The "Breath of Life" & God's "Seed, which is Christ" :

"All Have One Breath And Spirit "

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 (AMP) 19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath (ruach) and spirit (ruach), so that a man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
20 All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

God Himself is the One life and only source of conscious life in the universe. All such life is derived from God as creator.

Then also God is the dispenser of His Seed, which is Christ, into all men who would receive Him. 12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— John 1:12 (AMP)

The word "life" as used in this context of God is the Greek word "Zoë," meaning "the spirit-life that is of God." Of course there are two other words translated life in the Bible, these two do not speak of the core life that enlivens every living thing. The two Greek words for life are; 1) "psuche," meaning the "psychological life of the soul" with it mind, emotion an s and will; and 2) "bios," meaning the "physical biological life." In man the physical life has the faculties of the five senses, for sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste.

In the Greek the word "pneuma" is translated as spirit and other times breath. Our auto tires that contain air are called pneumatic tires.

In this article I am addressing the core life (Zoë) that enlivens and animates all the faculties of created life.

Examples of the three words translated life indicated the three kinds of life are seen here below.

1) God's life in Christ, seen as Zoë, is used in these verses to indicate the eternal resurrected life that is of Christ to dwell in all who believe to receive His life.

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:11-12 (KJV)

4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 (KJV)

2) Here in this verse we see both the soul life and Zoë spirit-life distinguished in quoting Jesus of Nazareth during His ministry on earth.

25 He that loveth his life (psuche) shall lose it; and he that hateth his life (psuche) in this world shall keep it unto life (Zoë) eternal. John 12:25 (KJV)

3) The life of the body is the bios and seen as "the life of the flesh (Gk. sarx)."

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life (bios), and bring no fruit to perfection. Luke 8:14 (KJV)

Also, in the Old Testament we see these three kinds of life expressed by these Hebrew words in Gen 2:7.

"adam" - meaning the clay of man as a human being in body

"nephesh" - meaning the soul of the individual self

"chay" - meaning God's spirit-life - this very same word is also translated "breath" according to its context.

7 And the Lord God formed man (Heb adam, the human being in body) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Heb. chay, God's breath or God's spirit life); and man became a living soul (nephesh). Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

For a long time I was puzzled as to why the Bible indicates that ALL human life is of the Zoë, the spirit-life of God. The same Zoë is used of the life of the lost and as the life we as believers possess, having received the resurrected "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." I could not see why these two would not clearly differentiated.

My dear friend William Landon, a writer, suggest we view man's life apart from Christ as God's breath or spirit in man to enliven man, but this is only "life on loan." By this he means man is given a time on earth, be it 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 years or so in which he can respond to the call of God to receive the eternal resurrected "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." You see, in that moment of receiving Christ a man is translated our of the kingdom of Satan into the universal kingdom of God's dear Son, even while in that man's corruptible body that is still destined to die physically. However that believing man has the resurrection life of Christ by which he will be Raptured to the realm of God in heaven for eternity.

1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house (abode) not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1 (KJV)

It is also now clear to me the difference is this - we as believers have received the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which is His Spirit as Christ now is now is AFTER His death, burial, and resurrection. This is the Spirit of which Paul says  17 Now the Lord is that Spirit... 2 Corinthians 3:17 (KJV)

This we might say is the fully processed life of the "Son of God," Jesus Christ, with not only the original divine eternal life of the Godhead but also the added element of His overcoming humanity as of His resurrection. The life of Jesus of Nazareth (the God-man) was elevated to become "the Son of God" that we possess in us as our life. Paul tells us Jesus of Nazareth, "according to the flesh," in and with His humanity was declared  to be the Son of God "by the (His) resurrection from the dead."

3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh (His humanity); 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: Romans 1:3-4 (KJV)

Its interesting to me that so many want to translate the words perish and die as being mere sleep, while clinging to the unscriptural term they then coin - "soul sleep." This phrase is nowhere to be found in the Bible. We know there is an intermediate state of the dead lost who are held in "hades" (Hebrew) which is the Greek, "hell". This is the final death - ceasing to exist in any form. This is not the final state of death in the lake of fire to which all the lost are destined.

By contrast we should define the words die and perish.

Initial Death and Ultimate Death:

Upon physical death, the lost person is initially held in "hades" (hell) awaiting their resurrection to appear and stand at the Great White Throne judgment (cf., Rev 20:12) and the final or "second death," when they are cast into "the lake of fire" (Rev 20:14).

We see in the OT the word Heb "mut," meaning to "die." Here is reference to the death of those alive in Noah's day until the flood came.

22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life (Heb, chay, God's spirit life), of all that was in the dry land, died (Heb, mut, die). Genesis 7:22 (KJV)

Only a soul can sin and that as an act of the free will of man, resulting in ultimate death.

4 Behold, all souls are mine (the LORD); as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul (nephesh, soul self) that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 (KJV)

"Die" is the Hebrew word "mut" - having a primitive root; to die (literal or figurative); causative to kill :- × at all, × crying, (be) dead (body, man, one), (put to, worthy of) death, destroy (-er), (cause to, be like to, must) die, kill, necro [-mancer], × must needs, slay, × surely, × very suddenly, × in [no] wise.

Some say the word "soul" just refers to a "man." But the word "soul" is clearly distinguished from that of "man" as seen here in a single verse.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7 (KJV).

This verse indicates "man" consist of a formed physical body with the breath of life, and this resulted in the formation of the unique individual "soul" or self of that man.

Here in the John's gospel of the New Testament we see the stark contrast drawn between believers gaining Christ's "everlasting life" versus non-believers "perishing." The word "perish" is the Greek, apolllymi, meaning not only to die but be "destroyed fully."

Paul tells us sin brings death, not soul-sleep.

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23 (KJV)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish (destroy fully), but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (KJV)

Greek Strong's Number: 622; Greek Word: ἀπόλλυμι; Transliteration: apollymi

Part of Speech: verb; Vine's Words: Destroy, Destroyer, Destruction, Destructive, Lose, Loss (suffer), Lost, Perish 

English Words used in KJV: perish 33, destroy 26, lose 22, be lost 5, lost 4

from <G575> (apo) and the base of <G3639> (olethros); to destroy fully (reflexive to perish, or lose), literal or figurative :- destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.

So what then happens to the dead at the "second death" (Rev 20:6) of the lost person who has never received the eternal resurrected "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"?

Solomon wrote this of the lost dead.

7 Then shall the dust (of the body) return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (of man) shall return unto God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7 (KJV)

This verse addresses two components of man's being - the physical body of man and God's "breath of life" that God Himself breathed into Adam. You will recall from Gen 2:7 that the coming together of the physical and the breath of God produced the "living soul" of man. James define death as the departure of the spirit (breath of God) from the physical body.  26 For as the body without the spirit is dead... James 2:26a (KJV) Since it required body and spirit together to produce a soul, then upon death and the dissolution of body and spirit, the soul of snuffed out. Recall that even when Jesus of Nazareth died on the cross it was finished when He gave up His Spirit.

Anything less than full death demeans the death of our Lord for us. Jesus was totally dead until He was raised by the power of God the Father.

10 For thou (Father) wilt not leave my soul (nephesh) in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption (decay). Psalm 16:10 (KJV) 14 And God (the Father) hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 1 Corinthians 6:14 (KJV)