Rector's letter for September Fowey News

Dear friends

The Bible describes two contrasting visions for life - one shallow, fleeting, and earthbound; the other rich, eternal, and divine. Those two visions are encapsulated in two greek words: bios and zoe.

Bios is the life of mere existence. It’s the root of our word “biology,” describing the mechanics of reality and living - breathing, eating, moving through the daily grind. A dog has bios, waking each morning to eat, bark, and sleep. Likewise, we have bios in our routines: waking at seven, feeding the dog, brewing coffee, checking emails. It’s the life of the body, the pulse of survival.

But to be consumed by bios is a folly. That’s the message of Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21). As C.S. Lewis observes in Mere Christianity, “A man who makes his life consist in [possessions, goods and treasure] will find that they are all taken away from him at death, and he will be left with nothing” (Book III, Chapter 10). The folly is to see only bios, the surface of life, and miss the deeper call to seek “the things that are above, where Christ is” (Colossians 3:1). It’s to limit oneself to a one-dimensional existence, blind to the eternal. It’s a spiritual poverty that reduces us to mere biology, to creatures of instinct rather than imagers of God.

Zoe is richer than bios. It’s the word Jesus uses when he declares, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Zoe is not mere existence but life in its fullest sense: vibrant, meaningful, eternal.

Whereas in the ancient world, zoe was often reserved for the gods or a select few heroes, emperors, those favoured by fate, Jesus Christ democratises zoe, offering it to all who seek him. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life [zoe]” (John 14:6). This is the life of glory, not as the world understands it - fleeting fame or earthly power - but a participation in the eternal love of God. The church father, Irenaeus described it as, “the glory of God is a human being fully alive” (Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 20).

It is all too easy to settle for bios in a world saturated with advertising that tells us that fulfilment comes from this possession or that, achieving a certain status or influence. Christianity dares us instead to seek zoe, the abundant life found in Christ Jesus, to lift our eyes beyond the biological to the eternal. This is not a call to escape the world but to live in it with a higher purpose, to let Christ’s life shape our own, to “take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:19). This is zoe - the life that transcends mere existence, the life that endures. This is what we explore Sunday by Sunday at the Anchor and you’d be very welcome to come and discover why it is the difference between life in monochrome black and white and life in 4k high definition dazzling full colour.

with every blessing,

Philip