Greek for Age

[arapahoepark]

Hey This question is for Mattfivefour:

When the greek word aion is used it denotes age. Now when it is used in conjunction with some eternal (heaven and hell) state, how do translators know it's eternal so to speak....?
Thanks!

[mattfivefour]

I am flattered by your confidence, bro. Unfortunately you have posed a complicated question that will require an equally complicated process in coming to a sound answer. I know a lot of people have easy answers to it. Some say it means an Age and others that it means Eternity. Unfortunately most answers are predicated on theological presuppositions and not etymology or grammar. I would like to give you a grammatical answer that will lead to a sound basis for our theological belief. I do not have time right now, but I promise to do it by tomorrow morning. Is that okay?

[arapahoepark]

I do not have time right now, but I promise to do it by tomorrow morning. Is that okay?

Sounds good to me!

[Hannah]

Trying to find a secular Ancient Greek dictionary definition is hard.

You have the "no eternal damnation" doctrine supporters giving one way of defining the word Aion or Aionion and those who believe in an Eternal Damnation give another.

So does it only mean Age as in "period of time"? Does it also translate to Everlasting/Eternal?

You set Mattfivefour a difficult task. If he finds evidence of it meaning Eternal I am sure there are many website that can prove just as vigourosly it only means Age/"period of time".

All the best to you Matt on this one.

In the end scripture has to be interpreted in light of other scripture. This in the end is what needs to be remembered when translating any script. One word needs to be placed well and truly in context.

[Hannah]

Mattfivefour will still have to answer your question about how the Bible translators knew which to use Age or Eternal.

I'm just pointing to how the term Aion does mean eternity not just Age. Some who do not Believe in a place of Eternal Torment will have you belive that Aion only means Age as in Finite period.

However from a Greek Mythology usage of the term Aion. Hence secular understanding of the Greek word Aion does mean Eternal or Infinite.

A few examples.

CHRONUS & AEON : Greek protogenos god of time ; mythology ; pictures : KHRONOS & AION

KHRONOS (or Chronus) was the Protogenos (primeval god) of time, a divinity who emerged self-formed at the beginning of creation in the Orphic cosmogonies.

Khronos was represented in Greco-Roman mosaic as Aion, "eternity" personified. He stands against the sky holding a wheel inscribed with the signs of the zodiac. Beneath his feet Gaia (Mother Earth) is usually seen reclining.

Octans

The slow wobble of the spinning earth's axis produces the phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes that runs in approximately 25,920 year cycles, called eons in astrology (or 'Platonic' Years). Latin eon or aeon is from Greek aion, from the Indo-European root *aiw- Also ayu-. 'Vital force, life, long life, eternity; also 'endowed with the acme of vital force, young.'' Derivatives: age (Latin aetas), no¹, ever, never, eternal [Latin aeternus], eternity, eon (Greek aion), aeon, and Aeolus, the god of the winds. [Pokorny aiw- 17. Watkins]

Aeon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The word aeon (play /ˈiːɒn/), also spelled eon or æon, originally means "life", and/or "being", though it then tended to mean "age", "forever" or "for eternity". It is a Latin transliteration from the koine Greek word ὁ αἰών (ho aion), from the archaic αἰϝών (aiwon). In Homer it typically refers to life or lifespan. Its latest meaning is more or less similar to the Sanskrit word kalpa and Hebrew word olam. A cognate Latin word aevum or aeuum (cf. αἰϝών) for "age" is present in words such as longevity and mediæval.[1]

Although the term aeon may be used in reference to a period of a billion years (especially in geology, cosmology or astronomy), its more common usage is for any long, indefinite, period.

[mattfivefour]

In the end scripture has to be interpreted in light of other scripture. This in the end is what needs to be remembered when translating any script. One word needs to be placed well and truly in context.

Well said, Hannah. And we shall see the truth of that in what follows.

Arapahoe, you have posed a very tough question, brother! This is the subject of much debate in theological circles. Some say it means "eternity" ... and others say it means "age" or "ages". All sides seem to be predisposed to their interpretation by their theological presuppositions.

For example, depending on one's theological position you can translate εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος (eis hemeran aionos [please note that it is aionos—the masculine genitive form of the noun—not [I]aionios—the masculine nominative form of the adjective]) which occurs in 2 Peter 3:18 as: "the day of the age" (Williams Literal Translation) which does not make a lot of sense to us; or "the day of eternity" (the NASB and the Darby translations) or "that eternal day" (the ISV translation) ... both of which latter two wordings at least make sense to us; or simply as "forever" (the KJV translation) which totally ignores the actual Greek wording and substitutes an interpretation of what the translators think was what was really meant by the idiom.

