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Bible Dictionaries
Eternal Everlasting
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or ‘Eternal’ and ‘everlasting’ are employed in the Authorized Version of the NT somewhat indiscriminately to render three Greek words-ἀΐδιος, αἰών (used adjectivally in genitive plural), and αἰώνιος. ἀΐδιος is found only in Romans 1:20 and Judges 1:6, Authorized Version rendering ‘eternal’ is the first case and ‘everlasting’ in the second. ‘Eternal’ is the translation of τῶν αἰώνων in Ephesians 3:11, 1 Timothy 1:17. αἰώνιος is of very common occurrence; but while Authorized Version in most cases gives ‘eternal,’ it not infrequently substitutes ‘everlasting,’ and sometimes does so, apparently, for no other reason than to avoid the repetition of the same English word (cf. e.g., Acts 13:46 with Acts 13:48; Romans 6:22 with Romans 6:23). For ἀΐδιος (a contraction for ἀείδιος, fr. [Note: fragment, from.] ἀεί ever’) Revised Version properly reserves ‘everlasting.’ For τῶν αἰώνων it gives the literal meaning ‘of the ages.’ For αἰώνιος (fr. [Note: fragment, from.] αἰών) it regularly gives ‘eternal,’ except in Philemon 1:15, where αἰώνιον is treated as an adverb and rendered ‘for ever.’ ‘Eternal’ for αἰώνων is etymologically correct, since Lat. œternus (for œviternus) comes from œvum, the digammated form of αἰών, from which αἰώιος is derived. Moreover, no better English word can be suggested-unless the transliteration ‘aeonian’ could be accepted. None the Jess, ‘eternal’ is misleading, inasmuch as it has come in English to connote the idea of ‘endlessly existing,’ and thus to be practically a synonym for ‘everlasting.’ But this is not an adequate rendering of αἰώνιος, which varies in meaning with the variations of the noun αἰών, from which it comes.
The chief meanings αἰών in classical Greek are: 1 a lifetime; 2 an age or period; 3 a period of unlimited duration. In the Septuagint , which is largely determinative for NT usage, αἰών (usually representing Heb. עוֹלָם) is employed with the same variations as in the older Greek literature; and the length of time referred to must be determined from the context. In some, eases εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα refers to the duration of a single human life (Exodus 19:9; Exodus 21:5), in others it is applied to the length of a dynasty (1 Chronicles 28:4), the lasting nature of an ordinance (2 Chronicles 2:4), the national existence of Israel (2 Chronicles 9:8), the perpetuity of the earth (Ecclesiastes 1:4), the enduring character of God (Psalms 9:7) and of the Divine truth and mercy (Psalms 117:2; Psalms 118:1). Similarly αἰώνιος is applied to the ancient gates of Zion (Psalms 24:7), to certain Levitical ordinances (Leviticus 16:29; Leviticus 16:34), to the covenants of God with men (Genesis 9:16; Genesis 17:7, etc.), to the Divine mercy (Isaiah 54:8) and love (Jeremiah 31:3). Only rarely do we find the word applied directly to God Himself (Genesis 21:33, Isaiah 40:28). Passing from the Septuagint , we have to notice the bearing upon NT usage of the distinction made in the later Jewish theology [see Schürer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] ii. ii 133) between the present age (עוֹלָם הַוָּה) and the coming or Messianic age (עוֹלָם הַבָּא), a distinction which reappears in the NT in the expressions ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος and ὁ αἰὼν ὁ μέλλων or ὁ ἐρχόμενος.
Coming now to the NT with the previous history of αἰών and αἰώνιος in view, we find that the terms are still used as before with various connotations. In 1 Corinthians 8:13, unless St. Paul is writing by way of pure hyperbole, αἰών can refer only to his own lifetime. In Acts 3:21 it refers to the age of prophecy. Its frequent employment in the plural suggests that in the singular the word denotes something less than unending time; while the phrases πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων (1 Corinthians 2:7) and τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων (1 Corinthians 10:11) point to ages that were conceived of, not as everlasting, but as having a beginning and coming to an end. Even the coming or Messianic αἰών, as contrasted with the present time (Mark 10:30, Ephesians 1:21 etc.), is not conceived of by St. Paul as endless. In 2 Peter 1:11 Christ’s Kingdom is described as αἰώνιος; but St. Paul anticipates a time when Christ shall deliver up His Kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24).
