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The Life Maker
The Life Maker
The Life Maker
New King James Version (1982)
NKJ John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Why is the first word spirit capitalized and not the second?
NAB John 6:63
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Both spirits are lower-case, why?
Is the human spirit contrasted with the human flesh?
NJB John 6:63
It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Why the negative on the flesh?
YLT John 6:63
the spirit it is that is giving life; the flesh doth not profit anything; the sayings that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life;
Why the negative on the flesh?
NRS John 6:63
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Why the super negative on the flesh?
BBE John 6:63
The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life.
This first line is the best English translation among all (23) that I examined, except for the lack of upper-case on the Spirit.(Q) Was there any single translation that I consider the outstanding best from among the 23?
(A) Yes, surprisingly, the New Living Translation!
NLT John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. The Spirit properly points to the personality of the life-maker, the Person of God the Holy Spirit. The Human effort properly points to and identifies the flesh.
Let’s proceed in the spirit of the Reformation, and take a look at John 6:63 for ourselves.
article noun link article noun
syntax
This is a classic predicate nominative sentence.
Translation...
article noun link article noun
The Spirit is the One who makes life
Which noun is the subject? Both nouns have the article... ...so it is a very rare “convertible” sentence.
article noun link article noun
The Spirit is the One who makes life
the One who makes life is The Spirit
article noun link article noun
The Spirit is the One who makes life
the One who makes life is The Spirit
The Spirit must be capitalized, because the creation of life is the work of the person of God alone.article noun link article noun
(Q) So, what do the translators mean when saying, It is the spirit that gives life?
(A) I don’t know.
Comprehensive Translation:
God the Holy Spirit is the Life-Maker (and the Life-Maker is God the Holy Spirit), the flesh not insert image nothing;
the flesh not 
any thing at all;
the flesh any useful result not whatsoever; the flesh any useful result
Root: “to help”; to provide assistance, with emphasis upon the resulting benefit. not whatsoever; the flesh the human nature does not assist (the Spirit) by providing any beneficial result whatsoever; the human nature does not assist (the Spirit) by providing any beneficial result whatsoever;
The Holy Spirit is the Life-Maker,
the human nature does not assist (the Spirit)
by providing any beneficial result whatsoever
(with regard to assisting in the Life-Making process);
The words which I have spoken to you is spirit
article noun link noun
Another predicate nominative sentence.
subject: the words which I have spoken to you Neuter plural nouns are treated as an entire group, thereby taking a singular verb is.
The words which I have spoken to you is spirit
article noun link noun
subject: the words which I have spoken to you
The words are not words in general, but specific words treated as a group having an intended character of some sort.
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun link noun
I have spoken
A substantive pronoun, redundant for emphasis, otherwise we would read the pronoun “I” already built into the verb.
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun link noun
I have spoken
The verb is much more informative than this translation reveals...
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun I have spoken link noun
The verb is in the perfect tense.
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun I have spoken link noun
The perfect tense expresses an abiding result of the effect of a past action, considered from the perspective of the present time.
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun I have spoken link noun
Think of it this way; Jesus is referring to the present abiding result of particular words which He had spoken and had been effective in the past; the result of those words are spirit and life, in terms of their quality or character.
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun I have spoken link noun
That is, Jesus’ words which, if taken in by the believer, presently abide in the believer, and are of a spirit quality and character, and the Holy Spirit is who makes them effectual in terms of being of assistance in the process of creating life of spirit quality and character within the believer
The words which I have spoken to you are spirit
article noun I have spoken link noun
The contributing working of assistance rendered by the specific group of His words is to be understood as being in stark contrast to the work of human nature, which does not accomplish any useful result whatsoever in assisting the divine creative process of making life.
and they are life.
and it (the group of Jesus’ words) is life in quality.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
The Holy Spirit is the Life-Maker,
the human nature does not assist (the Spirit)
by providing any beneficial result whatsoever
(with regard to assisting in the Life-Making process);
in contrast, the words which I have spoken to you, the abiding result of which is in you presently, is spirit and life in quality and character,able to be of beneficial assistance to the work of the Holy Spirit in effectually creating spirit quality and life quality in you the believers.
Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, He is God Incarnate.In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being.
Only the power of God can open your heart to the willingness to have the void within it filled with the presence of Christ by His Spirit.The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life.
Only the life of His Spirit’s quickening of your heart will allow the Gospel message of salvation to even make sense to you, to truly “hear” the message and give you the ability, as the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus, to recognize your need for forgiveness and restoration, and gain the desire of your heart to be favorably inclined to want to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life.Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,
AMEN