ETYMOLOGY AND USAGE OF THE GREEK AION

I don’t think there is a more striking example of biblical interpretation being driven by a theological bias than that of the treatment of the Greek noun aion. How that word and its derivatives are translated in most English versions of the New Testament has been influenced by what the church believes regarding eternal punishment.

A disproportionate weight in favor of one interpretive preference over a more likely understanding of the etymology of the Greek aion is employed because, not to do so, would cause serious questions to be raised about a millennia-old doctrine of the church. Specifically, I am talking about whether the Greek aion is correctly translated “forever”, “everlasting”, “eternal”, and “world” in our English Bibles or is a rendering of “age(s)” more appropriate.

Adolph Ernst Knoch, in his book All in All, notes, “[Aion] is variously translated as: age, ages, ago, age-long duration, earliest ages, last ages, latest ages, remote age, remotest age, always, ancient, any more, beginning, does, end, eternal, eternity, ever, for ever and ever, forever more, first, very first, Immortal, life, never, never more, never while the world lasts, never to the end of my days, of old, permanently, time began, all time, old time, today, universe, world, yonder world – nearly forty variants.¹

Knoch indicated that, given the many ways aion has been rendered in English bibles, our eyes should be opened to two facts: (1) Bible scholars are, by no means, satisfied with the renderings of the King James Version, and (2) the lack of consistency in rendering this word tends to make the bulk of the English versions a mere record of human opinion regarding time and timelessness. I would add another, (3) historically, the translation of the scriptures is not what most Christians think it is.

This observation by Knoch raises an eyebrow given the wide range of support we find in the rendering of aion as “an age”. Let’s look at what a few reference resources have to say about the meaning and historical use of the Greek word aion:

Encyclopedia of Religion

In the Greek literature of the classical age, aion predominantly assumes the meaning of “life” in all its nuances, from the “lifetime” to the “lifestyle” of an individual human being. A collective reference (“generation” or “age”) is also found, altogether with the more impersonal significance of “time,” in competition with chronos, but in the narrower sense of “period of time.”

In Jewish and early Christian texts (especially the New Testament and the pseudo-Clementine Homiliae), the usage of aion with the sense of eternity alternates with the seemingly antithetical usage of aion meaning “segment of time,” that is, “age.” This segment of time may coincide with “the past,” with “the present age”, or with “the age to come”.²

The Jewish texts referred to above are the writings of the Mishna and the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish traditions that have become revered to the level of the Hebrew Torah, the Law, and the Prophets. Written, by and large, by the Rabbis of the third and fourth centuries, these texts reflect more than 600 years of growing Hellenistic influence.³

The Pseudo-Clementine Writings are a record of religious romance stories authored by Pseudo-Clement (as opposed to Clement I of Rome) and were written, by most accounts, around the 4^th century AD.⁴

The New Greek/English Interlinear New Testament

Renders aion and its derivatives consistently as “age”, “ages”, “age-lasting” and “age-during”

Oxford Classical Dictionary

Aion (noun): In early Greek it means “life” (often in the sense of “vital force”), “whole lifetime”, “generation”. It was perhaps through application to the kosmos, the lifetime of which is never-ending, that the word acquired the sense of eternity. (Emphasis mine)

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

Aion (noun): properly an age; by extension perpetuity; by implication the world

Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon

Aion means (1) “age”, “a human lifetime” (in Homer, Herodotus, Pindar, Tragic Poets), “life itself” (in Homer, Iliad). Aion is thought to be so connected with ahmi, “to breathe, blow” as to denote properly “that which causes life, vital force”. (2) “an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity,” (Plato, Plutarch, others). With this signification the Hebrew and rabbinical idea of the word (of which in the Septuagint aiwn is the equivalent) combines in the Biblical and ecclesiastical writings [written mostly 400 – 600 years after the death of the Apostles].

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Aion (noun): an age, a period of time⁵

Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Bible

Aion (noun): age, indefinable time, dispensation

Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible (YLT)

Renders aion and its derivatives consistently as “age”, “ages”, “age-lasting” and “age-during” throughout.

