Just how long is ‘eternal’? A study on the meanings of Αιων and Αιωνιος (part 5 of 5)

Part 4: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/07/just-how-long-is-eternal-study-on_01876064027.html

     Now that we have extensively looked at the usage of the terms olam, αιων, and αιωνιος throughout the Old and New Testaments, and examined (and refuted) the arguments that have been put forth in favor of the traditional translation of these terms as “everlasting,” “eternal,” and “for ever,” we are in a far better position to take a look at the passages thought to prove that punishment is everlasting. The ten passages considered here are taken from this article by Justin Taylor.

    1. Undying Worm and Unquenchable Fire (OT)

“For as the new heavens and new earth that I will make shall remain before Me,” says Yahweh, “so also your descendants and your name shall remain. And it shall come to pass, from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me, for their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isa. 66:22-24)

    It is interesting that this passage was brought up, because it does not actually explicitly describe the punishment as everlasting by any translation. However, some believe that because it is said that the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched, the punishment must never end. I already wrote quite a lot about this passage in another post on the nature of Gehenna:

First of all, in this passage we are told that all nations and people will come to Jerusalem to worship YHWH during the Messianic age [see v. 20]. While they are in Jerusalem, they will be able to see those who are in Gehenna, which confirms that “Gehenna” cannot refer to ‘hell’ or the Lake of Fire, and must be the physical Valley of Hinnom that is adjacent to Jerusalem.

Second, we are told that there will be corpses - not living humans, but corpses - of those who have transgressed against YHWH, and that it is their worm that does not die, and their fire that is not being quenched. This proves that Gehenna will not be a place of conscious torment, but simply a place where the dead bodies of the wicked and unbelievers will be cast and burned. The “worm” spoken of here (tola in Hebrew and σκοληξ in Greek) cannot be some sort of ‘spiritual worm’ that punishes those in ‘hell’, as these words simply refer to maggots which eat the flesh off of dead bodies [3]. This Hebrew word, tola, is used as a symbol of death and decay throughout the Old Testament (Exod. 16:20, Deut. 28:39, Isa. 14:11)...

[3] This “worm” does not die, not because it is immortal, but to emphasize the completeness of the decay of these bodies; the maggots will not die until every bit of flesh is picked clean. See this article written from an annihilationist viewpoint.

    It is also said that the fire is not quenched, but this does not mean that the fire will never go out, merely that it will not be put out by human means. Elsewhere in scripture, fires are called unquenchable which have since gone out (see Lev. 6:12-13; Isa. 34:10; Jer. 17:27; Ezek. 20:46-48). And since the punishment being discussed here is something that will be confined to the Valley of Hinnom on the current earth, near Jerusalem (see above), the fire must eventually go out when the current earth is destroyed and all things are made new (1 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 20:11; 21:1, 5). Therefore, this passage does not prove that punishment is everlasting; the punishment being spoken of in this passage is confined to the Messianic age.

    2. Everlasting Life/Everlasting Contempt

“And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was - since there was a nation even to that time - and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to life olam, and some to reproach [and] abhorrence olam.” (Dan. 12:1-2)

    The most common objection to universalism from this passage is that, because the reproach and abhorrence of the ungodly is described as olam, it must never have an end. However, this is false, because as we saw in the first two parts of this study, olam simply means a period of indefinite length, and rarely — if ever — describes an everlasting period. It was used to describe periods as short as three days (Jon. 2:6), or as long as the duration of the earth (Ecc. 1:4), but most commonly to describe periods of time around the length of a single human lifespan or several generations.

    We should see this passage as stating that the abhorrence and reproach of the ungodly will continue indefinitely into the future, but not forever. Unfortunately, most Bible versions obscure this by translating olam as “eternal,” and so readers of English translations of scripture are left without a proper understanding of this crucial fact.

    The second argument is slightly more sophisticated, and states that because the olam life spoken of in this passage is everlasting, by parallelism the olam reproach and abhorrence must also be everlasting. First of all, this argument is based on the false premise that two instances of the same word (either olam or αιωνιος) in the vicinity of one another must mean the exact same thing — for a refutation of this premise, see my comments on Matthew 25:46 below.

    However, even if we grant that some sort of parallelism may be present in this passage, this doesn’t mean that the reproach and abhorrence must be everlasting. The LXX translates chayye olam as “life of the Age” (ζωη αιωνιος), which is used in the New Testament to describe living and reigning with Christ, and will have an end at the time prophesied in 1 Cor. 15:24-28 (see the third section of this study). Although we will be immortal, this is not encapsulated in either expression — chayye olam or ζωη αιωνιος — but is prophesied in other passages (e.g., Lk. 20:36; 1 Cor. 15:51-54; Heb. 7:16). Thus, the olam life (“age-during life”) of Daniel 12:2 will eventually end. If this is a parallelism, it does not prove everlasting punishment, but instead provides evidence that the punishment will end. Therefore, this passage definitely does not prove that punishment will be everlasting.

