When you look up a definition for the English word life, you’ll tally more than one result. But the Greeks have three different words which are translated as life in the English Bible—to capture all of its nuances (as we touched on last week).
There’s bios, which is mostly used as an ethical term referring to one’s lifestyle.
There’s psyche, typically translated as “soul” because it tends to refer to the inner person, consciousness, or personality.
Then there’s zoe.
Zoe-life is my word of choice.
And since Jesus refers most to zoe-life, I deem it the best version of choice. But that’s just me.
What about you?
Here are but a few gospel verses which impassioned this claim . . .
When the gospel-writer John quoted Jesus, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he recorded, “I am the zoe” (John 14:6).
It was also the zoe version of life John employed when he recorded Jesus saying, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Finally, in John’s closing summary of his gospel, he declared that “by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
That’s zoe!
That’s the life Jesus wants for us.
That’s the life He died for His to have.
By believing, we have life in His name.
The Life the gospels introduce us to.
The zoe-life they reveal, proclaim, and invite us into.
What's one of those names bannered over your life? Little Christ’s—that’s how the Greeks first referred to Christians. Or, more literally, “little anointed ones.” This life in Christ, lived in and for His name, is a version of His.
The gospels bring us to Jesus . . . to make a choice.
A choice about life.
The life we are to live in Him—to have life . . . eternal.
It’s all zoe. Beautiful, rich zoe.
And that’s the life for me!
