Eternal
ETERNAL, ETERNITY
The Scripture sense of these terms, in reference to the persons of the GODHEAD, and the events connected with them, are in the strictest sense of the word, for ever and ever. Very solemn, and yet very blessed, and full of the highest consolation, are those views of the eternity of JEHOVAH and his purposes in salvation. How infinitely sublime are those Scriptures! “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.” (Isa 57:15) “For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.” (Deu 32:40) “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deu 33:27) And JEHOVAH, in a threefold character of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is thus described in the eternity of his nature and essence, so Christ the Mediator, by virtue of the union of the manhood with the GODHEAD, is declared by JEHOVAH to be eternal. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” (Psa 45:6; Heb 1:8) “The Lord sware, and will not repent; Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec.” (Psa 110:4) And hence, in Christ and by Christ, and from an union with him, all that is connected in the blessed work of salvation is of eternal duration. The covenant is declared to be an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. (2Sa 23:5; Jer 32:40) The gospel is called an everlasting gospel. (Rev 14:6) Redemption is said to be an eternal redemption. (Heb 9:12) And the consequence certainly follows from these properties, that the glory purchased by an eternal redemption is an eternal weight of glory. So the apostle to the Corinthians calls it, 2Co 4:17. (See Heb 5:9; 1Pe 5:10; 1Jn 5:11)
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Eternal
e-turnal (, olam; , aionios, from , aion): The word eternal is of very varying import, both in the Scriptures and out of them.
1. Olam
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word olam is used for eternity, sometimes in the sense of unlimited duration, sometimes in the sense of a cycle or an age, and sometimes, in later Hebrew, in the signification of world. The Hebrew olam has, for its proper New Testament equivalent, aion, as signifying either time of particular duration, or the unending duration of time in general. Only, the Hebrew term primarily signified unlimited time, and only in a secondary sense represented a definite or specific period. Both the Hebrew and the Greek terms signify the world itself, as it moves in time.
2. Aion, Aionios
In the New Testament, aion and aionios are often used with the meaning eternal, in the predominant sense of futurity. The word aion primarily signifies time, in the sense of age or generation; it also comes to denote all that exists under time-conditions; and, finally, superimposed upon the temporal is an ethical use, relative to the world’s course. Thus aion may be said to mean the subtle informing spirit of the world or cosmos – the totality of things. By Plato, in his Timaeus, aion was used of the eternal Being, whose counterpart, in the sense-world, is Time. To Aristotle, in speaking of the world, aion is the ultimate principle which, in itself, sums up all existence. In the New Testament, aion is found combined with prepositions in nearly three score and ten instances, where the idea of unlimited duration appears to be meant. This is the usual method of expressing eternity in the Septuagint also. The aionios of 2Co 4:18 must be eternal, in a temporal use or reference, else the antithesis would be gone.
3. Adios
In Rom 1:20 the word adios is used of Divine action and rendered in the King James Version eternal (the Revised Version (British and American) everlasting), the only other place in the New Testament where the word occurs being Jud 1:6, where the rendering is everlasting, which accords with classical usage. But the presence of the idea of eternal in these passages does not impair the fact that aion and aionios are, in their natural and obvious connotation, the usual New Testament words for expressing the idea of eternal, and this holds strikingly true of the Septuagint usage also. For, from the idea of aeonian life, there is no reason to suppose the notion of duration excluded. The word aionios is sometimes used in the futurist signification, but often also, in the New Testament, it is concerned rather with the quality, than with the quantity or duration, of life. By the continual attachment of aionios to life, in this conception of the spiritual or Divine life in man, the aeonian conception was saved from becoming sterile.
4. Enlargement of Idea
In the use of aion and aionios there is evidenced a certain enlarging or advancing import till they come so to express the high and complex fact of the Divine life in man. In Greek, aiones signifies ages, or periods or dispensations. The aiones of Heb 1:2, and Heb 11:3, is, however, to be taken as used in the concrete sense of the worlds, and not the ages, the world so taken meaning the totality of things in their course or flow.
5. Eternal Life
Our Lord decisively set the element of time in abeyance, and took His stand upon the fact and quality of life – life endless by its own nature. Of that eternal life He is Himself the guarantee – Because I live, ye shall live also (Joh 14:19). Therefore said Augustine, Join thyself to the eternal God, and thou wilt be eternal. See ETERNITY.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Eternal
Three Hebrew words are translated ‘eternal.’
