This episode contrasts mediocre Christian life with the abundant life that Christ promised us. The difference is the power-source that we most often rely upon. If we adopt the bogus assumption that dependence on resurrection power is mostly for crisis moments, not for routine everyday life, then we consign ourselves to living a substandard mediocre Christian life mostly governed by our fleshly power. Christ exploded this distinction, maintaining that the routine, even boring aspects of biotic life should be filled with zoe life, the spiritual life that He alluded to in John 10:10: "I would that you have life and that more abundantly." Christians should consequently bear their crosses, depending on resurrection power and not their own. Paul prayed that Ephesian believers would live out of this power, which was the same power that rose Christ from the dead. (Eph. 1:19-20) And Paul Himself linked this resurrection power to the crosses that all of us must inevitably bear: "I want to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." (Phil. 3:10) Everyday reliance on resurrection power is then the only way to experience "abundant life" and rise above mediocrity.
Born Again through the Resurrection of Christ
This episode begins with the question, "what evidence is there in your life that the resurrection of Christ actually occurred?" The answer is simply the presence of zoe life, characterized by the born again experience. Regeneration ushered in life on a higher plane. Zoe life refers to life in the Spirit where believers are connected to God through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is the life that Jesus referred to in John 10:10: "I would that you have life, and that more abundantly." Zoe life was made available with the resurrection of Christ: once Jesus is glorified, "rivers of living water" spring up among those who put their faith in Christ. (John 7:38-39) This spiritual life contrasts with mere bios life, the biological life that all humanity partakes of. One proof of the resurrection of Christ is then the presence of zoe life among Christians who themselves have experienced spiritual resurrection. They are born again saints "alive from the dead," who have partaken of the life-giving Spirit of Christ. (Heb. 7:16)