How do Biblical Unitarians understand the Gospel's use of ζῳοποιέω, "to give life?"
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The verb ζῳοποιέω , *zōopoieō* is only used in John's Gospel and only by Jesus:
>For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:21)
>It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)
There are two meanings BDAG provides for *zōopoieō*: ❶ **to cause to live, *make alive, give life to*** and ❷ **to keep alive, *sustain life*** 1 Outside John's Gospel it used by Paul (7x ) and Peter (1x ).
The three uses by Jesus describe *zōopoieō* by a different means.
1. The Father raises the dead and ζῳοποιέω
2. The Son ζῳοποιέω to whom He will
3. It is the Spirit who ζῳοποιέω
The use seems straightforward. The Father raises the dead and *gives life*, but it is the Son who *gives life* to whom He will, and the means by which the Son and Father *give life* is the Spirit. When the two statements by Jesus are considered together it is hard for me to see how this can not be seen as an explicit definition of the Trinity.
How do Biblical Unitarians understand the Gospel's use of ζῳοποιέω, "to give life?"
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1. Frederick William Danker, *A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition*, The University Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 431-432.
Asked by Revelation Lad
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Feb 14, 2025, 06:21 PM
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