What does it mean to have an abundant life?
One of our group member asked me to clarify the meaning of the word “abundant” in John 10:10.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The underlying Greek word, perissos, means “extraordinary” (not usually encountered) or “abundant”, “more than enough” (e.g. extraordinary in the amount). However, it is not clear whether the word is used in physical or spiritual sense. To understand this we need to look at the word “life” in the same verse. The underlying Greek word is “zoe”, which can mean both physical life and eternal (spiritual) life. The second meaning is much more common in the New Testament; in particular, John uses “zoe” more than 30 times always to mean “eternal life”.
When Jesus speaks of abundant life, he means eternal life, not the physical life. Neither Jesus nor his followers had any abundance in the physical sense. Yet Jesus promised us abundant water supply that will never stop (John 4:14), more than enough bread (=Jesus’ body) that we will never go hungry again (John 6:35).