Life #7 – Two Ways to be Alive and Remain for the Rapture

Koko Head, Oahu 2011

To be alive and remain for the rapture, “life and immortality” must be ours today (2 Timothy 1:10). Otherwise, we become part of the resurrection group (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). In that case, let’s get acquainted with life and immortality.

• “Life” is zōē (dzo-ay’). Among various explanations, Vine’s Concordance states that zōē is life as God has it, which he gave to the Son to have in himself, and through faith in Jesus we partake of, even as Jesus maintains zōē-life for us. Zōē is associated with holiness and righteousness.

• Next, “immortality”. Hmm. The Greek definition does not support this translation and neither does Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Instead, the word is aphtharsia (af-thar-see’-ah)—which means “incorruption”.

Clearly, we are addressing zōē-life and aphtharsia-incorruption.

Roman Catholics early grasp the concept of incorruption because of the canonization of their saints. One in particular, St. Bernadette Soubirous, though dead for over a hundred years, is said to have an aphthartŏs body—free from corruption. We can infer from the Soubirous example that even though her body is said to retain aphtharsia-incorruption, the zōē-life—which could have kept her alive—had left.

We’ll need both life and incorruption to be alive and remain for the rapture. Only Jesus accomplished both (2 Timothy 1:9, 10). And before we excuse ourselves because we believe we can’t be like Jesus, fortunately, scripture exhorts us to “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14).

Do we know how to do that?

=============================================================

Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981); Wikipedia – Bernadette Soubirous.