Craig Koester’s book The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008) takes a surprising approach to John’s perspective on the human condition in death. Throughout history scholars have tended to see John 11:25-26 as an affirmation of the immortality of the soul. Those who live and believe in Jesus "will never die." But Koester approaches this assertion in light of the whole Gospel and its testimony regarding death and resurrection. This approach yields a different conclusion on these texts.

One of the great, central themes of John’s Gospel is life and how to have it more abundantly. The great forces that threaten life are sickness and death. But if God is the giver of life, why do sickness and death exist? According to Koester, the Gospel does not offer an answer to this question, instead it reframes the question (9:3-4). Sickness and death are a given in this life, the great question is, what will God do with them? They become the context in which Jesus brings God’s gift of life. In the Fourth Gospel the solution to sickness is healing and the solution to death is resurrection, not an immortal soul.

On the human side, faith is the key to both healing and resurrection. Eternal life begins in the present through faith which leads to relationship with God. But how can it be called "eternal life" when believers die? The relationship with God that begins in faith is not terminated by death, but continues in the promise of the resurrection (6:33, 39). But what happens in between death and resurrection? In what sense is it that the one who lives and believes in Jesus will never die?

Koester addresses this question in some detail on pages 179-182. For the Gospel death is an intruder that constantly threatens life through sickness, violence and decay. People are threatened with death throughout the Gospel. Even Jesus, Peter and the beloved disciple fall prey to it. So the Gospel says two things about death, it is real but it is not final. Death is not an illusion. It is not an altered state of existence. It is the opposite of life. The Gospel does not tell us where it came from, it is simply a given. Jesus begins with the problem that exists and looks forward to what can be done from there.

When Jesus appears in Bethany, He faces hard questions from the two sisters of Lazarus. They see death as final and complain that Jesus could have prevented the death of Lazarus had He come to them sooner. This would have been the golden moment to tell Martha that everything is OK. Lazarus’ soul is in heaven. He has gone to a better place. He is in a superior state of existence. Instead Jesus says, "your brother will rise again" (John 11:23). Death is real and it is tragic but it is not final. Jesus treats Lazarus as a whole person. He no longer exists but has the promise of rising to a new life.

When He says, "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25), Jesus indicates that resurrection will be defined by His own experience. Jesus dies and rises again as a whole person. There is no suggestion that when His body died his soul ascended to heaven. In fact the opposite is asserted (20:17). Jesus’ death and resurrection sets the path that Lazarus will also take. He is dead as a whole person and has been dead for four days (11:17). His death is real and it is complete. The theology of resurrection in the gospel means that death is real without qualification, but it is not final. The way Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb anticipates the last day, when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of Jesus (11:44; 5:28-29).

What then, does Jesus mean when He says that the one who believes in Him will never die (11:26)? People of faith do die in the ordinary, physical sense. But there is another sense in which they do not die. Life and death are not just physical. They also have a relational aspect. The highest kind of life is the relationship with Jesus and His Father that comes through faith. Wile conscious existence ends with a person’s final breath, the relationship with God is not ended by death. It extends into the future through the promise of the resurrection. The Gospel’s metaphor for death is "sleep" (11:11-14). Someone who is asleep can remain in the care of someone else until he or she is awakened. Those who sleep in death remain in God’s care until they are awakened to life in Christ at the last day (6:39, 44).

Koester’s outline of life and death in the Gospel of John is in contrast with popular notions of dualism in which body and soul can be separated. Koester rightly rejects this dualistic perspective on the basis of the Gospel. In this he demonstrates a willingness to follow the text, even where it leads to unpopular conclusions. That is one of the things I liked most about his book.

The thing I did like most was Koester’s perspective on faith in the Gospel of John, which I will tackle in the next and final blog on The Word of Life.