Your 7 Final Words - Introduction

Philippians 3:10
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.

There are 3 levels of life that you can live in…

1. Bios – this is the most basic level.
2. Psuche – this is the next level up. It is the soul life.
3. Zoe – this is the highest level of life. It is spirit life.

Bios life is not limited to humans, but rather is the life of any living organism – the physical, natural life of the body. Simply put, it is what happens “between the dashes” – from the time of birth to the time of death. Hence, from the Greek “bios” we derive words like biography and biology.

The psuche life is the realm of reasoning. This is what distinguishes man from other living creatures, and is the realm dominated by the mind, the will, the emotions and the intellect. It is from this Greek root that we get English words like psychology and psychic.

Most people limit themselves to the bios and psuche life. They are concerned about what they will eat, what they will wear and how they will pay their bills. To live according to the dictates of your intellect, imaginations, thoughts and emotions is to live life from the psuche level.

The death that you and I must die is death to the psuche or soul-dominated life. It is where you are able to give up soulish desires and ‘die’ to them. This does not mean that those desires are necessarily evil. It is not evil to want the comforts of life. However, in desiring true zoe life you are able to see those comforts from a different perspective, and renounce their importance in order to attain an even greater and higher level of life – the resurrection life of Jesus Christ – the zoe life.

Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives to the death.”

The word “lives” in this Scripture is the Greek word psuchē which means the soul. So this verse is indicating that they – the overcomers – became overcomers by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their own testimonies and they were willing to experience the death of their own soulish lives.
When Jesus was about to leave the earth and ascend to the Father He said to His disciples. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

The word “witnesses” is the Greek word martus, from which we get our English word ‘martyr’. Even then Jesus was indicating that, in order to spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God, they would have to die to their soulish lives. It is the same for us.

The first Adam was a “living soul (psuche)” – Genesis 2:7. Is it any wonder, then that the man and woman in the Garden gave in to what their senses detected? They heard what the deceiving serpent told them. They saw that the forbidden fruit was good for food. They took (touched) the fruit. They smelled and tasted it. They reasoned within themselves and made a decision which led them down the path of destruction.

The last Adam, Jesus the Christ, is a life-giving Spirit – 1 Corinthians 15:45. The life He gives is the zoe life. Zoe life is a life that is not restrained by the limitations of this world. It is a life that knows no boundaries. It is a life of true freedom. This is what Jesus spoke about when He declared that He had come to give us life and that more abundantly – John 10:10.

Jesus, in His death on the cross, patterned for us the death of the self or psuche life.
His seven last statements show this clearly.

1. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do – Luke 23:34
2. Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise. – Luke 23:43
3. Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother. – John 19:26, 27
4. My God, My God why have you forsaken me? – Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46
5. I thirst – John 19:28
6. It is finished. – John 19:30
7. Into thy hands I commit my spirit. – Luke 23:46

The death of the psuche life is the entrance to zoe life. It is possible for you and me to live the zoe life here and now, and through eternity. Jesus declared, “He who loves his life (psuche) will lose it, and he who hates his life (psuche) in this world will keep it for eternal life (zoe).” – John 12:25

Isn’t it wonderful to know that in giving up the limited psuche life we can experience zoe life, and in doing so, regain Spirit-dominated control of our psuche and bios life?

In the next seven writings we will examine each of these sayings, and see how we ourselves can declare our own 7 final words, and prepare to enter into the glorious abundance of zoe life.