The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Eternal and Aionios -- Comments from a linguist

It is a fairly common idea that “aionios” refers to “timelessness”. Indeed, it is a rather historic idea.

However, I believe it to be incorrect.

It is the adjectival form of the noun “αἰων”, which means “age”. So, I suppose we could translate “αἰωνιος” as “agey”, but as far as I know, the latter is not an English word.

The word was used in koine Greek (the Greek spoken from 300 B.C. to 300 A.D.) to refer to anything which is enduring. The word was used by Diodorus Siculus to describe the stone used to build a wall. The word seems to have been used as meaning “lasting” or “durable”. The stone wall could hardly be considered to be “timeless”.

Josephus in “The Wars of the Jews” book 6, states that Jonathan was condemned to “αἰωνιος” imprisonment. Yet that prison sentence is believed to have lasted only three years. Was Jonathan in a timeless state in that prison? Three years is a period of time. It is neither timeless nor everlasting.

Thanks Sonia and Orville for this clear and helpful explanation. I also found Julie Ferwerda’s chapter on this subject (in “Raising Hell”) very good.

Thanks for posting Sonia, that was a good read, and very good points. Paidon’s point as well.

I’ve always felt seeing how a particular word is used throughout scripture ( and literature of the day) was a better way to come to understanding of it’s meaning then a strict definition in a lexicon.

The tipping point for me towards Universalism was Seeing how “aion” was used throughout the New Testament. I found the following section of the book “hope beyond hell” to make a very convincing arguement that our English word “Eternity” or “Everlasting” or our idea of “forever” was definitely not any where near the literal meaning of the word “aion”:

“Consider the New Testament
use of aion. Does “eternity” make any sense in the following
passages?
:diamonds: What will be the sign…of the end of [eternity] (Mt. 24:3)?
:diamonds: I am with you…to the end of the [eternity] (Mt. 28:20).
:diamonds: The sons of this [eternity] are more shrewd (Lu. 16:8).
:diamonds: The sons of this [eternity] marry (Lu. 20:34).
:diamonds: Worthy to attain that [eternity] (Lu. 20:35).
:diamonds: Since the [eternity] began (Jn. 9:32; Ac. 3:21).
:diamonds: Conformed to this [eternity] (Ro. 12:2).
:diamonds: Mystery kept secret since the [eternity] began but now
made manifest (Ro. 16:25-26).
:diamonds: Where is the disputer of this [eternity] (1Co. 1:20)?
:diamonds: Wisdom of this [eternity], nor of the rulers of this [eternity]…
ordained before the [eternities]…which none of the
rulers of this [eternity]… (1Co. 2:6-8).
:diamonds: Wise in this [eternity] (1Co. 3:18).
:diamonds: Upon whom the ends of the [eternities] have come
(1Co. 10:11).
:diamonds: God of this [eternity] has blinded (2Co. 4:4).
:diamonds: Deliver us from this present evil [eternity] (Ga. 1:4).
:diamonds: Not only in this [eternity] but also in that which is to come
(Ep. 1:21).
:diamonds: Walked according to the [eternity] of this world (Ep. 2:2).
:diamonds: In the [eternities] to come (Ep. 2:7).
24 Hope Beyond Hell
:diamonds: From the beginnings of the [eternities] (Ep. 3:9).
:diamonds: Hidden from [eternities]…but now…revealed (Col. 1:26).
:diamonds: Loved this present [eternity] (2Ti. 4:10).
:diamonds: Receive him [for eternity] (Phil. 1:15). Forever or until
Onesimus, Philemon’s former slave, dies?
:diamonds: Powers of the [eternity] to come (He. 6:5).
:diamonds: At the end of the [eternities] (He. 9:26).
:diamonds: We understand the [eternities] have been prepared by a
saying of God (He. 11:3).”

This was a really good read! He writes so well! Having learned Spanish I know how important it is to learn a word in it’s context and how words can have various meanings, often ones that aren’t quite the same as their English translation. It makes sense why people have been able translate aionion the way they have. You can’t be too attached to a translation and always have to look back at context and culture.

Thanks heaps Sonia, that’s great initiative! The more experts we find on this the better :sunglasses:

A list of other useful things that Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins has written about Greek

The argument that gets to me regularly is, given it’s now so obviously not everlasting, why is it taking so long to update the lexicons and mainstream translations? :confused:

Well spotted my friend :smiley:

, Julie Ferwerda"]ETERNITY VS. AGES
Throughout previous chapters I have mentioned the non-existence of the concept of eternity in Scripture. This chapter is crucial to our understanding of the false teaching of a place of eternal torment or even everlasting separation from God, without reducing the permanence of our future life with God.

How did translators go awry and begin inserting the concept of eternity into the Scriptures? Earlier we learned that the Hebrew word, olam (Strong’s #5956), actually means something like, “behind the horizon” or “to conceal,” and simply does not mean or imply eternal. It has been frequently mistranslated as everlasting and eternal throughout the Old Testament, though most literal translations and the Hebrew Interlinear render olam as “age.”**

So now let’s turn to the Greek word frequently translated eternal, forever, or everlasting in the New Testament. Aion is a noun that actually translates as “eon,” or the more common modern English equivalent, “age” (Strong’s #165), and is one of the most mistranslated and inconsistently translated words in the Bible.

