aion and aionios

There has been much discussion as of late on these Greek words. I have being doing some additional study on this and these are some of my findings and conclusions.


Notice how the following eminently respected Greek scholars have defined the two New Testament Greek words (aion and aionios) that commonly are translated “forever,” “eternal,” or “everlasting”:

• The first two definitions of the word aion provided by Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich are as follows: (1) “a long period of time, without ref. to beginning or end” and (2) “a segment of time as a particular unit of history, age.” Three definitions are then provided for aionios: (1) “pert. to a long period of time, long ago;” (2) “pert. to a period of time without beginning or end, eternal of God;” and (3) “pert. to a period of unending duration, without end” (Danker, et al., 2000, pp. 32-33, italics in orig.).
• According to Thayer, aion is used in the New Testament numerous times simply to mean “forever” (1962, p. 19). He then defined aionios in the following three ways: (1) “without beginning or end, that which always has been and always will be;” (2) “without beginning;” and (3) “without end, never to cease, everlasting” (p. 20).
• Of aionios (the Greek word used twice in Matthew 25:46 to describe both “punishment” and “life”), W.E. Vine wrote: “describes duration, either undefined but not endless, as in Rom. 16:25; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2; or undefined because endless as in Rom. 16:26 and the other sixty-six places in the N.T.” (1940, 2:43).
• Of the word aionios, R.C.H. Lenski asked, “f this Greek adjective does not mean ‘eternal,’ which Greek adjective does have that meaning? Or did the Greek world, including the Jewish (Jesus spoke Aramaic) world, have no words for eternity or eternal?” (1943, p. 997).
  [*]According to A.T. Robertson: “The word aionios...means either without beginning or without end or both. It comes as near to the idea of eternal as the Greek can put it in one word”(1930, 1:202, emp. added).

Paul made a contrast in 2 Cor 4:18 between the physical “things which...are temporary (proskaira)” and the spiritual things that are “eternal,” (aionios). Obviously the temporary are the things that will last during the present age, however, the spiritual things will last for ever and ever.

Why have English Bible translators been consistently translating aionios as “everlasting” or “eternal” for the past four centuries? These are not casual Greek scholars and they consistently agree on the translation of the terms into English.

I am extremely skeptical of anyone who must go and rely on evidence outside of the inspired scriptures as their basis for their argument. Furthermore, the word aionios is used in reference to God, who is in all aspects, eternal. Rom 16:26, “according to the commandment of the everlasting (aionios) God”, I Tim 6:16, “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting (aionios) power. Amen”, I Pet 5:10-11, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal (aionios) glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever (aion) and ever (aion). Amen” and Heb 9:14, “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal (aionios) Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Is God only age-enduring or eternal is every aspect of the word? Is His power only age-enduring or eternal? Is His glory only age-enduring or eternal? If this word is used in reference to God or to one of His attributes, then it means more than just age-enduring, it means eternal.

How ever long the reward for the righteous will last, the punishment for the wicked will last. Matt 25:46, “And these will go away into everlasting (aionios) punishment, but the righteous into eternal (aionios) life.”

Based on my study so far, I am forced to conclude that eternal means, well, eternal or never ending and the terms are correctly translated in the KJV, NKJV, NIV, ESV, ASV, and NASB.

 

The noun is used in the sense of eternal. I listed it above. It is used in reference to God. I Pet 5:11, "To Him be the glory and the dominion forever (aion) and ever (aion)." If that's not eternal, then I don't know what is. God's dominion is forever and ever, eternal.

To further test your statement that the adjective cannot mean without end if the noun does not, then explain how the adjective form does NOT mean eternal in the following cases: Rom 16:26, “according to the commandment of the everlasting (aionios) God”, I Tim 6:16, “who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting (aionios) power. Amen”, I Pet 5:10-11, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal (aionios) glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever (aion) and ever (aion). Amen” and Heb 9:14, “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal (aionios) Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

I'm not sure what group of scholars that you are refering to? You cannot produce a list equivalent to mine, in terms of respect and acceptance, that state otherwise.

Furthermore, to claim that it does not mean eternal (without beginning, or without beginning or end, or without end) is to say that the translators of the KJV, NKJV, ESV, ASV, NASB, and NIV ALL got it wrong.

By the way, what Greek word do you think should have been used to convey the idea of eternal?

 

I am not a Greek scholar and I certainly don't understand Hebrew. That aside, I did find a Hebrew word for eternity, olam. It could mean either a period of time (length of one's days - Deut 15:17, "...and he shall be your slave forever" or it could mean eternal.

Abraham called on the “Eternal” (olam) God (Genesis 21:33). The psalmist praised the God Who is “from everlasting to everlasting” (90:2). Solomon wrote that man was going to his “eternal home” (Ecc 12:5). When the psalmist wrote, “My days are like a shadow that lengthens, and I wither away like grass. But You, oh Lord, shall endure forever (olam)” (Psalm 102:11-12), he quite obviously was contrasting the brief human life with the eternal existence of God.

As for translating the other verses into Hebrew, my guess is that they would use the word "olam" for "aionios".

I have enough trouble with English, so translating the verses into Hebrew would not do me any good. I'm not sure how it would help others, but I guess it could???

My 2 cents.

 

Believe me, I understand about being in the minority. The majority are lost. I have never followed the majority. I didn't say they were popular. I said they were respected and accepted Greek Scholars. Can you tell me why they should be ignored??? What in their credientials is suspect? Where is the list of scholars you claimed to have?

I understand that there are many "so called", self-proclaimed scholars. I am talking about real scholars that are universally accepted as such.

As for the noun sense, if you double something of limited quantity, then you still have a limited quantity. If I said, "God abides for years and years", then that would indicate that His existance is long, but limited.

If I say, "God abides forever and ever", does that mean something different to you than "God abides forever"? Unless aioin means forever, then using it twice would still not mean forever. When a term is used twice, it is usually for emphasis sake. The first time gets the point across, while the second time emphasizes it.

You cannot simply dismiss the adjective form when the meaning is clear.
The adjective absolutely means eternal in Rom 16:26, “according to the commandment of the everlasting (aionios) God”. I know I presented several other cases, but just deal with this one.

Explain how this doesn't really mean everlasting God? What word should have been used if they wanted to convey the idea of everlasting God?

Do you have any rationale as to why the NIV, KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, and ESV all got it wrong???

To be honest, after studying this from more than one angle, I am completely uninterested in what man has to say about this. I can see from scripture how the term is used and that is enough for me to form what I believe on this subject. Thanks for the offer though.

 

Hello.....Re-read what was written. The context in which it was written determines the meaning. As stated, it could mean, in that case, all the days of the slaves life. It can also mean, eternal as shown in the other post.

From my study, when the word is used in conjunction with the physical, it usually means "a long time", but when it is used in conjunction with the spiritual, it means forever.

Anyway, that was the Old Testament Hebrew word olam, not the New Testament word aionios.

 

I sent you one back.