How and when it all started
Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis 2:7:
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,
* zaō means to live, breathe, be among the living (not lifeless, not dead) (from Thayer's Greek Lexicon).
-- The one who has the breath of life [zoe] from God is alive [zao] --
THE WORDS ZOE AND ZAO ARE NOT USED INTERCHANGEABLY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The only origin and source of life [zoe] is the One who has life [zoe] in Himself, i.e God - the giver of life:
ζάω Zaō
ζάω Zaō (VERB) simply means to live, to be alive, or to continue living (to be alive [zao] forever is to be immortal).
Range of use
* Physical existence (being alive)
* Manner of life (“how one lives”)
* Vitality (living toward God)
Examples
* Romans 14:8: “If we live (zaō), we live to the Lord.”
* Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live (zaō), but Christ who lives in me.”
* Luke 20:38: “For all live (zaō) to Him.”
In short, zaō = the act or state of living | of being alive.
Throughout the New Testament,
Zoe (noun) pertains to life - the only source of which is God.
Zao (verb) - whenever it is used in reference to the creature - pertains to living | being alive - the creature.
zoe aionois: eternal life.
zao: to live | to be alive. *
* By implication in certain verses, zao also alludes to the source of living | being alive - which is life itself [zoe], which is of God, is in the Word of God, and given by God through the Word (hence, subsequent to the fall of Adam, now in Christ) to the descendants of created humans (the creature).
For example, compare:
John 1:4
"In Him (the Word of God) is life [zoe] and the life [zoe] is the light of men." *
with:
Acts 17:28
For in him we live [zao], and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."
Compare also:
John 6:63
"It is the spirit that quickens (makes alive what was dead); the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life [zoe]."
with:
Matthew 4:4
"It is written, Man shall not live [zao] by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
The above are two examples of verses where living | being alive [zao] alludes to the life [zoe] which is the source of living | of being alive.
The living [zao] GOD, who has and possesses life everlasting [zoe aionios] in Himself, is the GOD of all living [zao] creatures, which were created by Him (the created human being does not have life [zoe] in itself, and since the fall of Adam until Christ, no creature had been given eternal life in Christ, because:
There is only one Spirit who is the source of life [zoe], by which human beings can live | be alive [zao]. When a human being is born into the world (born of the flesh), we have the breath of life which is of God (all life is of God) - but eternal life is only in Christ and unless we are born anew of the Spirit of God, we will not be given eternal life in Christ:
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: (when the creature is no longer living | alive) [zao] and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. -- Ecclesiastes 12:7.
("In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." -- Acts 17:28).
When Jesus raised a young girl from the dead, the gospel of Luke tells us that:
"her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat." (Luke 8:55).
* The Bible does not talk about the quickening (making alive again) of a "dead human spirit": Nothing which has the breath of life [zoe] from God (Genesis 2:7; Genesis 6:17; Genesis 7:15 & 22; Ecclesiastes 12:7) is alive [zao] forever, or ever can be alive [zao] forever (immortal) unless it has the breath of everlasting life - which is in Christ - given to it
- but thanks be to Christ and to the Father, it is written, "This is the testimony, that God has given to us everlasting life, [zoe aionios] - and this life [zoe] is in His Son.
- He who has the Son has (everlasting) life [zoe]; he who does not have the Son of God does not have (everlasting) life [zoe] - 1 John 5:11-12.
We who believe in Him have been given eternal life in Christ- who alone possesses eternal life in Himself.
(2) Immortality - being alive [zao] forever
- are by and through the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) - because:
- He IS the Word of God in whom is life [zoe] (John 1:4)
- who became flesh (John 1:14)
- died for our sins, and
- rose again bodily from the dead, and
- as the Father has life [zoe] in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life [zoe] in Himself (John 5:26), and
- He IS the resurrection of the body from the dead [o' anastasis] AND
- the life [zoe] (John 11:25),
- who alone possesses immortality (1 Timothy 6:16),
so that whoever believes in Him will live [zao] (following the resurrection from the dead), though He die (John 11:25):
Jesus to Martha: (whose brother had just died): "Your brother shall rise again".
Martha: "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection [o anastasis] at the last day."
Jesus:
"I am the Resurrection [o anastasis]
and the ZOE! (the life).
He who believes in Me, though he die,
yet he shall live (ZAO: he shall be alive)."