The Greek words at the heart of this debate are αἰών (aion - the noun) and αἰώνιος (aionios - the adjective). Because the noun and the adjective are from the same root, it is argued that their meaning is essentially the same. And since the only way an adjective such as aionios can be used grammatically is to modify a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase, it cannot mean "age". For example, αἰώνιος ζωὴ (aionios zoe) clearly has to mean "eternal life" because it would make no sense to say "age life". So, goes one argument, if the adjective ainios has to be translated "eternal", then the noun aion from which it comes has to be translated "eternity".

Are you following me thus far?

This is the fulcrum on which the argument of whether the Greek word aion means "eternity" or "age" swings. I have consulted some ancient Greek word studies to see if I can clarify any further but most of them do not even include this word! However, perhaps I can add just a little more background to help us move toward a correct understanding.

But the argument that "if the adjective ainios has to be translated "eternal", then the noun aion from which it comes has to be translated "eternity" does not hold water. Adjectives typically stem from nouns (ie: the noun is conceived first and the adjectival form develops through later usage.) So since the adjective αἰώνιος (aionios) stems from the noun αἰών (aion), the fact that aionios means eternal cannot be used to deduce that aion means "eternity".

However, we do have another place to look.

The root of the noun aion is an obsolete primary Greek noun ἀεὶ (aei) meaning "perpetually", "incessantly", "always", "ever". (Obsolete though it may be, it appears more than a half dozen times in the New Testament.) Now, if these be the meanings of the root aei, then it would not make sense for the noun derivative aion to necessarily mean "age". It is more likely to mean "eternity" or "forever" or some other expression of the concept of "always". Much credibility can be given to this argument from the fact that the adjective drawn from it means "eternal" or "everlasting". So, linguistically hammocked between aei and aionios, we apparently have a reasonably solid foundation for believing that the majority of verses that speak of the future and use the noun αἰών (aion) are making a reference to "eternity".

Note that I said "apparently" and "reasonably" solid foundation. The reason for my equivocation is that there are some places in the NT in which the noun aion is used in the plural. One occurence is in Ephesians 2:7— "That in the ages [αἰῶσιν - dative masculine plural noun] to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." The linguistic argument is that since "eternities" makes no sense "ages" has to be the correct translation. After all, by our definition of the word "eternity" there can only be one of them.

Further, Colossians 1:26 says "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages [αἰώνων - genitive masculine plural noun] and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints." Again, using the logic above, it would make no sense to translate the noun aion as "eternities". Only "ages" would fit.

Therefore, we are almost back where we started— lacking some firm rule by which to translate the word with certainty. After all, since there are places in the NT where the noun [I]aion[/] is used in the plural and therefore can NOT mean "eternity" (at least not according to the way we would understand the meaning of "eternity") it could only otherwise mean "age" or "ages". Now we need, at this point, to consider that perhaps we may be wrong in our conception of eternity. To us "eternity" is one endless time or space and therefore a plural "eternities" indeed makes no sense? But maybe it did to the Greeks. And when Paul wrote Ephesians 3:21, in the final phrase τοῦ αἰῶνος τῶν αἰώνων (tou ainos ton ainon) was he thinking and meaning the "age of the ages" ... or "the eternity of the eternities"? That is something we have to at least consider. (BTW, the KJV does a terrible job here, as they have in other places, not even translating the words but substituting a paraphrase: "world without end" which wording in no way appears in any Greek manuscript.) Anyway, to the point, I do not think this line of pursuit would be productive because we have no corroborative literature that would indicate that the Greek culture conceived of "eternities" or, indeed, has a differing conception of eternity than do we.

So, now you see why I said yours was a complicated question with a complicated answer. We appear to be back where we started. But now let me proceed to a conclusion. (I could have started with this, but I thought it important to allow you to see the various possible arguments.)

I will now give a simple and accurate way to determine the meaning of the words. No, this is not Matt's wisdom. This is not my solution, it comes from Dr. Lawrence O. Richards. He is an eminent American theologian and a Greek scholar. And I love the way he explains it all! He takes a grammatical approach to this problem rather than an etymological one. And his method results in accurate translation and exposition. He writes:

"The NT word aion retains the flavor of the OT Hebrew olam but has additional import. The noun aion, found some one hundred and two times in the NT, indicates a time of unspecified duration."

