Our "Mark of Faithful Community" for this 2nd week in the Gospel According to John reads "Being in faithful community, we see life as both PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL, and while we exist in the physical, we live in new life graciously offered by God in Christ Jesus."

In John 1:12-13, we find in the NIV translation: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right ("power" in the NRSV) to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." So today's blog, having just finished the audio book, Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis, is about the physical and spiritual life and their relation to our being children of God.

As our Mark of Faithful Community notes, the Greek New Testament knows of two kinds of "life." The one, which is physical or biological, was known as bios in Greek. It has to do with the pure physical act of living -- breathing, eating, transferring oxygen to the cells and waste products from the cells, reproducing, and so on. This is the word from which we get "biology," the study of life. This is the sense which we usually think of when we say "life" in English.

But the Greeks also knew another word for life. That word was zoe, which is what we might call in English "spiritual life." It is not about biology. It is about being in right relationship to God and the wholeness that results. It is not just about being physically healthy, the absence of disease, it is about being spiritually healthy, the absence of separation from God. In John 1:4, when John says "In Him was life...", he is actually saying, "In Him was zoe...", not bios.

What is the relation of this to John 1:12-13, which speaks of our being given power to become "children of God?" The Bible and the ancient creeds speak of Jesus being "begotten" by the Father, not "made." We don't use that word, begotten, much anymore, so its theological significance may be lost on us. "Begotten, " or the related "begat" is to parent offspring. The one who is "begotten" is of the same substance as the one who does the "begetting." We find ourselves saying of persons who are begotten, "Oh, he has his father's nose! Doesn't she look just like her mother?"

Things that are "created" or "made" are totally separate from their maker. They are not made of the same substance as their maker, they do not bear any resemblance to their maker. They are totally different.

Do you begin to see the significance of the fact that Jesus is "begotten, not made" by the Father? Jesus is of the same substance as the Father. They share a oneness that we can only begin to approximate through our understanding of "begetting." Jesus is the "Son of God." But not in the biological sense. In the spiritual sense that He is "begotten, not made." He shares a oneness with the Father. The Father and the Son share "life" together, but it is not bios, it is zoe.

Now let’s turn to a problem created by John 1:12. Aren't all people "children of God?" Why does John want to limit this only to "those who believe?" When John says that Jesus gives us power to become "sons of God," he means that Jesus gives us power to share in the life, the zoe that the Son and the Father have in common. When we use the term "children," or "son" or "daughter" in everyday English, we are usually thinking children in the sense of bios, biological offspring. In the sense that God gave us all biological life, we are all "children of God;" i.e., in the bios sense. But John is not talking about bios. He is talking about zoe, which is the word he uses. He is saying we are given power to share in zoe through our belief in Jesus as the Christ, the One who gives us power to enter into the divine life shared between the Father and the Son, between the Begetter and the Beloved Begotten. Remarkably, John claims that we can be drawn up into that very life and in some mysterious way, share not only the divine zoe, but also become of divine substance. Not that we become "gods," as the Mormons claim, but that we become "children of God" in the sense of becoming "begottens." We are in very deep territory here!

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave (power) to become children of God... In Him was LIFE." Have a great day!