Yes: Our salvation from sin and eternal death is not dependent upon ourselves. Death cannot give itself life. Our salvation is from God, and it comes to us through our faith (believing) in Jesus Christ, who said:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned. (John 3:16-18a).
No: We have a responsibility: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." (John 15:4).
Satan's survey: Eve, now that I've told you all this, do you believe that if you disobey God's commandment you will surely die?
Eve: No! I will continue to be able to eat of the tree of life and live forever!
Life: The source of Immortality
The source of all life: God.
There is a long list of verses in the New Testament talking about the resurrection of the human body from the dead. Why would this be such an important subject in the Bible?
The Bible teaches us about
the living [zao] God, who has life [zoe] in Himself, creating human beings and
breathing life [zoe] into them in order that they may
become living [zao] souls [psyche], so that they may live | may be alive [zao], each one in his own created body on the created earth.
The Bible does not teach us that God created human beings so that Adam or anyone else should "die and then go to heaven when they die" (that was not, and never has been God's purpose).
The resurrection of the human body from the dead
is an integral part of the gospel:
In 1 Corinthians 15:26 we read that death is the enemy of God.
In Ezekiel 18:32 God says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."
Paul said, "In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28); and "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Corinthians 8:6).
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE [ZOE]
AND BEING ALIVE [ZAO]
zoe: Life (life itself). aionios zoe: eternal life. Source of life [zoe]: God.
God exists and has always existed. He exists from eternity unto eternity. The life [zoe] that is in God, which God alone possesses in Himself, is eternal life. The Bible tells us the following about Him:
"In the beginning was the Logos (Word), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life [zōḗ], and the life [zōḗ] is the light of men." (John 1:1-4).
"And the Logos (Word) became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we (John the apostle and his companions) beheld his glory (the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.)" (John 1:14).
Jesus is the Logos (Word) of God in whom is life [zoe] who became flesh (a human being): He is the Son (of God).
zao: To live | to be alive (Zoe = life. Zao = to live | to be alive):
"In Him (God) we live | are alive [zao], and move, and have our being; For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28).
"To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Corinthians 8:6).
Note: In the Greek New Testament eternal life [aionios zoe] is never called aionios zao:
Scripture also NEVER refers to a human being whose body has died as someone who is "zao" (as someone who is alive | living), but the Bible calls God "the living God" (the God who is zao: alive).
IMMORTALITY
God is a Spirit. When used in reference to God, the word zao is not associated with a human body. When used
in reference to the resurrected Man Jesus Christ, the word zao is associated with His resurrected, glorified human body.
Jesus has eternal zoe | life in Himself and He is zao | alive forevermore, possessing His immortality:
-- "I am the First and the Last, and the Living [zao] One,
and I became dead [nekros], and behold, I am alive [zao] to the ages of the ages, Amen.
And I have the keys of hades and of death." (Revelation 1:17-18).
Paul wrote, "He (Christ) alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen." (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
Immortality: To live | be alive [zao] forever (the body never dying or decaying).
Jesus alone has life [zoe] in Himself:
"For as the Father has life [zoe] in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life [zoe] within Himself" (John 5:26).
"God hath
given to us eternal life [zoe], and this life [zoe]
is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life [zoe]; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life [zoe]." (1 John 5:11-12).
In the Messiah we have eternal life. Only in the Messiah. Eternal life exists in the Messiah alone.
"When the Messiah,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:4).
The source of immortality
is the continual supply of eternal life. The source of the continual supply of eternal life,
is God. The analogy Jesus gives us of this, is living [zao] water (water that is alive). (John 4:10-11; John 7:38), fountains of living waters (Revelation 7:17), a river of water of life [zoe]; the tree of life.
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life [zoe] - water as clear as crystal - pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On each side of the river is the tree of life [zoe] producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22:1-2).
The water of life [zoe]
flows continually. This implies that created human beings
need to continually drink of the living [zao] water, because unlike Jesus, we do not have life [zoe] in ourselves.
Jesus said,
"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they are life [zoe]." (John 6:63).
Paul said, "But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of the LORD:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Another analogy Jesus gave of this is what He called "abiding in the Vine":
--- I am the vine, ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you, because if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned, and as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. --
- (John 15:4-6, verses rearranged).
Jesus has eternal zoe | life in Himself and He is zao forevermore, possessing His immortality:
Can created human beings possess their own immortality?
Created human beings
do not possess eternal life [zoe] in ourselves. The Bible teaches us about the living [zao] God, who has life [zoe] in Himself,
creating human beings and
breathing life [zoe] into them in order that they may
become living [zao] souls [psyche], so that they may live | may be alive [zao], each one in his own created body on the created earth.
Adam and Eve
were the first created human beings, and they represent all created human beings, all other human beings
having been procreated from the same genetic seed.
After creating Adam, God commanded him:
"Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof dying you will die." (Genesis 2:17).
But "the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall NOT surely die.'" (Genesis 3:4).
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Life [zoe] is in the Word of God (John 1:4).
It is the Word of God Himself that the first created human beings sinned against by believing the lie.
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Adam evidently did not possess (his own) immortality, or have eternal life IN HIMSELF, because the moment he disobeyed the commandment, his body began to slowly die.
He was also prevented from eating from the tree of life [zoe] and living [zao] forever after this (Genesis 3:22-24).
In Romans 5:12 Paul explains that "sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned";
and in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul tells us that "since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be quickened [zoopoieo: made alive]" - and it's the quickening of the dead body that Paul is referring to.
In the last chapter of the Bible the tree of life is seen as having been made available to created human beings again (Revelation 22:1-22).
THE SOURCE OF LIFE IS GOD. WE NEED TO CONTINUALLY DRINK OF THE LIVING WATER OF THE WORD OF GOD IN WHOM IS ETERNAL LIFE [ZOE] BY ABIDING IN JESUS.