The use of the adjective is again similar to that of the noun. Whether αἰώνιον is treated as an adverb of an adjective in Philemon 1:15, it is evident that the meaning must be restricted to the lifetime of Onesimus and Philemon. The χρόνοι αἰώνιοι of Romans 16:25 are the ages during which the mystery of the gospel was kept secret, in contrast with the age of its revelation, Those χρόνοι αἰώνιοι, moreover, are not to be thought of as stretching backwards everlastingly, as is proved by the πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων of 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2. The αἰώνιος θεός of Romans 16:26 carries with it unquestionably the idea of everlastingness; but it is worth noting that this is the only occasion in the NT when the term is applied to God, and that the doxology in which it occurs is of doubtful genuineness.
It is when we come to consider the expression ζεὴ αἰώνιος (cf. σωτηρἱα [Hebrews 5:9], λύτρωσις [Hebrews 9:12], κληρονομἱα [Hebrews 9:15]), which is of very frequent occurrence in the Johannine and Pauline writings, together with the contrasted conceptions πῦρ αἰώνιον (Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:14, Judges 1:7), κόλασις αἰώνιος; (Matthew 25:46), ὄλεθρος αἰώνιος (2 Thessalonians 1:9), κρῖμα αἰώνιον (Hebrews 6:2), that we find the real crux of the difficulty of translating the term, It has often been insisted that the meaning of the word is the same in either case, and that if ‘aeonian fire’ is less than everlasting, aeonian life’ must also be less. Sometimes this argument has been met by the objection that αἰώνιος is not a quantitative but a spiritual and qualitative term, expressing a kind rather than a length of being. That the word is frequently so used in the Johannine writings appears evident (e.g. John 17:3, 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:13); and in the Pauline Epistles also we have various examples of it employment in a sense that is intensive rather than extensive-notably the equation is 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:19 (Revised Version ) between ‘eternal life’ and ‘the life which is life indeed,’ And yet it must be admitted that the whole history of the term points to the underlying idea of duration, and not of duration only, but of a duration that is permanent. With equal clearness, however, that history shows that the permanence affirmed is not absolute, but relative to the nature of the subject. When applied to the loving service of a Christian slave to a Christian master, αἰώνιος denotes a permanence as lasting as the earthly relation between master and slave will permit. When used of the ages before the gospel was revealed, it means throughout the whole length of those ages. When applied to God or to the Spirit (Hebrews 9:14), it means as everlasting as the Divine nature itself. And when we come to ‘eternal life’ on the one hand and ‘eternal fire’ or ‘eternal destruction’ on the other, they also must be rendered according to our conception of the inherent nature of the thing referred to. And many will hold that while good, as emanating from God, is necessarily indestructible, evil, as contrary to the Divine nature and will, must eventually cease to be-‘that God may be all in all’ (1 Corinthians 15:28). ‘aeonian fire,’ therefore, may mean a fire that goes on burning until it has burned itself out; ‘aeonian destruction,’ a destruction that continues until there is nothing left to destroy. But ‘aeonian life,’ being life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23; cf. 1 John 5:11), must be as enduring as the Divine immortality. If the spirit of life in Christ Jesus dwells in as, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:2; Romans 8:11; Romans 8:35-39). See, further, Life and Death.
Literature.-S. D. F. Salmond, Christian Doctrine of Immortality, Edinburgh, 1895, p. 649ff,; G, B. Stevens, Theol. of NT, do. 1899, p. 224ff., Christian Doctrine of Salvation, do. 1905, p. 526f., Expositor. 1st. ser. vii. [1878] 405-424, 3rd, ser. vi [1887] 274-286, vii [1888] 266-278; Encyclopaedia Biblica ii [1901] 1408.
J. C. Lambert.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Eternal Everlasting'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/e/eternal-everlasting.html. 1906-1918.
