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They who said "I am of Paul," or "I of Christ" were carnal, and to such the "hidden
wisdom" and all pertaining to it was "foolishness." "He that is spiritual descerneth all
things."
"If any man think himself. . . . spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I
write unto you ARE THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD, but if any man be
ignorant, let him be ignorant" (I Cor. 14: 37,38).
Acts 26: 16-18.
16. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a
minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will
appear unto thee;
17. Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is
in me.
Answers to Correspondents.
pp. 113-115
No.8.--Do you still regard the translation of aiġn by "for ever," etc., to be erroneous?
Should aiġnios be translated "age-long"?--100: S. (Berks.).
On pages 89-93 of the reprint of Volume 1: we examined the usage of the Hebrew
equivalent to aiġn, namely olam, and there sought to show that the word did not mean
"eternal," but referred to a period of undefined limits. The word aiġn also should be
translated "age," and its various combinations, "unto the age," "the age of the ages,"
"the ages of the ages," "the purpose of the ages," etc. The adjective aiġnios is limited
likewise in its meaning. It should never be rendered "eternal" or "everlasting," for
aiġnian things have an end. "Age-lasting," or "age-abiding" are nearer the meaning, yet
as these words limit the idea to time merely, we feel that they may prove as misleading as
the A.V. renderings. Aiġn stands not merely for a period of time, but a period during
which certain things are done, certain lines of purpose are elaborated, and therefore an
aiġn stands for characteristics, as well as length of time. It seems that the only safe thing
to do is to transliterate the words and use eon and eonian, supplying mentally the special
characteristics which can be learned alone from the Word. The Berean Expositor stands
for a rightly-divided Word. Hitherto our efforts have been engaged in pointing out the
characteristics of the various dispensations. We have not seen these as fully as we would
desire yet, nevertheless we have realized how important this right division is. Now just
as a truth under one dispensation may be entirely false under another (as for example
many things under Law as compared with the dispensation of the Mystery), so with truth
in the ages. Doctrines which are true for this age may be false if projected into the ages