What is life?

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

John 6:63b CSB the words of Christ Jesus

Look intently into the eyes of anyone. Who do you see?

What makes this mortal son or daughter of man so different?

King or commoner, young or old, rich or poor — how does this life impact you personally? What is it about this person that makes their life matter?

A young shepherd of little note speaks to a king. “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?”

An aging king notes, “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.”

And another rich man who has lost everything laments, “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God requires his life?”

What is life and what does spirit have to do with it?

Spirit Living in Flesh

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:24 NASB

πνεῦμα ὁ θεός theos pneuma – The spirit of the Living God must be approached only in spirit and not in our flesh.

Is man anything at all before the God of creation? How does the Lord breathe spirit from the holiness of His life-giving Spirit?

One place the Bible reveals this nature of the One God is in the books of Moses.

רוּחַ

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. – Genesis 1:2 WEB

Do you realize Moses’ description of the Lord in Eden after original sin describe God as Spirit?

וַֽיִּשְׁמְע֞וּ אֶת־קֹ֨ול יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים מִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ בַּגָּ֖ן לְר֣וּחַ הַיֹּ֑ום וַיִּתְחַבֵּ֨א הָֽאָדָ֜ם וְאִשְׁתֹּ֗ו מִפְּנֵי֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֔ים בְּתֹ֖וךְ עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן׃

Genesis 3:8 WLC – NASB translation: They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

A translation of cool here comes from the word ‘spirit.’

Therefore the man and his wife ‘heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the Spirit’ in this day following their sin. He created man in His spiritual image, filled our flesh made not for decay with the spirit of His own essence of goodness.

Generations after man’s expulsion from a paradise on earth spoiled by the evil: “Then the LORD said,

“My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh…”

So there it is: The LORD speaks to Moses this one mysterious truth of His immortality contending with our mortality.

πνεῦμα

The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

John 6:63 NET – the words of Jesus

The concept confuses mankind who cannot see the breath of life in our own flesh, that of others, in living creatures, unseen demons or the revealed eternal Spirit of the Living God.

Our brief look at the Hebrew root [Strong’s H7307 – ruwach – רוּחַ ] primarily suggests: wind, breath and mind, in addition to the Spirit of the LORD God.

Jesus’ words in common first century Greek also differentiate life in man and things from that of the Holy Spirit.

πνεῦμα – Pneuma, also signifies: ‘the vital principal by which the body is animated; the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides; the soul, a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting; the wind itself, a breath of nostrils or mouth.

It also includes beings (good or evil) higher than man, but lower than God; that is: angels, seraphim, cherubim, demons and the like. And of course, Satan is one of these created ones with beginning and end, but a powerful spirit of evil lower than the Lord God Almighty.

From its root word John describes Jesus walking on the Sea after feeding 5000, a sign mentioned in my previous post.

The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

John 6:18 NASB

Jesus describes more differences in unseen life, which we will explore more in my next post.

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:8 NASB

To be continued...