OK, so that permits both the meaning of "ages" and "eternity". So which is correct? According to Richards both are. And he then gives us a means to determine which meaning belongs to the word in any given verse. In Greek, prepositions are extremely important in determining the proper meaning of words. So Richards goes on to give us the clue we need. He writes:

"With a preposition like 'from' aion means 'from the beginning' or 'since the world began' (Acts 3:21; 5:18; John 9:32). With the preposition 'to' it is understood as 'forever' (Luke 1:33,55; Romans 1:25; 2 Corinthians 9:9)."

What could be more elementary than that? That is the absolute simplest (indeed the only logical) way of determining the meaning of the word ... from its grammatical context. So, if you are studying and are confused on a given verse as to the proper meaning of aion simply go to a textual analysis reference for that verse and determine whether aion is in the genitive case following the preposition apo—in which case it means "from the beginning"; or whether it is in the accusative case following the preposition eis—in which case it means "eternity" or "forever". Outside of those two constructions it most likely means "age" or "ages".

Anyway, bro, I know this has been tedious; but it is a worthwhile study in order to develop some confidence in the proper interpretation and meaning of Scripture and in order to be able to intelligently discuss it with others (as I have no doubt it will come up at some point in your future ministry).

God bless.

[Hannah]

Mattfivefour

Good effort.

My earlier posts actually showed the origins of the word Aion are found in Ancient Greek Philosophy and Mythology.

The Ancient Greeks at first saw the concept of time as infinite or saw it as Life Fluid. This was represented by the god Ouroborus which is represented by the snake curled up in a circle swallowing it's own tale. So the circle of life or time was seen by Philosophers in Ancient Greece as never ending, cyclical.

Time seen in periods was not at first connect with the Word Aion. The Ancient Greeks had named their god of Eternity "Aion". So Aion was initially a word or term connected with Infinity or Eternity. It was later that the Word ended up being used to also mean a "Period of Time" or Age.


There are a few good books on Google Books that actually have sections you can read from them on Ancient Greek Religion and Philosophy that actually is on this topic. You can read them to see if you want to buy the book but you can't copy and paste an excerpt from the book sample.

It was an interesting reading. I actually have come across the fact that the word Aion was connected to the immortality of the Ancient Greek gods before. So I already knew the word had a secular use of Eternal.

Actually I recalled that the Greek Philosophers were also some of our early mathematicians (who can forget Pythagerous). The Greek mathematicians of course employed the concept of Infinity (you know the number 8 on it's side). So I had done a web search for "Greek Philosophy Eternity" a while back when I came across the Word Aion. That is how I came across the secular definitions of the word Aion as Eternity when I wanted to check it out for myself a while back.

A bit of Lateral thinking.

If you just do a web search on "Aion and Eternity" you tend to only get Christian websites looking at the definition of the word Aion as per the Bible.

The secular employment of the word in Ancient Greek mythology and philosophy shows Aion was first used to mean Eternal.

[mattfivefour]

Thanks, Hannah. I never thought of Google. I normally just consult my various textbooks and reference works when I approach an issue like this. It was an interesting exercise.

Thanks for your posts in this thread. I find this sort of discussion fascinating in a purely intellectual sense.

I am not sure I buy the ancient Greek Aionos explanation. Much ancient Greek poetry referring to Aionos is actually from the three or four hundred year period following the apostolic era, so we cannot use their writings about Greek gods as any source for word use by an apostle. But even among the classic Greeks, there is disagreement among them as to the etymology of the word. Even Aristotle and Plato used the word with different meanings-- Aristotle as meaning an (indefinite) period of time and Plato as the eternal concept behind being. The Christian evangelist and bible translator John Darby has a very interesting examination of the word, based in Greek literature. His entire paper is online at On the Greek words for Eternity and Eternal. But even his method is subjective.

Personally, I think that in terms of the objective interpretation of the Christian scriptures, Dr Richards has the most reliable method of knowing with which word any occurrence of ainos should be translated ... as I outlined in my conclusion to my previous post.

But, as I said, this has been a fun thread. And ultimately I hope it answered arapahoe's question.

[mikhen7]

My personal opinion is that it should be interpreted in context with its antecedent. The LXX used the word to translate the Hebrew "Olam" so maybe a study on that word would help. In many if not most cases "Olam" means a limited time. Although be careful, there are those that will try to state it never ever meant eternal therefore "Hell" and "Heaven" are just temporal states and indeed have an end. This word should always be taken in context with its immediate usage and the Bibles teaching as a whole. For instance:
⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:47-48 Aion is not used but you get the idea that hell is never quenched.


God Bless