Exploring Life

© 2006 Edgar E. Thomas

Laying down one’s life

What exactly did Jesus mean when he said, “Greater love has no one than this,

that one lay down his life for his friends.” ? (Jn 15:13) 1 Perhaps it wouldn’t

injure anyone’s good sense to conclude that he meant dying in someone else’s

place, since that is exactly what Jesus himself eventually did. He died in our

place, but He hadn’t yet done that when He spoke these words. Nevertheless,

that meaning of the text seems inescapable. It would be illogical to see it

otherwise, wouldn’t it? So, in that case, why go any further into it? For at least

two reasons.

A troubling standard

First, it is troubling that the standard of this Greatest Love may have been laid

down in a way that the vast majority of us will never be given an opportunity to be

tested by it. Circumstances that would examine my love under that condition,

that is of dying in someone else’s’ place, are unlikely to ever develop. Let alone,

for multiple people (remember He said “. . . lay down his life for his friends”).

Under this setting I have little chance, in my lifetime, of ever showing this

Greatest Love. Under what set of conditions would this opportunity arise? And

even if it should happen that the opportunity does arise, and I respond by giving

my life, I can only do it once and not on and going basis.

Someone might argue that something like a parent’s willingness to trade places

with a child who is dying of some terrible disease would satisfy the requirement.

But it can also be argued that willingness doesn’t replace the actual doing of it.

‘round and ‘round we’d go on that one. Such arguments as that notwithstanding,

and granting our original interpretation of actually dying in place of someone, is

there some other possible meaning?

In the second place, the English word ‘life’ has a number of alternate meanings.

We obviously speak of life in the sense of our physical life, the life of our body,

but we also think of it in terms of our “way”, or “manner” of life. And we say

things like, “love life, prayer life, home life”, “bigger than life”, and so on. We

write biographies tracing the course of one’s life. Additionally, we use phrases

like, “life of the party”, and “the investigation took on a life of its own”. We can

add to those such phrases as “he was lifeless”, not meaning dead, but listless,

lacking energy. What is meant by “life” must be cleared up.

The meaning of “life”

In English we have one word, life, which has many meanings and nuances—that

is, shades of meanings. We arrive at the intended meaning by seeing or hearing

how the word is used. (That is what is meant by context.) In the Greek language

of our Bible there are a number of words that are translated to the single English
word, life. There are at least four Greek words translated “life” in our English

Bibles. Of these, three are most frequently used2. They are:

1. Bios. Referring to duration, means, and manner of life. Examples of its

use are in Mk 12:44 and Lk 8:14. Our English words beginning with bio find their

root here, in bios.

2. Zōē. Meaning to live; life in the main. Generally, physical life and

existence as opposed to death and non-existence. In the New Testament it is

also often taken to mean full and intensive life, as God has it. In English we get

from it zoology, the study of animal life. It is used in Jn 1:4, Lk 16:25 and other

verses.

3. Psuche. —pronounce it sukee-- Literally, to breathe; blow. Generally

used of the soul, the immaterial part of man. Psuche, in an important sense, is

self—the seat of the mind and emotions; our self-will. Here is where we get our

words psyche and psychology. Examples of its use are in Mt:10:28, He 4:12, Jn

15:13, and others.

Another is “helikia” found in Lk 12:25 and it means adulthood, or maturity. We

are going to be most concerned with psuche, which is translated both as ‘soul’

(as in Mt 10:28) and as ‘life’ in our text, Jn 15:13.

 Life is more than the body

If you were following closely, you now know that ‘life’ in Jn 15:13 is psuche. Let’s

see how that might aid us in our examination. Looking again our text, we can

see it like this: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his psuche

for his friends.” Psuche, not zōē or Bios or some other word. Now, in the word

psuche, we have evidence to explore.

