Original Words
Heb. Chay – active, flowing (John 4:14), sustenance and maintenance, appetite, reviving
Gr. Zoe – the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate (Thayer). [What it means to be alive]
Gr. Psuche – breath, soul, [that which makes something alive]
Preliminary Affirmations
Life is essential for coming to God and God is the One who gives it. He gives life through Christ and everyone in Christ is alive to God. Those outside of Christ are dead. Life in the spiritual sense is eternal and is defined as knowing God and Christ. Therefore to know Christ is to have eternal life for He is our life. Life in Christ does not wane or deplete but is abundant, new and ever increasing.
INTRODUCTION
In every sense of the word and in every context that may apply, God is the God “of the living” (Matt. 22:32). There is obviously many uses of the word “life” in the Scriptures, but we will be focusing on those that are of a spiritual nature. We will not be dealing with life as it pertains to the physical body but rather as it pertains to the spirit; to the body of Christ as it were.
The importance of this subject is seen in the condition of the Gentiles who were “excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18). They like every unbeliever must come to Him who “gives to all people life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25). Those who are dead are dead because they have been “darkened in their understanding” and have hard hearts and have “become callous” and turned to “every kind of impurity with greediness” (Eph. 4:17-19). They have fallen prey to the “deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). They must be “born again.” They must be “made alive.”
As a starting point for this study it is best to define what eternal life is as spoken by our Lord to His Father.
“…Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:1-3)
Eternal life is defined by Jesus as knowing God and knowing Jesus.
As Used in the Old Covenant Scriptures
There is scarcely any mention of “eternal life” or “everlasting life” prior to the coming of Christ. This is because the old covenant was a “ministry of death” (2 Cor. 3:5-7). It was “of the letter” and not “of the Spirit.” The Spirit, who “gives life” wasn’t given until Christ was glorified (John 7:39). The offspring of Adam have had their access to the “tree of life,” cut off.
The Tree of Life. This phrase comes from the third chapter of Genesis which reads, “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’” (Gen. 3:22). There is a tree from which men can eat and “live forever.” Access to this tree however was withdrawn when Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden. While those associated with the first Adam will be prohibited access to this tree, those associated with the “second Adam” will eat from it freely! Jesus Himself said, “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).
The Resurrection. Daniel spoke of a time when “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). This is very similar to the language Jesus used concerning the resurrection of the dead saying, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). We will discuss the future view of “eternal life” later as an inheritance. Suffice it to say here that Daniel was given keen insight to a time nearly never mentioned before his time. Few words were given concerning the resurrection in this way under the old covenant and even fewer were given then concerning “eternal life.”
Choose Life. Physical life can often be a metaphor for spiritual life. For example we hear Jesus teach about being “born again.” Birth obviously has to do with physical life but Jesus uses it to illustrate spiritual life by saying, “unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Another example is the use of the word “walk.” To walk in the physical world has to do with continually moving your feet to get from one place to the next. To walk in the spiritual world has to do with lifestyle. Thus it is written “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1) and “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk” (Eph. 4:17). Many times physical life mirrors a truth in spiritual life.
Spiritual life in the new covenant is like the physical life that was offered under the old covenant. Nearly everything that was promised to Israel under the law had to do with physical blessings while nearly everything in the new covenant has to do with spiritual blessings. God has blessed those in Christ with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3).
After the Law was given, God spoke to the people of Israel about obeying His commandments saying,
"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. "But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
A choice was given to them and a choice is given to us. They had to choose life by loving; obeying; and holding fast to the Lord God in order to live and dwell in Canaan. We have to choose life by believing in Jesus (John 3:16). Choose life that you might live.
As Used in the Gospels and New Covenant Scriptures
In the first words of the Gospel according to John we hear with great clarity concerning Jesus, “in Him was life” (John 1:4). This just about sums up the whole matter – life is in Christ Jesus.
