phrase 'in the Received Text' is printed in brackets next to the word or

words in question.

'If we have encountered difficulty defining the notions of reality,

change and causation, it is certain that the definition of life will

be still more difficult ... In its essence life is still, with all our

familiar talk about it, the unsolved mystery of existence' (Ralph

The word 'life' translates three Greek words of clearly distinct

meanings, and four different Hebrew words.

Zoe is the perfect and abiding antithesis to thanatos death.  We

recognize it by contrast, we can say what it is not, but it is elusive of

definition still.  From the general testimony of the Scriptures we can say

that all life, however manifested, is derived from God, from the highest

Spiritual Intelligence in glory, to the lowliest vegetable form.  'In Him we

live, and move, and have our being' (Acts 17:28).

'Whatever has life has existence; but many things have existence which

have no life' (Dr. E.W. Bullinger Lexicon & Concordance).

Let us review these different words employed in the inspired Scriptures

to teach us something of the meaning of 'life'.  First the Hebrew chaiyim.

The first occurrences of this word are found in Genesis 1 and 2 where it is

translated 'life', 'living' and 'beast'.  It is used of 'the moving creature'

1:20; 'the beast of the earth' 1:24,25, and of Adam:

'And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed

into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul'

(Gen. 2:7).

With this we must link the second Hebrew word translated 'life', namely

nephesh.  This word is translated 'soul' some 450 times in the Old Testament,

and the first occurrence of the word nephesh in Genesis 1:20,21 is where a

living soul is rendered 'living or moving creature'.  Genesis 2:7 is the

fifth occurrence and links Adam with the rest of created beings, dependent

upon God, as all are, for life as the source, and for breath to sustain it.

This link, namely life -- breath, is seen in Genesis 9:4,5 where the life or

soul of the flesh is vitally connected with the blood, even as Leviticus

17:11 declares.  Genesis 2:7 stresses this by the way it employs the word

nephesh and its derivatives.  Let us exhibit this before the eye of the

English reader:

'And the Lord God ... breathed (naphach) into his nostrils (aph)

the breath of life; and man became a living soul' (nephesh).

The verb 'to breathe', the word 'soul' and the word 'nostril' derive

from the same root, and the vehicle or medium is the nostrils.