An eon or age, is defined as a period of time with a beginning and an end. Consider the myriad of ways this one word (with one meaning) has been translated in two of our more popular New Testament versions today:

]Age or ages: NASB–26, KJV–2/:m]
]Ancient time: NASB–1/:m]
]Beginning of time: NASB–1/:m]
]World or worlds: NASB–7, KJV–78/:m]
]World without end: KJV–1/:m]
]Course: NASB–1/:m]
]Eternal: NASB–2, KJV–2/:m]
]Eternity: NASB–1/:m]
]Ever: NASB-2, KJV–71/:m]
]Forever: NASB–27, KJV–30/:m]
]Forever and ever: NASB–20, KJV–21/:m]
]Forevermore: NASB–2/:m]
]Long ago: NASB–1/:m]
]Never: NASB-1, KJV–6/:m]
]Old: NASB–1/:m]
]Time: NASB–1/:m]
]“Miscellaneous”: KJV–5/:m]

** The scribes of the Septuagint translated the Hebrew olam into aion (age) in the Greek in noun form, and aionios (pertaining to an age) for the adjective form.

Alex,
What you copied is contradicted by the professor that Sonia contacted. He does see eternity as the meaning. But not as “endless time”, rather by a timelessness. The age that is being “pertained to” is apparently a pretty special age.
roof

Unfortunately whenever I say “eternity” people seem to just think “an infinite amount of time”, rather than “timelessness” or “ethereal” (in the sense of being “other dimensional”). Sorry, I’ve had a lot on my mind over the last few days so can’t remember exactly what my point was :blush: I’m guessing it was that there’s mounting evidence that it at least doesn’t mean “an infinite amount of time”, whether it means “timelessness” or “pertaining to the age beyond the horizon” (although as you point out, that might actually be the same thing), I’m not entirely sure.

What’s interesting though, roof, is that here is a word that seems to be quite complicated. I’ve been studying it for a long time now and I can say this much for certain:

  1. It is NOT a simple word
  2. If you wanted simply “eternal” you chose the word “aidios” which always meant “eternal” or its equivalent
  3. It can mean several different things including eternal and NOT eternal.
  4. It Does come from the word “age” which is not eternal
  5. I’ve read many, many sentences from authors during the time of Christ who meant it as NOT eternal

I know there is more but it is 2:30 in the morning for me and I’m off to bed - dead tired… :slight_smile:

Chris

Hi Chris- can you show me where to find those many sentences from authors during the time of Christ?

I have studied this word over the last several months and have read numerous articles, sections of books, entries of lexicons and other word study books, etc to come to this conclusion. I regret now that I didn’t collect these different statements in one place! I’ll look around and see if I can’t gather a few key statements and post them to you. I remember reading a statement by Josephus where he used the exact phrase of Jesus “eternal punishment” but wasn’t using it in an eternal sense. I’ll see if I can find that one and a few others. Give me a little time and I’ll find some interesting statements for you, roof.

Chris, I’ve seen the Josephus and a few others, but not “many, many”. For me it has been “a few”…

What I don’t understand is Hebrews 1:2.

“…thru whom He made the aions” (usually translated “worlds.”)

If “aion” is a period of time, why is it used here (and what does it mean here)?

It literally means “age”. So it would be “through whom He made the ages”.

Something that is significant to me in my understanding of aionios is that it was used to translate the Hebrew “olam” and “olam haba”, which spoke of the age to come, and the Messianic age to come, an age with a radically different quality to it. And then I also consider where judgment and the fire that destroyed Sodom are described by aionios; both of which to me certainly do not speak of endless, quantity of time, but rather of timelessness or time-transcending, and refer to their source and relationship to God.

Considering Matthew was written to the Jew, possibly even written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and written from a Jewish perspective, the “age to come” or “Messianic age to come” seems to fit well. Paul though, wrote in Greek to a Greco-Roman audience and thus it seems that the timeless or time-transcending aspect of aionios seems to fit well, but with a strong tie to the kingdom/rule/reign of God.

But it’s usually translated “through whom He made the worlds” because “through whom He made the ages” doesn’t seem to make much sense.

What would that mean?

Well, what would “worlds” mean?

Look at it this way: God created everything: time and space. Not only did he create time, but he divided it up into special “ages”. To say that “he made the ages” makes just as much sense as “he made the earth”.

Heb. 1.2 is interesting.

“and through the Son he created the universe.” NLT
“and through whom also he made the universe.” TNIV
“through whom also He made the worlds;” NKJV

The context though seems to be more “time” oriented, than cosmos oriented. In times past God spoke through the prophets, but now God has spoken through His Son (better), through whom He poieo (make, do, commit, bring forth, work) the ages.

Poieo is an interesting word. It speaks of doing, bringing forth, making, etc. In this context it would seem to best be interpreted “ordered” to me. God set in order the ages. He had it all planned out from before time, ages, began.

So as for aionas, it seems “ages” is what was intended. The age of Christ is much better than before because it has a much fuller revelation of God’s love for us all, Jew and Gentile alike, all humanity not just the chosen!

To a first century Jew (or Greek) it moght mean the earth, the 1rst, 2nd, and 3rd heaven, and tartarous.

Or it could mean earth, venus, mars, saturn Jupeter, etc., etc.

What would “made (past tense) the ages (segments of time)” mean?

Think of how the Jew saw or understand “the ages”. For example, God was God of Messiah. The Messianic age was a time pre-ordained by God and it was a very special time for the Jews. It was prophecied about. It was planned. They waited for the Messiah, or the Messianic age. There were different ages and each had a special meaning. Each time period was designed by God for specific things. He made the ages. He planned each one and they unfolded just as he planned. He was the God of the ages!