REQUIREMENT NOT LUXURY
The Law Accomplished its Purpose. As we have stated earlier, the Law was a ministry of death. While the Gentiles who sinned without the Law will perish without the Law, the Jews who sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law, “for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified” (Rom. 2:12-13). But no one was justified by the Law “so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God” (Rom. 3:19). The whole matter can be summed up in a verse “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
But sin did not just produce guilt before God but a condition of death. Therefore, it was a “ministry of death.” Paul said it this way, “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me” (Rom. 7:9-10). All those outside of Christ are dead and have need of life. Eternal life is not a luxury that spiritual supermen can have but others can do without. It is a requirement to see God, for God is “the God of the living.”
Passing from Death to Life. Life is in Christ Jesus and those who come to Him are made alive. While sin caused death, righteousness (His righteousness) causes life. God, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5). This was accomplished by forgiving and blotting out the very sin that killed. “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions” (Col. 2:13). Lest anyone should doubt whether this has happened or not, God has furnished us with proof of our life in Christ. “We know” says John, “that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). In the world men pass from life to death. It is often said, “He passed away” or “He passed on.” But in Christ we pass from death to life! It would be refreshing to hear that at the next baptism, “He passed on!”
LIFE IN THE MAN CHRIST JESUS
Not only is life in Christ Jesus but God has given Him authority to give it! “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself” (John 5:26). Because Jesus has “life in Himself” He is able to distribute it. When He gives life to others, His own life does not depreciate. He has life in Himself. Jesus prayed to God saying, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life” (John 17:1-2). Jesus has authority to give eternal life. In fact the promise of life is “in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:1). What a promise it is! Life. Abundant life. This is the primary promise of being in Christ Jesus – life. “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life” (1 John 2:25). Life is in Christ Jesus. After all, it is Christ, “who is our life” (Col. 3:4).
Coming to Jesus for Life. If anyone desires this life, he needs only to come to Christ to have it. Not, come to church but come to Christ. Not come to Bible study but come to Christ. It is time that Jesus is given preeminence in the church again. To be sure He has always had it but so-called Christians have seemed to put the emphasis on the church or on reading the Bible or worse yet, man. The emphasis must be on Christ. Every one must come to Him for life.
The religious leaders of Christ’s day were rebuked, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Truly the Scriptures contain the “word of life” (Phil. 2:16) but many a soul have read them without seeing Jesus and without coming to Him. They are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). They cannot connect the Scriptures with Jesus and therefore, will not come to Him for life. The very purpose of the written word is “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
It doesn’t get clearer than this “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). Eternal life is in Christ Jesus and those desiring it much come to Him for it. Those in Christ are in life! “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
He is the Life. Eternal life was placed in a man and His name is Jesus. Whoever comes to Him will have life.
He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)
He is “the life” that “was manifested” (1 John 1:2)
He is “the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25)- He is “the Bread of Life” (John 6:35, 48)
- The water He gives becomes “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14)
- Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood “has eternal life” (John 6:54)
- He is the “good Shepherd” who gives His sheep “eternal life” (John 10:28)
INHERITING ETERNAL LIFE
Resurrection and Judgment. So powerful the exhortation and essential the adherence, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead” (2 Tim. 2:8). Just as Jesus has risen so will every man. This is the premier day. This is the day when life we be in its fullest for those in Christ. If on this day men find themselves outside of the acceptance of God, outside of life in Christ; if on this day men are condemned it matters not that they ever lived.
Those who have rejected the Messiah will “go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). The righteous, who believe the record that God has given concerning His Son “have passed out of death into life” and will not come into judgment (John 5:24). They will be “raised up at the last day” (John 6:40) and given the “crown of life” (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10). And when the roll is called up yonder, they will be present and accounted for. They are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s “book of life” and will not be removed (Rev. 3:5; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). At the resurrection, those in Christ will inherit eternal life.