(The resurrection of the dead renders the one who died alive [zao] again):
"And whoever is ZAO (alive) and believes in Me shall never die."
(shall be immortal) (John 11:23-26).
The record penned by the apostle John has Jesus describing Himself as the resurrection of the dead [o anastasis] and the life [zoe], saying that whoever believes in Him shall live | be alive [zao] though they die bodily - in the context of Jesus telling Martha that her brother who had just died, will rise again.
There are two different concepts mentioned in the above passage: Life [zoe], and the expression of life [zao].
- The one who is alive [zao] and has been given eternal life [zoe aionios] IN Christ the Lord will be alive [zao] and will never die FOLLOWING the resurrection of the body from the dead.
Below is an example of the conflation of zoe (life) with zao (to be alive | living) in the doctrine taught by mainstream churches, by replacing the word zao (alive in the body) with the word zoe (spiritual life):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 ".. He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall be spiritually alive. 26 And whoever is spiritually alive and believes in Me shall be spiritually alive forever and ever. Do you believe this?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compare the above with:
"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)
(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).
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.
-- "When Christ, who is our life [zōḗ], shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4) --
SCRIPTURES WHERE MANY CHURCHES
CONFLATE ZOE AND ZAO
(because of the church doctrine that teaches about a quickening (making alive again) of a "dead human spirit". )
There are at least four passages where the New Testament uses the word zao to talk about those who had died but will live again | be alive again following the resurrection of the body from the dead,
where main-stream churches conflate zao (to live | to be alive) and zoe (spiritual life, which is of God) by replacing the word zao with the word zoe in their doctrine - the passages have all been misconstrued by manstream churches to be talking about "spiritual life":-
THE BIBLE EXPLICITLY GIVES THE REASON WHY
CHRIST DIED AND ROSE AGAIN
- 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."
- God "made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created all things, (in order) that they might have their being." (Wisdom 1:13-14).
Romans 14:9
--- "For this reason Christ died [apothnesko] and rose again from the dead [anistemi], and lived again [anazao], so that he may be the Lord of both the dead [nekros] and living [zao: those who are alive, not dead]." ---
"Fear not; I am the first and the last:
I am he that is alive / that liveth [zao],
and was dead;
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 - the words of the Lord Jesus Christ)
Ever since Adam - the created human being - sinned and began to die, no descendant of Adam and Eve has continued to be alive | live [zao] forever, because no human being can live | be alive [zao] forever (be immortal) unless he also has eternal life [zoe] in him
- but only Christ has eternal life IN HIMSELF (John 5:26).
This is why Paul taught: "He alone has (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).
Therefore our eternal life [zoe] and immortality - being alive [zao] forever will never be something we possess in ourselves. Rather, it's in the last Adam.
HE IS RISEN
The day after the sabbath after Jesus had been crucified, had died, and been laid in a tomb, some of His disciples went to the tomb to embalm His body - but they found the stone rolled away, and the tomb empty. Seeing angels standing beside the tomb's entrance, they were afraid, and we read that:
"As they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they (the angels) said unto them, Why seek ye the living [zao] among the dead? He is not here, but is risen [egeiro]: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee?" (Luke 24:5-6).
- and so He is the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-47), in whom is life [zoe], and as death came through the first Adam, so eternal life and immortality is in the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
================================================
No so-called 'dead' human spirit being "quickened" (or "re-generated from death") is going to be a source or 'another' source of life [zoe] enabling the seed of Adam to live [zao] forever (be immortal). The Spirit of Christ alone is that source of life.
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
================================================
🠊There is no such thing as a 'dead' human spirit. When Jesus raised a young girl from the dead we read that "her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat." (Luke 8:55). (Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: (when the creature is no longer living | alive) [zao] and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. -- Ecclesiastes 12:7).
Though many have been given eternal life in Christ, when we die (when the body dies), the body [soma] goes to the grave, the soul [pscuhe] has another destination, and the breath (Spirit) of life [zoe] which gave life [zoe] to the living [zao] (human) creature (the person who died) goes back to its source:
Mainstream church theology that teaches about a 'dead' human spirit being 'quickened' or 'resurrected from the dead' when someone is born of the Spirit, is echoing a false doctrine because "in Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." --Acts 17:28.
--- ---
