That's a great question. It's a Greek word that was used to write the Gospel of John, where Jesus said (10:10): "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." The Greek word for life used there was "zoe," which is the "abundant life." Another Greek word used elsewhere in the Bible was "bios," which is more like biology, or physical life. The "zoe" life is apparently the God-given life, or abundant life.
But I have to tell you, when I looked this up in the Strong's Concordance to verify, I was not seeing "zoe" listed as the word. I have to question the teaching I've rec'd about this many times. I'll post my findings here when I do.
In Matthew 24, the disciples of Jesus are showing Him a bunch of buildings in a city, and He states that "not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." This apparently happened around the turn of the first century. Then He was asked about the "end times" and He explains the warning signs and the "abomination of desolation." He makes a reference to the times of Noah, where people kept right on eating and drinking, living "normal" life and then the flood came. He described His return to be like "a thief in the night," and warned His followers to "keep watch."
He tells a story about the "faithful and wise servant..."
He describes a servant who keeps on doing his job while his master is away. He also describes the same servant choosing to be wicked, saying to himself, 'My master is away for a long time,' and then he beats the other servants, gets drunk and whatnot. When the master returns suddenly, this guy is cut to pieces and assigned a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I tell ya, that servant used to be me. I accepted Christ at age 11 and then slowly but surely fell away from God. I thought to myself sometimes, 'He won't return for awhile...probably 1988, 40 years after Israel returned as a nation, so I have some time to party...' I sure am glad I stopped "playing games with God" and surrendered to His title, His place, His lordship. Yes, it's a process, but there is also a decisive breaking point where we can say, "I surrender."
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at October 7, 2005 09:19 AM