [anastasis] 
and the (eternal) life [zoe]!" (John 11:25 - Jesus) ---
 
Last three chapters:
Satan's deception

(a) Satan's deception of the nations descended from Adam & Eve.

--  one part of mankind descended from Adam and Eve failed the test --

and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." (Revelation 20:7-9).

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night to the ages of the ages." (Revelation 20:7-10).

Matthew 10:28
"Fear not them which kill the body [soma], but are not able to kill the soul [psuche]: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul [psuche] and body [soma] in gehennah [G1067 geenna]."

  • The New Testament uses the word gehennah every time Jesus talks about the everlasting destruction of body and soul. In Mark 9:43 & 45 Jesus calls it "the fire that shall never be quenched". Gehennah and the lake of fire burning with brimstone both represent an everlasting destruction of body and soul.
  • Revelation 19:20 (previous chapter) tells us that the beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive [zao] into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. The concept of being damned while alive [zao] is not extra-biblical or alien to scripture:

    In the last three chapters of the Bible we read about:

    3. The binding of Satan's ability to deceive the nations (for a thousand years).
    4. The reign of martyred and resurrected saints with Christ during the same one thousand year period. 

    * Sp 1 "THE REMAINDER OF THE DEAD" (Revelation 20:5a):

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    "but the remainder [G3062 loipoy] of the dead did not live again 
    until the thousand years were finished." (Revelation 20:5a). 
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    1. The above words are not found in the Bible’s oldest Greek manuscript of the Revelation, the Codex Sinaiticus. Nor are they found in the oldest Aramaic manuscript, the Khabouris Codex.

    2. The words are listed as spurious in Tischendorf "List of spurious texts".

    3. The words appear to contradict the scriptures that talk about a day when the dead are raised:

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    "God has set A DAY on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:31).
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    Some scholars involved with translation of the Greek texts into English believe the words found in the first sentence in Revelation 20:5 were possibly added as a note at some point by someone - either in the margins, or in-between the lines (a common practice during the first few hundred years A.D), and later scribes who were copying the text were not sure whether or not the words were supposed to be there, and copied the text with those words, to be safe (a.k.a an interpolation).  

    4. Omitting the sentence does not affect the meaning of what is being said regarding the souls John saw, who had been beheaded:

    "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; 

    and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4-6, with the sentence omitted).

    Nothing more can or should be said about that sentence in Revelation 20:5, because:

    "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19).

    An accidental addition (if that's the case) is better than a deliberate omission.

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