Quicken, to (Chayah)

Narrator: Chris Genthree
 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 9
Listen from:
• BibleTruthPublishers.com
This term is used in the Old Testament with the force of “to revive, or give new life” in a moral sense: hence we read “quicken me again.” In Psalm 119 the psalmist asked nine times to be quickened—according to God’s word, or His righteousness, or His judgments, &c. (See also Psa. 71:2020Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. (Psalm 71:20); Psa. 80:1818So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. (Psalm 80:18); Psa. 143:1111Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. (Psalm 143:11).) In the New Testament the word is ζωοποιέω, and is invariably employed in the sense of making alive those who are in the state, or under the power of death. It is therefore sometimes used as the equivalent of resurrection, but the word is never applied to the wicked dead. It is God’s work: the term is employed in connection with the Father (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)), with the Son (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)), and with the Spirit (John 6:6363It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)). It is characteristic of the last Adam that He is a quickening Spirit (1 Cor. 15:4545And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)). In Christ all will be quickened. Evidently the principle of divine sovereignty is involved in the term. God makes alive according to His will. The believer is said to have been quickened together (συζωοποιέω) with Christ, and is thus brought spiritually into association with Christ.
A word may be added on the distinction between “new birth” and “quickening.” It lies in the latter implying a making alive in view of an order of things and a state different from that in which the one quickened had lived previously. This is not necessarily the result of new birth; for instance, Israel will have to be born again in view of earthly blessing (John 3:1212If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:12); Ezek. 36:25-2625Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:25‑26)); but believers now are not only born again, but, as quickened with Christ, they are made to live spiritually in that sphere of holy love into which Christ has entered by resurrection, in order that He might introduce them into it; they thus have passed from death to life.