Digital Logos Edition
“‘Life’ (zōē, GK 2437) is one of John’s favorite words. Almost half of the 134 occurrences of the word in the NT are found in his writings (thirty-six in the gospel, thirteen in his first epistle, and fifteen in Revelation). In contrast to another Greek word for life (bios, GK 1050), which occurs eleven times in the NT and normally refers to everyday life, zōē refers most often to the supernatural life that belongs to God and that the believer now shares through faith in Christ. Life is an essential attribute of God.” (Page 369)
“It is this significance that Luke emphasizes as he begins his Pentecost narrative: that whereas Pentecost was for Judaism the day of the giving of the Law, for Christians it is the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit. So for Luke the coming of the Spirit on the early Christians at Pentecost is not only a parallel to the Spirit’s coming on Jesus at his baptism; it is also both in continuity with and in contrast to the Law.” (Page 733)
“Branches are pruned so they will become more fruitful. God’s ‘pruning’ is his gracious way of directing the flow of spiritual energy in order that his plans for our lives will be realized. While pruning is painful, it serves the necessary purpose of removing those branches that would otherwise absorb our time and energy in unproductive pursuits.” (Page 574)
“As the wind is ‘invisible and mysterious, yet known in experience’ (Beasley-Murray, 49), so also are those born of the Spirit—their identity, source, and destination are mysterious and beyond the ken of earthly knowledge.” (Page 396)