You will notice that those references that render aion as having a sense of eternity cite sources that were written hundreds of years after the end of the Apostolic Age. In the New Testament, the Apostles spoke of aion as “age(s)” or “age-lasting.” Early church fathers, those who lead the church after the death of the Apostles, did so as well as, Biblical Universalism was the prevailing doctrine of the first 500 years of the church age.

Most students of the scriptures understand that there is more to Bible word studies than the cracking open of a dictionary. As a matter of fact, a standard English dictionary is of little help because what we are looking for is not the modern definition of a word that appears in scripture, but what the word chosen by the original writer of the text means.

The trouble we have with the word that appears in the original text written by the original writer, of course, is that it is not in English. In the case of the Old Testament, we’re looking at the ancient Hebrew and the original New Testament was written in classical Koine Greek.

To complicate matters further for us in the study of the Greek aion, is that the English Bibles we are reading are the old standards (KJV, RSV, NIV, NASB, etc.), the translation of which was influenced by the earlier English versions (Wycliffe, Tyndale, the Great Bible, and the Geneva Bible) and the Latin Vulgate. We find that the translator’s treatment of aion is affected by their Eschatology, rendering the word for “age” or “ages” as “forever”, “everlasting”, and “eternal” consistently throughout, except for a few occasions where aion is translated “world”.

One very helpful method of word study is to create a list of every passage that contains the word you’re studying in the context in which it appears and read them through prayerfully until things like consistencies and inconsistencies, common themes, variances, peculiarities, and contradictions (if any) begin to appear.

So, I created an Excel workbook and listed every occurrence of aion or one of its derivatives. Across the top are the column headings: Reference, Passage, Greek, Definition, Young’s Literal Translation (YLT), and Notes. I ended up importing more than 200 passages. What I found was that the context of each of the passages never failed to support the insertion of “age”, “ages”, “age-lasting”, or “age-during” where aion or a derivative appears instead of “forever”, “eternal”, “everlasting”, or “world”. (This is the function served by using the YLT rendering of a passage and the outcome.)

That is significant. Unlike the inconsistencies and contradictions (some of which are included in the post, Everlasting vs Age-lasting) caused by the rendering of aion with words that depict endlessness, there were no such concerns. The context of the passages supported the replacement of the words indicating endlessness with “age” or “ages”, opening up new understandings of passages that do not support eternal conscious torment.

What kind of impact does the rendering of aion as “age(s)” throughout the New Testament have on the teaching of the Christian church?

• First and foremost, it changes our view of what the punishment of the unrighteous looks like – from eternal retribution to corrective chastisement that lasts only as long as is necessary.
• Next, an astounding event comes more clearly into view as we look closer at the consummation, God’s reconciliation of all things unto Himself by the blood of the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28, Ephesians 1:9-10, Acts 3:21)
• The absurdity of an all-powerful God being unable to save those that He loves and for whom He paid an enormous price vanishes in the light of a complete victory that has been His purpose since before the ages began. (Isaiah 45:23; 46:9-10,11b; 55:11)
• A complete and utter victory over sin and death with the reconciliation of everyone and everything without exception is the ultimate glorious achievement of an omnipotent and omniscient God.

and every creature that is in the heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth, and the things that are upon the sea, and the all things in them, heard I saying, `To Him who is sitting upon the throne, and to the Lamb, [is] the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the might — to the ages of the ages!’”

Revelation 5:13 YLT

Given the enormous amount of evidence that exists in the reference resources about the meaning of the Greek aion, the serious contradictions addressed when rendered appropriately in the New Testament, and the fact that the context never fails to support that rendering, a reevaluation and a new consideration are in order.

The reevaluation would be of what the church believes and teaches regarding eternal conscious torment and the new consideration would be for the doctrine of Universal Reconciliation.

I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.

Job 42:2 NKJV

NOTES

¹Knoch, E. A., All in All, Almont, MI: Concordant Publishing Concern, ©1978, p. 208-209

²“Aion .” Encyclopedia of Religion. . Encyclopedia.com. 16 Aug. 2021, <https://www.encyclopedia.com&gt;.

³Encyclopedia Britannica, Hellenistic Judaism, (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism/Hellenistic-Judaism-4th-century-bce-2nd-century-ce), retrieved 10/11/22.

⁴Clementine literature. (2022, August 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_literature

⁵Vine, W.E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, ©1997, P. 377