Scriptural Basis, longer version, part 2

Jesus Gives Abundant Life

Another way that Jesus is at work is giving His followers life.

John 10:28 tells us that Jesus gives (present tense) life.  A few versus earlier (10:10) Jesus said that His mission on earth was to provide life to those who follow Him.  He described that life as abundant; the Greek word can also be rendered superabundant, superior, uncommon or excessive.  Combining this with John 14:6 helps us understand that the life that Jesus gives is Himself.  Combining this with Jesus' conversation with Nicodemis recorded in John 3 tells us that this life is a new life.

As English speakers, we can easily be confused when we read about life in Scripture.  New Testament Greek has three words that are all translated “life” in English.  The three words are bios, psuche and zoe.  We understand bios because we use words like “biology,” “biochemistry,” “biodiversity” and “biography.”  We have preserved psuche in our English language in “psychology,” “psychic” and others but these words may not reflect very well the meaning of the NT Greek word, which is defined as 1) breath and 2) soul (plus numerous sub-definitions of both of these).

John 12:25 uses both psuche and zoe:  He who loves his life (psuche) loses it, and he who hates his life (psuche) in this world will keep it to life (zoe) eternal.  In the New Testament zoe is often modified by the adjective “eternal,” but this too can throw us off, if we think of eternity only as starting for us when we die.

In a sense we do need to die to experience zoe life.

(We are) always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life [zoe] of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live [zao] are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life [zoe] of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  II Corinthians 4:10-11

Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life [zoe].  Romans 6:4

These verses show that Paul and his companions experienced zoe life, the life of Jesus in them, prior to the death of their bodies.  The context of II Cor 4:10-11 sheds light on the importance of the life of Jesus in His believers as it is the authentication of their witness. But before pursuing that thought, I want to reenforce the idea that the life Jesus gives His followers, the abundant life that makes us His witnesses, is His life.  I’ve already mentioned John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The combination of Jesus as the Way into the presence of the Father and Jesus as Life could be explored through Acts 2:28, You have made known to me the paths (or way) of life (zoe); you will fill me with joy in your presence, which is a quotation from Psalm 16:11. The abundant life is “lived” in God’s presence and is God’s presence in us. It is abiding in Jesus and Jesus abiding in us.  It is life in the Son:

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life (zoe), and this life (zoe) is in His Son.  I John 5:11 

Is it of value trying to identify the life Jesus gives, zoe, whether in ourselves as individuals, or any segment of His body?  Of course it is, for this is our witness to the world.  If we can’t see the life of Jesus in ourselves, how well can others see it?  The problem is often that our “life,” whether individual or corporate – can become so filled with ourselves or the gods of our culture, our psuche that asserts its dominance, or our substitutions and imitations of Jesus’ life in us.  

Colossians 3:3-4 seems to suggest a limit to how clearly we can identify His life in us:

For you have died and your life (zoe) is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life (zoe), is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.[1]

But who hasn’t been deeply moved by hearing a testimony that rings true, that captures a depth of life that can only be explained by the work of the Spirit, the life of Jesus?  We can hide behind all sorts of imitations, but let’s allow Jesus to bring us to the cross to die daily, let’s take up our cross so that His life may be manifest in us, and then let's testify to that life, to the new life, the abundant life Jesus gives us, our life in Christ and His life in us, to encourage each other and be a witness to the world.

So please send us your testimony of how you see Jesus giving you His life, living out His life in you, both as an individual or as a segment of His body.


[1] While “hidden” in Col 3:3 may suggest a limit to seeing our life in Christ clearly, the same word “hidden” is used in Matthew 5:14, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…which goes on (vs 16)… let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  

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