LIFE AND DEATH
92. 103. and 108, from which we learn that the resurrection of the body pertains only to the right- eous.
In the Apocalypse of Baruch we have the uni- versal resurrection foretold, and the punishment of the wicked, as, ¢.g., in ch. 30 ‘And the secret places shall be opened wherein have been kept the souls of the righteous, and they shall come forth
but the souls of sinners shall languish the
| more, for they know that their punishment has
come.’
C. NT TEACHING.—(1) The Synoptics.—In the first three Gospels these words are used with con- siderable fulness and variety of meaning. We have ‘life’ (ζωή) used absolutely as an equivalent for salvation in its fullest sense, as in Mt 7 ‘ For narrow is the gate and straitened the way that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it’; and in the repeated phrase ‘to enter into life,’ Mt 18° ete., Mk 9* ete.; once (Lk 16%) the word is used of ‘lifetime on earth.’ ‘Eternal life’ (ζωὴ αἰώνιος) occurs a few times, cf. Mt 1929, Mk 103, yuh is wig ore used for the natural physical ife in the body, as in Mt 2” ‘the young child's life,’ Mt 6 ‘Be not anxious for your life.’ Yet these are separable, and are commonly spoken of as ‘body’ and ‘soul.’ Thus Mt 10% ‘ Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.’ This double sense of the word, as denoting the higher and lower life,—that inherent in the earthly body, and that which remains when the union is broken, —lends itself to what may be almost called a play upon the word, as in the recurring thought, e.g.
t 1039 ‘ He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it,’ cf. Mt 16% and the parallels. In the same sense is life used in such passages as ‘rest unto your lives’ (EV ‘souls’), Mt 1155; ‘In your patience ye shall gain possession of your lives’ (EV ‘souls’), Lk 2110, ii one case fw is used with a similar meaning, viz. Lk 12 ‘a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,’ ψυχή is also used of our Lord’s offer- ing of Himself, as in Mk 10* ‘to give his life a ransom for many.’
βίος is used of ‘living’ in the sense of mainten- ance, and only occurs once outside of Luke, and that in a parallel passage quoting our Lord’s own words, viz. ‘all her living,’ Mk 124, ef. Lk 214 See also Lk 151" 89 and 853, In one case it denotes the earthly existence, viz. Lk 8 ‘cares and riches and pleasures of this life.’ θάνατος in the Synoptics denotes death as the termination of this earth] life, as Mt 16% ‘shall not taste of death,’ M 10* ‘condemn him to death,’ Lk 22% ‘I am ready to go to death,’ etc.
(2) The Johannine Writings.—(a) The Gospel.— The idea of life (ζωή) is a favourite one with the writer of the Fourth Gospel, and has a special sig- nificance. ‘Life’ in the absolute sense (with or without the epithet ‘eternal’) in which he uses it is the special possession of God, of which He makes men sharers when they believe in Him through His Son. Thus Jn 14 ‘In him was life, and the life was the light of men’; 3! ‘that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life’; 3° ‘he that be- lieveth not the Son shall not see life’; 5° ‘as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself’; 175 ‘This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ’; 1010 ‘I came that they may have life,’ etc. Specially noteworthy are the phrases Christ uses to describe Himself and His mission. ‘The bread of life,’ 6%; ‘the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life,’ 6%; ‘he
’
LIFE AND DEATH
that followeth me shall have the light of life,’ 8! ; ‘T am the life,’ 11% 148; cf. also 4".
ψυχή is used in similar senses as above noted, but of special value is the form of our Lord’s word in 12% ‘He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.’
θάνατος in this compel forms a distinct contrast to ζωή, as above illustrated, e.g. 5% ‘He that heareth my word and believeth him that sent me . . . hath passed out of death unto life’ (cf. Pauline use below); but it is also frequently used in the ordinary signification.
(6) The First Epistle.—The special signification of ἕωή and θάνατος that we have noted in the Gospel recurs in the first Epistle, and receives new applications. Thus 1 Jn 1} ‘That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard
. . concerning the Word of life (and the life was manifested . . . and we declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father)’; ‘we know that we have passed out of death into life,’ 34; ‘God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,’ 5". Special note must be taken of the verses (5! 17) that deal with ‘sin unto death’ (ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον), probably ‘tending towards’ death (see Westcott’s Commentary, in Zeco, and Add. Note, p. 209).