What Must I Do? The follower of Christ is commissioned to preach the gospel. He is a herald that is to announce what God has accomplished. Like a reporter, he declares that there is life in Christ – everlasting life; abundant life. He proclaims that those who come to Jesus can inherit eternal life and though their bodies will die they will live forever. When this message dawns on the heart of a man, it probes him to ask “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Matt. 19:16; Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25; 18:18) When this question begins to be asked and men begin to come to Christ obeying the gospel we, like the Jews in Jerusalem, will glorify God because He has granted “the repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).
Drastic Measures. Jesus told the rich young ruler to “go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Matt. 19:21). And Jesus said that the lawyer had it right in obeying the two greatest commandments to inherit eternal life, saying, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live” (Luke 10:27-28). But to others Jesus gave even more extreme answers. Suffice it to say that it is not easy to save a man. Inheriting eternal life is not a small matter that is accomplished with little effort or minuscule interest – despite what the modern church may convey. On the contrary, for man to inherit eternal life he must “lose his life” (Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33).
“It is better,” Jesus said, “for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire” (Matt. 18:8-9). In order to inherit eternal life, Jesus’ follows often leave everything and follow Him. Four of His disciples left their nets, two left their father, one left his booth immediately and all leave their lives behind.
Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30)
Those who leave family behind to follow Christ are immediately welcome into “God’s household” (Eph. 2:19). Those who have left farms and jobs and sources of income enter into a place where the believers have “all things in common” and some “sell their property and possessions” to share them with anyone who might have need (Acts 2:44-45). Those who lose their lives for the sake of following Jesus, will in the age to come inherit “eternal life.” Those are exceeding sacrifices but reap exceeding and precious promises.
The Way that Leads to Life. It has to do with a preference. Those who prefer this world will be filled with this world and in the age to come will have punishment in the lake of fire. Those who prefer life with Christ and God will have difficulty here but will inherit life there. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:25-26). This may be unpopular but it is the way that leads to life. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). There may be scarce few who tread this way now and in comparison to those who don’t but with eternity in view this “Highway of Holiness” (Isa. 35:8) is populated by “a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1).
Our Hope. Inheriting eternal life is the hope of every believer in Christ. Realizing that we have a measure of eternal life now there is still more to come. “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (Rom. 8:24-25).
Those justified by His grace are “heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit. 3:7). Those chosen of God live in “hope of eternal life.” This is not wishful thinking but absolute reality for it is that “which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” (Tit. 1:1-2). Those who are persevering are keeping themselves “in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 1:21). This inheritance, for which we hope and through perseverance, anxiously wait for, is an inheritance of “the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7)
BELIEVING TO ETERNAL LIFE
Because eternal life is a not only a spiritual reality but a promise (Tit. 1:2; 1 Jn. 2:25) it is apprehended through believing. We lay hold of eternal life by faith, as it is written, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” (1 Tim. 6:12). The “word of life” is proclaimed and those “ordained to eternal life” (Acts 13:48) believe it while others judge themselves “unworthy” of it by “thrusting” the word from them (Acts 13:46).
Believers Have Eternal Life. While eternal life is going to be inherited, believers currently have it. Conversely, those who are not believing have the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36). Belief in God and Christ is what is required of man to inherit eternal life. “Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15-16). “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).
Eternal life is a gift of God’s grace (1 Pet. 3:7) and is not merited by works, lest any man boast. It is a promise in Christ Jesus who must be believed. It is those who believe that have eternal life. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). In order for God to give eternal life, He must be merciful and forgiving of man’s sins. This truth is seen in the apostle Paul who himself said, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:15-16).
Belief Requires a Word...of Life. God must say something or promise something for man to believe it. There must be a word from God if there is going to be belief in man. And there must be belief in man if there is going to be eternal life from God. Paul lays this out in his letter to Rome. “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?...So faith come from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:14, 17). The word of Christ is the word of life and the gospel. It brings people to life. Jesus said it this way, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25).
