Eternal Everlasting
Eternal and everlasting are employed in the Authorized Version of the NT somewhat indiscriminately to render three Greek words-, (used adjectivally in genitive plural), and . is found only in Rom 1:20 and Jud 1:6, Authorized Version rendering eternal is the first case and everlasting in the second. Eternal is the translation of in Eph 3:11, 1Ti 1:17. 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., Act 13:46 with Act 13:48; Rom 6:22 with Rom 6:23). For (a contraction for , fr. [Note: fragment, from.] ever) Revised Version properly reserves everlasting. For it gives the literal meaning of the ages. For (fr. [Note: fragment, from.] ) it regularly gives eternal, except in Phm 1:15, where is treated as an adverb and rendered for ever. Eternal for is etymologically correct, since Lat. ternus (for viternus) comes from vum, the digammated form of , from which 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 , which varies in meaning with the variations of the noun , from which it comes.
The chief meanings 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, (usually representing Heb. ) 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 refers to the duration of a single human life (Exo 19:9; Exo 21:5), in others it is applied to the length of a dynasty (1Ch 28:4), the lasting nature of an ordinance (2Ch 2:4), the national existence of Israel (2Ch 9:8), the perpetuity of the earth (Ecc 1:4), the enduring character of God (Psa 9:7) and of the Divine truth and mercy (Psa 117:2; Psa 118:1). Similarly is applied to the ancient gates of Zion (Psa 24:7), to certain Levitical ordinances (Lev 16:29; Lev 16:34), to the covenants of God with men (Gen 9:16; Gen 17:7, etc.), to the Divine mercy (Isa 54:8) and love (Jer 31:3). Only rarely do we find the word applied directly to God Himself (Gen 21:33, Isa 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 Schrer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] ii. ii 133) between the present age ( ) and the coming or Messianic age ( ), a distinction which reappears in the NT in the expressions and or .
Coming now to the NT with the previous history of and in view, we find that the terms are still used as before with various connotations. In 1Co 8:13, unless St. Paul is writing by way of pure hyperbole, can refer only to his own lifetime. In Act 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 (1Co 2:7) and (1Co 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 , as contrasted with the present time (Mar 10:30, Eph 1:21 etc.), is not conceived of by St. Paul as endless. In 2Pe 1:11 Christs Kingdom is described as ; but St. Paul anticipates a time when Christ shall deliver up His Kingdom to God the Father (1Co 15:24).
The use of the adjective is again similar to that of the noun. Whether is treated as an adverb of an adjective in Phm 1:15, it is evident that the meaning must be restricted to the lifetime of Onesimus and Philemon. The of Rom 16:25 are the ages during which the mystery of the gospel was kept secret, in contrast with the age of its revelation, Those , moreover, are not to be thought of as stretching backwards everlastingly, as is proved by the of 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2. The of Rom 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 (cf. [Heb 5:9], [Heb 9:12], [Heb 9:15]), which is of very frequent occurrence in the Johannine and Pauline writings, together with the contrasted conceptions (Mat 18:8; Mat 25:14, Jud 1:7), ; (Mat 25:46), (2Th 1:9), (Heb 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 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. Joh 17:3, 1Jn 3:14; 1Jn 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 1Ti 6:12; 1Ti 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, 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 (Heb 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 (1Co 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 (Rom 6:23; cf. 1Jn 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 (Rom 8:2; Rom 8:11; Rom 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.