Life-Giving Spirit
There is no life without the Spirit of God, and His Spirit creates, animates, sustains, and restores all life.
Jesus declared that “the Spirit makes alive [‘quickens’]. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.” His words echo the scriptural principle that life and the “Spirit” are inextricably linked. The “flesh” is not inherently evil, but it has no life without the spirit given by God.
In John 6:63, the Greek word rendered “makes alive” or “quicken” is zôopoieô; literally, “to make alive” (Strong’s – #G2227), a combination of the noun zôon - a “living being” - and the verb poieô - “to make.” Thus, the sense is to “cause to live, quicken, vitalize.”
And the “words” spoken by Jesus are “spirit” because they originate from the “Father of spirits,” God Himself. And above all, his words are the source of “everlasting life” – (Hebrews 12:9).
- “For I speak not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he has given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting; the things, therefore, which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak” – (John 12:49).
The Apostle Paul uses the same verb, zôopoieô, to make a similar point to the Corinthians, namely, that the “spirit makes alive” - for the letter kills, but the spirit quickens” - (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The “letter of the law” condemns mortal men to death for sin. And only the Spirit of God can impart life with or without the Mosaic law, and only the Spirit can write the law of God on the hearts of His children - (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
COVENANT AND RESURRECTION
The Spirit of God is the fundamental and vital element that establishes, characterizes, and sustains the “new covenant.” Without it, there is no life and no everlasting covenant. Paul makes a similar point in his epistle to the churches of Rome:
- (Romans 8:10-11) – “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will quicken also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
By this, he means especially the gift of the Spirit received by every believer. Just as God’s Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and gave him an immortal body, so the same Spirit “quickens” our mortal bodies with everlasting life at the future resurrection.
And because bodily resurrection is an act of new creation - we will receive a new immortal body - the Spirit is intimately involved in “quickening our mortal bodies” – (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).
The Spirit of God is His creative and life-sustaining power, and this idea is not unique to the New Testament. Paul is building on the firm foundation already established in the Hebrew Bible. For example, the claim that God’s spoken word creates life, and the connection of His words to the Spirit, appear in the Psalms:
- (Psalm 33:6) – “By the word of Yahweh, the heavens were made, and by the spirit of his mouth, all their host.”
- (Psalm 104:29-30) – “You hide your face, they are dismayed. You withdraw their spirit, they cease to breathe, and to their own dust do they return. You send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.”
The entire universe was created by His Spirit, and man is dependent on the Spirit for sustaining and renewing life.
CREATION
And the Psalmist expands on what was written centuries earlier in the first passages of Genesis where the Spirit of Yahweh is responsible for the original creation of the Cosmos and all that followed:
- (Genesis 1:1-3) – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
In the account, before God creates anything, His Spirit is “brooding” over the face of the waters. This translates the Hebrew verb râkhaph (Strong’s #H7363), and it suggests the image of a female bird “brooding” over her nest and hatchlings - (compare Deuteronomy 32:9-11).
And in Genesis, the presence of the Spirit at the creation indicates just how pivotal God’s Spirit is to the creation of all things and the continuance of life. That the Spirit is seen as “brooding” suggests more than just caring for the universe. It anticipates the creation of His crowning achievement, Adam.
- “And Yahweh formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” – (Genesis 2:7).
In the preceding passage, “breathed” translates the Hebrew term naphach from a root verb with the sense “puff, to blow” (Strong’s #H5301). “Living soul” represents the noun nephesh from the same root, meaning a “breathing creature” (Strong’s #H5315).
Thus, the stress is on breath, the act of breathing. As Job wrote, “the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life,” connecting the “Spirit of God” to His “breath of life” – (Job 33:4),
THE LAST ADAM
The same passage in the book of Genesis is cited by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians when explaining the resurrection body:
- (1 Corinthians 15:42-45) – “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam, a LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT.”
The Apostle contrasts the body of Adam, the “first man,” with the resurrection bodies of believers. The first man’s body was corruptible, weak, natural, and, in the end, subject to death. In contrast, the resurrection body does not decay or die, it is “raised in power,” it is a “spiritual body,” embodied existence dominated by the Spirit.
Jesus is the “last Adam,” the forerunner of all resurrected saints. But he differs in one key regard. Because of his resurrection, he is also the “life-giving spirit.” From now on, he alone has the authority to impart life through the Spirit of God. As Paul clarifies, the future resurrection of the righteous is based on his past resurrection.
In the Bible, the Spirit of God is the source of all life, including the future immortal bodies of resurrected saints.
And in Scripture, the “Spirit” speaks of God as the creative source of all things, especially of His power to create, sustain, renew, and, when necessary, restore life. Without His Spirit, there is no life, either now or in the future.
