The resurrection of Jesus is not just some cool story or myth. It is very much true. Everyone agrees that Jesus died on a Roman cross. And what every Christian agrees on is that three days later Jesus exited a tomb that could not hold him hostage. And that changed everything. It added everything that is Christ’s to our lives when we trust in him. That’s what we will explore next – the effects of the resurrection of Christ on our lives.
John 11:25-26. 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
In New Testament Greek there are three different words for our single word “life.”
The least used word in the New Testament is bios – This word is used to simply mean biological life or the course of our physical life.
1 John 2:16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [bios], is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Next is the word psyche – this is the word that the New Testament authors used quite often to mean the soul or the whole life.
John 10:11. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life [psyche] for the sheep.
Finally, is the word zoe – this is the word that the biblical authors have chosen to mean the divine life of God. In fact, every time the word zoe is used in the New Testament it refers to God’s life.
John 1:4. “In Him was life [zoe], and the life [zoe] was the light of men.”
(Zoe is a major theme in John’s writing. John uses the word zoe 26 times in his gospel.)
Understanding these three words is very important for understanding exactly what the resurrection of Christ adds to our lives. You see, Jesus did not come to give us bios or psyche – we already had those. Those were given to us at creation. When God created man in the Garden, he formed him from the dust and breathed the breath of life into his body. This gave him bios and he became a psyche.
But the zoe of God was something the man had to choose.
We can speculate (Genesis doesn’t give us great detail) that eternal life, including God’s zoe, was in the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve were commanded to reject the Tree of Knowledge and choose the Tree of Life instead. But you probably know what happened. The serpent tempted Eve, Eve tempted Adam, and all hell broke loose (literally) when they chose the self-life over the life of God. This choice would bring death to their bios (Adam and Eve are both very much dead and physical death is the destiny of every person), and it would bring death to their psyche (guilt, shame, anger, blaming, striving, worry, and fear are now born into the human experience).
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. When someone trusts Jesus as their savior, we would say that they have received eternal life. But what exactly is this life? What is Jesus offering to us by his resurrection? Is it just living forever? Is it living forever in the bios and the psyche that we already have? That would be terrible. In fact, that is the scenario that God prevented in the Garden when he blocked Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life after they sinned. God graciously wanted to keep them from living forever trapped in their twisted, rebellious, sinful bios and psyche. Meanwhile, God’s zoe life could not be offered any more, not until there has been a sacrificed life. A substitute life.
Jesus Christ came so that we might have God’s own zoe. God’s own eternal life. Jesus didn’t come to teach us how to win at life, or have our best life now. Jesus doesn’t want you to be your “best self,” and he isn’t interested in you refining your human life. Jesus came that we might be born again with the zoe life of God.
John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life [zoe].
To live is Christ means living from the zoe life of God and all that it brings. It means our own psyche is no longer our starting point in living, and our bios is no longer our ending point in life – everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?
It’s the ultimate question, isn’t it? What do you believe? What or who are you trusting in? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection of the bios and psyche and that he alone is the addition of the divine life to our human life?
You: Do you believe this?
You in Christ: Why is it so important to see that Jesus isn’t just offering us eternal life of the body (bios) and mind (psyche), without the transformation of the heart and nature (zoe).
Christ in you: How does the zoe life of Christ in us change how we relate through our psyche life?
Prayer: Father, I do believe in Jesus as the giver of all life, including eternal life. Help me now to live from my zoe, letting it impact all I do with my mind and body. Amen.
To Live is Christ 