hath no more dominion over Him" (Rom. 6: 9). Nor is this limited meaning of aion and

aionios invalidated because it is used of God and salvation. While the phrase `the eternal

God' sounds very majestic, and `the eonian God' or the `God of the ages' seems a poor

substitute, yet this is nearer Scriptural truth, for this adjective does not touch or describe

the being or attributes of God; rather that He is the origin or creator of the great span of

time, during which He is working out His great redemptive purposes. Heb. 1: 2 tells us

that through Christ the ages were made (not `world' as A.V.), and Isa. 9: 6 agrees with

this, describing literally the Child that is born as the `Father (i.e. Origin) of the ages', not

`everlasting Father' (A.V.). Christ is the God of the ages, the eonian God, and it is the

ages that span the Bible. Because there are so vast and long that we cannot see their end,

we have no right to assume they are the same as eternity.

Eternity can definitely be predicated both of God and the believer, but this is not

explained in Biblical revelation, and it matters not how much the words `eternal' and

`eternity' are rolled on the tongue, the fact is that we know absolutely nothing of the

eternal state for the simple reason that God has not seen fit to reveal it. Evidently it is too

much for our present limited understanding and we are far wiser to keep to the exact

statements of Holy Writ and not let our imagination run away with us into idle

speculation and guesswork.

There is a false argument based upon the word aionios that is sometimes used by

evangelicals concerning Matt. 25: 46, "And these (the goat nations living at the time of

the Lord's Return) shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life

eternal".  `Everlasting' and `eternal' here are translations of aionios and should be

consistently rendered by one word as the R.V. attempts to do. The reasoning above

mentioned is along these lines: the believer's life is eternal; the same word is used of the

unbeliever and therefore the punishment of such must also be eternal and this is usually

held as meaning eternal conscious torment and suffering too terrible for the human mind

to comprehend.

On the surface this may look like sound reasoning, but there are at least three fallacies

underlying such a conception. (1) First of all it must be proved from Scriptural usage

that kolasis, punishment, means eternal conscious suffering.  See its only other

occurrence in the N.T. in I John 4: 18 (`torment'), and carefully note whether it applies

to the saved or the unsaved.  (2) This idea assumes that what a limited number of

mankind receive at the Second Advent, i.e. certain nations living at this time, is true of all

unbelievers from Adam onward and so makes this judgment God's assize for all the

unsaved, assuming the resurrection of the wicked, whereas no resurrection is mentioned

in the context. This is confusing this judgment with that of the Great White Throne

(Rev. 20:). (3) A false deduction is made from translating aionios as eternal, whereas in

both cases aionios should be more accurately rendered age-long, leaving what is beyond

in the hands of Him who not only made the ages, but who is bringing His `plan of the

ages' (so the literal rendering of Eph. 3: 11) with its age-long salvation, to a glorious

finish, and then will follow the now incomprehensible wonders of eternity.