To lay down one’s psuche-life (the immaterial part of life) can be seen as to forfeit

one’s dreams, aspirations, wants, or even needs in favor of someone else. To

put our self-will on the back burner, so to say. In other words, to sacrifice self; to

give up the desires of the soul. Now, the word “love” in our text, John 15:13, is

agape, a sacrificial love; love by doing; love in action. It is the love we are

commanded to have in the verse just preceding John 15:13. See them together:

“Here is my command. Love each other, just as I have loved you. Greater love

has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:12,13).

Take note of the past tense when Jesus says, “as I have loved you” in verse 12.

Jesus is commanding a love that mimics his own, but He has not yet given up his

physical life. It (agape) is a kind of love that one can be commanded to show to

others. It is a love one can decide to demonstrate without necessarily having feel

love in the same sense that one loves their spouse or children. It is a choice one

makes. That choice, to show agape-love, can be made even to benefit someone

you never even met, such as a hurricane victim you come to the aid of. Jesus
made that choice daily and continually, in a laying down his psuche-life

throughout his ministry as recorded in the gospels. Eugene H. Peterson

translates John 15:12,13 this way in The Message: “Love one another the way I

loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put you life on the line for your

friends.”

Jesus’ self denial

Consider Jesus’ life style. He had no wife and family, no house of his own, no

change of clothes, no method of transportation beyond his feet. He earned no

money. He took no vacation from his intensive ministry. He was plotted against,

and killed illegally, but didn’t revile or complain. In fact, he forgave. Whatever

things his human side may have yearned for, he forfeited. He chose to put all of

us first. He is the prime example of sacrificial love—agape—not just in his death,

but importantly, in his life. Those things which Jesus didn’t have, and which we

do have, are very often considered by us to be very important. Even

indispensable.

Imitating Jesus’ life

Without demeaning those who have been martyred for the Faith, and while it may

be praiseworthy that one would die for someone else (Paul believed that was an

unlikely thing to happen; see Ro 5:7), I believe it is Jesus’ life we are expected to
imitate, not his death. Before Jesus gave his physical life for us, he

demonstrated to us the sacrificing of one’s self-life (psuche). He gave up his

zōē-life for us, but first he gave up his psuche-life for us. He set for us the

example of a life given up—that is, lived--for others.

If your not on board with me yet on how I read life, or psuche in john 15:13, here

is another way of looking at it. Psuche is immaterial as opposed to material, self

as opposed to body. It is who you are, as opposed to the body you live in. Let’s

get some clarity from Mt 10:28. “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are

unable to kill the soul (psuche); but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both

soul (psuche) and body3 in hell.” Here, psuche obviously doesn’t mean physical

life. Both your body, physical life, and the soul, your “self-life”, are distinguished

as separate. They are not the same.

Denying yourself

Jesus demonstrated the giving up of “self” in the choices he made. No less is

expected of us. I believe that in John 15:13 Jesus said you can show no greater

love for others than to live as he lived, sacrificing yourself. In so doing we may

not only show love for others, but also begin to fulfill the prime commandment to

love our God with all our heart, soul (the word here is psuche), and strength (Lk

10:27).
Seeing John 15:13 is this way may also shed some light on how we can heed the

warning that, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and

take up his cross and follow me (Mk 8:34, emphasis is added). This remark by

Jesus is important enough to appear twice in Matthew and to be found in each

gospel book. Whatever it means to “pick up your cross”, it must be voluntary. It

simply can’t be any, or all of the various hardships we face, but which we cannot

choose not to face. The very next verse, Mk 8:35, puts the phrase, “Let him deny

himself”, into context: “For whoever wishes to save his life (psuche) shall lose it;

but whoever loses his life (psuche) for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it”

The object? Deny one’s life, that is, lose yourself for Jesus and the gospel and

you will save it. And we can show no greater love than that.

A final scripture on life: He who loves is life (psuche) will lose it, and he who

hates is life (psuche) in this world will keep it for eternal life (zōē), John 12:25.

Two different kinds of life are indicated in this passage, but in the English

translation that is certainly not clear.