When all the disciples left Jesus save the twelve, He turned and asked them if they would leave as well. “Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68). What Jesus spoke was “words of eternal life.” Consequently, Jesus gave the disciples His word (John 17:8) and so we read that the angel of the Lord instructed the apostles to “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20KJV). The church in Philippi was told to hold fast “the word of life” so that they would have reason to glory (Phil. 2:16).
The word of life is the Scriptures in general but the gospel in particular. It is true that we live by “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). But this primarily has to do with the message about the Savior. The Ten Commandments for example didn’t bring life to the people in fact it killed them. Make no mistake about it, the word wasn’t faulty – man was. But even so, the words of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes didn’t even produce life in the man who spoke them. Yet the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). They are words of life. Jesus “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).
MAN’S EFFORT
With man, salvation is impossible (Matt. 19:26). But not with God. When God intervenes He brings life to those who are dead. They are like Lazarus in the tomb, dead for 4 days. But when they hear words of Christ, “Come forth!” They are made alive and the stench of sin is gone. For with God all things are possible. Having said that, there are things that are required of man for him to have life. He is not completely passive.
Working Towards It. Just as God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the holy angels are working toward bringing man abundant life, so is he. He gets involved in the project or else he doesn’t get the life. The primary work is believing. In comparison to the food that the five thousand just ate Jesus said, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life (John 6:27). The crowd replied, “‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’” (John 6:28-29).
Laboring in the field by sowing and reaping and watering with the word of God is involved in working toward eternal life. Those who do this are “gathering fruit for life eternal” (John 4:36). Concerning the judgment, those who “by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality” will receive “eternal life” (Rom. 2:7). This is intriguing to me. If this were the only word we had concerning having eternal life it by itself would cut most church attendance books in half. It is quite rare to find those in the church building who are seeking for glory and honor and immortality, let alone persevering in doing good. Nevertheless, these are the one who will inherit eternal life.
Yes these people “fight the good fight of faith” and “take hold of eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12). They “keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6:14). They are “rich in good works” (1 Tim. 6:18). They are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is LIFE INDEED” (1 Tim. 6:19). They do these things because they have been made alive.
Sanctification unto Eternal Life. Having eternal life is seen practically in the phrase “alive to God.” Those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus and into His death are to consider themselves to be “dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). They present themselves to God “as those alive from the dead” (Rom. 6:13). They are freed from sin and enslaved to God and the fruit of this is “sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life” (Rom. 6:22). Sanctification as you recall is being set aside to be used for God’s purposes and without it, “no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
Reaping Eternal Life from the Spirit. When you were quickened or “made alive” in Christ not your entire constitution was redeemed. Your spirit was made alive but you still have to deal with the flesh, which even though crucified, is like the thief that is still hurling abuses at you. This is the old man or old self. He resides in “the body.” Therefore, the child of God is encouraged to “by the Spirit” put to death “the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13). He is told to “lay aside the old self” and “put on the new self” (Eph. 4:22-24).
They are polar opposites and must be treated that way. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Rom. 8:6-7). If we feed the flesh corruption will be produced leading to death. If however, we feed the Spirit sanctification will be produced leading to life. “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8). The Spirit brings life. When you receive the Holy Spirit, Christ in you, you are given life. “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10).
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Eternal life in Christ Jesus is “the free gift of God” (Rom. 6:23). And it is the gift that keeps on giving. That is to say that it is a new and abundant life that is ever increasing and producing fruit.
New Life. It is a new life. Being united with Christ in His death produces life in the believer. Every child of God has experienced this. Paul reminds the church in Rome about this occurrence in their baptism into Christ. “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).
Too often baptism into Christ is viewed as an end of itself or worse yet, having no spiritual consequence. This is unacceptable. Baptism is here linked with being united to the death of Christ – which certainly has spiritual significance. Just think of all the things accomplished in His death. The believer receives the blessings of those things when he is “buried with Him through baptism into death.”
