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Old 10-28-2009, 08:59 AM
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Life



dzoe (ζωη)

The are four Greek words that can be translated "life," depending, as always, upon context.

The first is bios (βιος), which primarily references PHYSICAL life, and by extension, those things about our life that are purely physcial. All that is necessary for one to have bios is to be breathing and have a heart beat. A person on a resperator with no discernable brain waves would still have bios:
  • Luke 8:14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
All humans have bios, and just as we do in English, the first century believers also used this word to describe the parts of one's daily activities that helped secure our physical life, such as any activity we use to produce an income:
  • Luke 8:43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.
The second word that can be translated "life" is psuche (ψυχη). This is 5590 in Strong's Concordance, and in his entry you will read, "From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit..." As good as Dr. Strong was, he did make occasional mistakes, and this is an example where he is simply wrong. Psuche does NOT ever mean "spirit," but rather, his entry should read "breath, that is, (by implication) soul..."

The fundamental meaning of this word is "breath," and so, upon occasion, it references the purely PHYSICAL life of a person (the kind they have by simply breathing).
  • Matthew 2:20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."
MOST of the time, it references the part of a person's internal, spiritual being called the soul (visualized as that part of a person's spiritual life that is the seat of emotions, that has been corrupted by sin, and that gives life to a physcial body). Most uses of psuche in the New Testament reference it as a source of physical life, as the sin-corrupted part of a person, or as the seat of human emotions, and is often contrasted with the "spirit."
  • John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.

    1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living soul;" the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

    Act s2:27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
From a spiritual standpoint, a soul serves the purpose of giving life to a physical body, and therefore, all animal life has a soul, however a soul by itself is not eternal. Only those beings who also have a SPIRIT have any kind of eternal life after the death of the body. So a soul alone grants physcial life, but ceases to exist after the death of the body (animals are occasionally said to have souls, but are NEVER mentioned having spirits). A spirit alone means the being is eternal, but has never had a natural, physical body (i.e. an angel), and a soul/spirit combination (only found in humans among created beings) grants BOTH life to the body, and continuing existence after the death of the body.

As with people, God is referenced as having both spirit and soul, but seeing as how He is not a created being, and is so completely beyond us, even in the nature of His being (such as being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but only being ONE God), there is no way to know for sure if that usage is symbolic, if it points to God as the source of even physical life, or if it means something else.

The third word occasionally translated "life" is pneuma (πνευμα). Strictly speaking, this word means "to blow, wind" (and is used specifically of "wind" several times in the NT), but it's primary application is as "spirit," and it is the most common of these four words in the NT, although it is used in a context meaning "life" very rarely.
  • John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
It is visualized as the seat of human THOUGHT, and is occasionally translated "mind." It is frequently used of a person's entire "attitude, mind set and resulting behavior" (i.e. spirit of fear, spirit of gentleness, etc.). It is also referenced as the portion of the human "spiritual body" that communicates with God.

This is the word used of the "Holy Spirit," and is one of the most common references to God's active working in our lives:
  • Acts 2:17 "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

    Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

    Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And of course, pneuma is the word most often used to indicate what it is that grants us REAL life (that is, zdoe):
  • 2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
The fourth word translated "life" is dzoe. This is by far the most common word for "life" in the New Testament. It can reference either the natural life of a human being (although even in this context, it refers to how you LIVE your life, not just to the physical life itself), or to that kind of life that is BEYOND physical life - the kind that could be called "really living, really being alive." In this last context, it becomes synonymus with "eternal life," and references the kind of life that springs from the spirit (not the body), and can only be obtained from faith in God, and can only be "powered" or "maintained" by Jesus. As such, it is the only word for life that is commonly linked to the Greek word meaning "eternal or everlasting."

C. S. Lewis described the difference between "bios" and "dzoe" as: "it's like humanity is a museum filled with statues of people, and there is a rumor going around that some of the statues are coming to life."

One could say that everyone is alive (bios), but not everyone truly LIVES (dzoe)!

Bolded words below are the noun form (dzoe), underlined words are the verb form (dzao).
  • John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; and he who does not believe the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

    John 6:32-33 Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

    John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

    John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

    John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

    Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

    Romans 5:20-21 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    1 Corinthians 15:16-19 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Grace and peace,

Rhomphaia
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