Seeing this, let us seek to say no to ourselves and to take up the cross of agape-

love. In short, let us in dying to self and living for Christ, seek to show the

Greater Love and lay down our lives for each other.
 Yielding to the Holy Spirit

A final word of caution must be added. We must be careful not to put the cart

before the horse. Our work of Greater Love must spring out of our spirituality. It

must come from our relationship with Jesus, being powered by the Holy Spirit.

We can’t power it ourselves, putting the cart before the horse, and generate

spirituality by trying hard to show the Greater Love. It isn’t in us. It is in Him. He

must do it through us, using our mind and body as if they were his own. But first,

we must agree to be used. We must yield to Him. We must say no to ourselves

and pick up the cross of submission. It will be a hard road to travel on our own

steam—even impossible. But this is the gospel, the good news: we don’t have

to do it on our own. “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will

give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and

humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is

easy and My burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30) When you yoke yourself to Jesus he

will do the work of Greater Love, and to the outside world it will appear as if you

are doing it.

Who is in control?

Just so, it appears to us that the “world” is doing evil. But the reality is that its

their father, Satan, doing it through them. It is a question of who is in control.

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for

obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in
death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Ro 6:16) There is no

offering of middle ground here: obedience is to either one or the other leading to

either death or life (righteousness is used here as the opposite of death). And its

not a question of whether one ever sins at all, but of whether one is under the

control of what Paul calls the law of sin (Ro 8:2).

Conclusion

The paradox is that to have life we must give it up. We give our lives to the

Christ. To Jesus and the gospel. In so doing He can live out his life through us,

His body on earth. We can then, in His power, labor to reach His goals and

objectives rather than our own.4

Notes

1. Scripture is quoted from the NASB

2. Definitions of the Greek words are condensed compilations derived by comparing the

following:

A. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, editor, AMG

International, Revised 1993. Chattanooga, TN.

B. A Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament, W.F. Arndt and F.W. Gengrich, 1957, The

University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

C. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, W.E. Vine, et al, 1985, Thomas Nelson

Publishers, New York, NY.

D. The New Bible Dictionary, J.D. Douglas, editor, 1962, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,

Grand Rapids, MI.

3. Body, soma. Generally of any material body, the antithesis of psuche. Note first

Thessalonians 5:23 where the complete person consists of spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche) and

body (soma).

4. Appendix

A. Col 3:23 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;”

(emphasis mine). In the NIV the emphasized part reads, “work at it with all your heart.” The

phrase emphasized comes from the two words ek psuche where the ek denotes “out of”, or

“from”, and we have seen what psuche means. Literally, the passage means “bring your whole

soul to it”. Clearly, I think, psuche can’t be construed to be talking about your physical, or bodily

life. Translators in all versions agree, or they wouldn’t translate it as “heartily,” and with similar

phrases.

B. Lest you think I have overlooked the context of our main text, John 15:13, Let’s consider

it. Jesus is in the midst of long address to His disciples. He has reached a point, in chapter 15,

where He is explaining the relationship between Himself and is friends. In verse 12 He gives a

commandment to love each other “as I have loved you.” (note the past tense and that He hasn’t

yet given His life.) In verse 14 He says that you are My friends if you do what I command you.”

What did He command? In the immediate context it was to lay down one’s life for his friends. In

the larger context He said “abide in me”, and “abide in My love.” (15: 6,9) He spoke of keeping

His word (v. 14:23), and said that “He who does not love Me does not keep My words” (14:24).

Chapters 14 and 15 (note especially vs14:15) consistently harmonize love with obedience and

friendship. This crescendos to the amazing statement that the greater love, the ultimate love one

might say, is to give your life for your friends. In context this has nothing to do with dying, and

everything to do with an ongoing demonstration of love. Paul emphasized it in 1 Cor 13:13, “But

now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” One can hardly live

(abide) in love if one is dead.

None of this, of course, denies the love shown by someone who actually does literally give his life

for someone else. It does happen. Especially in situations where one is trying to save the life of

another who is in some mortal danger. But these kinds of examples notwithstanding, it wasn’t the

kind of thing that Jesus was talking about.