Many view baptism as the premier aspect of Christianity. They see their purpose as simply baptizing people into Christ. While this is not to be despised, it is neither the emphasis in Christ nor the emphasis even in baptism. The emphasis in Christ is Christ it is being “in Him.” The emphasis in baptism is “the working of God” (Col. 2:12). Baptism is the “form” (Rom. 6:17). That is to say it is the image or picture of what is happening spiritually, namely, participation in the death, burial and resurrection. The emphasis in our text is being buried with Christ into death and rising to walk in newness of life. All of this occurs “through baptism.”
The newness of life is where the power is. The newness of life is where God is glorified. That he that was dead has been made alive. The body which was at best vacant is no occupied by Christ and God through the Holy Spirit. It is now a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). Those who rose to walk in newness of life are “alive from the dead” and “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:13, 11). This life is new. It is not like the old life. It is not enslaved to sin and death but to obedience and righteousness (Rom. 6:16). In “the circumcision of Christ” the old is removed and the new is put on. The old is buried and the new arises.
Abundant Life. This new life is abundant in every sense of the word. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). It is exceeding, overflowing, superior and excessive. Make no mistake, this life is of the spirit and not of this world. Many today tell us that Jesus wants us to have great lives in terms of this world. But this world is “passing away.” The abundant life comes from above. Therefore, those “born again” are literally “born from above.” This life is abundant because its source it comes from heaven. It is given to us through the mediator Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). It has to do with having peace that surpasses comprehension (Phil. 4:7), love that is beyond knowing (Eph. 3:19), joy that is inexpressible (1 Pet. 1:8), hope beyond this world (1 Cor. 15:19), and faith in that which is unseen (Heb. 11:1). It is abundant because it stretches out into eternity. It is everlasting life, and it is abundant.
Increasing Life. This new abundant life is increasing. “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life” (2 Cor. 2:16). It stretches the mind to contemplate this. That such an abundant life can expand and enlarge, but it does. This is why the verse concludes, “And who is adequate for these things?” In other words, “how can this be” and “who can wrap their mind around this?” It is a precious truth that must be believed. Those in Christ start out in life and move on to more life. Keeping in mind that “this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3) this text could read “an aroma from knowing God to knowing God more.”
The Spirit uses this kind of language in other place denoting something that is ever increasing. In our text those who receive the apostles’ doctrine go from life to life while those who reject it move from death to death. For the latter the situation is getting worse. In the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Rom. 1:17). It starts in or with faith and increases it. The clearer the gospel is to you, the clearer the righteousness of God is to you. Those who behold as in a mirror “the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). This means they become more and more like Jesus, reflecting His glory. The idea is progressive expansion whether is be “from death to death” or “faith to faith” or “glory to glory” or “life to life.” For those who have eternal life, the “knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 2:14) through the preached word is “an aroma from life to life.”
Effective Life. The Law was effective in its ministry of bringing the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20). But it was not effective in bringing life because of the weakness and frailty of man. Paul confessed this saying, and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Rom. 7:10-11). The law then is “holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12) but it brought death to man, not life. But the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:2-3). In other words, where the law was ineffective in bringing life, Christ was effective. And the life He brings is effective. It is effective in setting us free from the law of sin and of death. Not only is new abundant life ushered in but the law of sin and of death is no longer our master.
Reigning in Life. “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17). We “reign in life.” Where we once were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1), “still helpless” (Rom. 5:6), and had “no life” in us (John 6:53) we now can “reign in life.” What a transition. This is all because we have received “the abundance of grace” and “the gift of righteousness.” Amazing grace! You have life in Christ Jesus because grace that reigns was shown to you.
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21).
The conclusion of all of what has been said may simply be this: “victory in Jesus.” What an amazing Savior. He gives life to the dead and sustains the living. Those in Christ will never perish. They will endure throughout time and eternity in fellowship with God and Christ. While long life in the body leaves the person often weak and frail, life in Christ keeps them strong and getting stronger. They have new life, strong vitality and are able to excel through Christ. They have life, and they have it abundantly!