1. ad: very often translated ‘for ever,’ and with another word, olam , ‘for ever and ever.’ “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.” Exo 15:18. “The Lord is king for ever and ever.” Psa 10:16: cf. also Psa 45:6; Psa 48:14; Psa 52:8. Mic 4:5. Ad is also translated ‘everlasting:’ “the everlasting Father,” or “Father of the everlasting age.” Isa 9:6. Also ‘eternity;’ “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.” Isa 57:15.
2. olam , signifying ‘everlasting,’ ‘never ending.’ It is often translated ‘for ever:’ “his mercy endureth for ever,” 1Ch 16:41; and ‘everlasting:’ “the everlasting God.” Gen 21:33; Psa 90:2; Psa 93:2; Psa 103:17. “I will make thee an eternal excellency.” Isa 60:15.
3. qedem, ‘ancient, that which is before.’ “The eternal God is thy refuge.” Deu 33:27. “Art thou not from everlasting?” Hab 1:12. “God is my King of old.” Psa 74:12.
4. In the N.T., , ‘perpetual:’ occurs only in Rom 1:20, “his eternal power and Godhead;” and Jud 1:6, “reserved in everlasting chains.”
5. , ‘age, duration, ever.’ With a preposition ‘unto the ages’ is often translated ‘for ever;’ and, when repeated, ‘for ever and ever.’ “He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.” Joh 6:58. “Christ abideth for ever.” Joh 12:34. “To whom be glory for ever and ever.” Gal 1:5. “According to the eternal purpose.” Eph 3:11. “Now unto the king eternal . . . . be honour and glory for ever and ever.” 1Ti 1:17. This word is often translated ‘world,’ but may at times be better rendered ‘age,’ as “be not conformed to this age,” Rom 12:2; and ‘for ever and ever’ may be translated ‘to the ages of ages,’ though the meaning would be the same.
6. , from , signifying ‘ever enduring.’ It is always translated ‘eternal’ or ‘everlasting,’ except in Rom 16:25, “since the world began,” or “in the times of the ages.” 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2, “before the world began,” or, “before the ages of time;” and Phm 1:15, “for ever.” This word is applied to God Himself as “the everlasting God.” Rom 16:26; to the Holy Spirit. Heb 9:14; to redemption. Heb 9:12; inheritance. Heb 9:15; salvation. Heb 5:9; glory. 1Pe 5:10; and constantly to life. Joh 3:15-16; Joh 3:36. On the other hand it is applied to punishment, Mat 25:46; damnation, Mar 3:29; destruction, 2Th 1:9; and fire, Jud 1:7: cf. Isa 33:14.
The above passages show that the same word is used for the existence of God Himself; for the salvation and blessedness of the saved; and for the punishment of the wicked.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Eternal
“an age,” is translated “eternal” in Eph 3:11, lit., “(purpose) of the ages” (marg.). See AGE.
“describes duration, either undefined but not endless, as in Rom 16:25; 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2; or undefined because endless as in Rom 16:26, and the other sixty-six places in the NT.
“The predominant meaning of aionios, that in which it is used everywhere in the NT, save the places noted above, may be seen in 2Co 4:18, where it is set in contrast with proskairos, lit., ‘for a season,’ and in Phm 1:15, where only in the NT it is used without a noun. Moreover it is used of persons and things which are in their nature endless, as, e.g., of God, Rom 16:26; of His power, 1Ti 6:16, and of His glory, 1Pe 5:10; of the Holy Spirit, Heb 9:14; of the redemption effected by Christ, Heb 9:12, and of the consequent salvation of men, Heb 5:9, as well as of His future rule, 2Pe 1:11, which is elsewhere declared to be without end, Luk 1:33; of the life received by those who believe in Christ, Joh 3:16, concerning whom He said, ‘they shall never perish,’ Joh 10:28, and of the resurrection body, 2Co 5:1, elsewhere said to be ‘immortal,’ 1Co 15:53, in which that life will be finally realized, Mat 25:46; Tit 1:2.
“Aionios is also used of the sin that ‘hath never forgiveness,’ Mar 3:29, and of the judgment of God, from which there is no appeal, Heb 6:2, and of the fire, which is one of its instruments, Mat 18:8; Mat 25:41; Jud 1:7, and which is elsewhere said to be ‘unquenchable,’ Mar 9:43. “The use of aionios here shows that the punishment referred to in 2Th 1:9, is not temporary, but final, and, accordingly, the phraseology shows that its purpose is not remedial but retributive.” * [* From Notes on Thessalonians by Hogg and Vine, pp. 232,233.]
see EVERLASTING.