    3. Eternal Fire/The Fire of Hell

“Now whoever may offend one of these little [ones] believing in me, it is better for him that a heavy millstone may be hung around his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of the offenses! For the offenses [are] necessary to come, but woe to the man through whom the offense comes! Now if your hand or your foot offends you, cut it off and cast it from you. It is good for you to enter into the life crippled or lame, rather [than] to be cast to the age-during fire having two hands or two feet. And if your eye offends you, take it out and cast it from you. It is good for you to enter into the life one-eyed, rather [than] to be cast to the Gehenna of the fire having two eyes.” (Matt. 18:6-9)

    This passage describes the Gehenna of the fire (which is a reference to the physical Valley of Hinnom adjacent Jerusalem) as “the age-during fire” (το πυρ το αιωνιον). Because it is thought that αιωνιος means “everlasting,” non-universalists believe that this passage teaches that Gehenna will be a place where punishment is everlasting (whether the fire itself is everlasting, or merely the destructive effects of the fire, is debated between infernalists and annihilationists).

    However, as seen previously in this study, the adjective αιωνιος rarely if ever describes an everlasting period. Instead, throughout the New Testament, it is used to describe things which pertain to the ages. Every noun which is modified by this adjective throughout the NT can be shown to have an end (including ζωη αιωνιος, “life of the [Messianic] Age” which will end when Christ returns the kingdom to the Father), excluding God Himself. There is no reason to believe that this age-during fire is any exception. And the fact that it is Gehenna being referred to shows that αιωνιος cannot mean “everlasting” in this context, for Gehenna (the Valley of Hinnom) will one day become holy to God (Jer. 31:40) and will then be destroyed along with the rest of the earth (1 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 20:11; 21:1, 5).

    4. Eternal Punishment/Eternal Life

“Now when the Son of Man may come in his glory, and all the messengers with him, then he will sit on [the] throne of his glory. And all the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the kids. And he will indeed set the sheep on his right hand, and the kids on [the] left. Then the King will say to the [ones] on his right hand, ‘Come, those blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from [the] foundation of [the] world’... Then he will say to the [ones] on [the] left, ‘Go from me, those cursed, to the age-during fire prepared for the Adversary and his messengers’... And these will go away into age-during punishment, but the righteous into age-during life.” (Matt. 25:31-34, 41, 46)

    This passage is interpreted by non-universalists in the same way as Daniel 12:2. Because the punishment in this passage is described as αιωνιος, which is taken to mean “everlasting,” supposedly there can be no end to this punishment. However, as we have seen, this argument is inane and superficial, and does not stand up to the use of αιωνιος throughout the rest of the Bible as referring to either an indefinite (but not infinite) period of time, or to something which pertains to the ages.

    In fact, as I showed in another post, the context clearly refutes the traditional interpretation of the judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. The judgment will occur just after the end of the tribulation, at the second coming of Christ (v. 31), will be a judgment of the nations, meaning the Gentile unbelievers who survive the battle of Armageddon (v. 32), and they will be judged on how they treated Jesus’ brethren (the Israelites), not on whether they had a saving faith (v. 40).

    The parallel description of the same judgment in Joel 3:1-8 shows that the punishment of the “goats” is not literal fire, but being cast far outside the Messianic kingdom and treated as slaves (cf. Zech. 14:17-19; Rev. 2:27; 19:15), the same punishment elsewhere referred to as “outer darkness” and “a furnace of fire” (Matt. 8:11-12; 13:40-42, 49-50; Lk. 13:28-29). Fire is commonly used in scripture to figuratively describe times of adversity (Deut. 4:20; Isa. 48:10; Ezek. 22:20; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12). Likewise, the reward of the “sheep” is also limited to the Messianic age, and refers to their having an inheritance in the Messianic kingdom in Israel (cf. Ezek. 47:22-23).

    Thus, neither the “punishment of the Age” nor the “life of the Age” referred to in Matt. 25:46 are everlasting; they are both confined to the Messianic age. However, even if the “life of the Age” were truly eternal, this would not prove that the “punishment of the Age” is also eternal by parallelism, as many non-universalists often assert. See the following passages:

And He stood and shook the earth, and He looked and startled the nations. The mountains [went] to violence, the age-during hills melted [at] His age-during ways. (Hab. 3:6-7 LXX)

Now to Him [who] is able to establish you, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to a revelation of a mystery, [which] has been kept silent in times of ages, but now manifested, and through the prophetic scriptures, according to a command of the age-during God, for obedience of faith [which] was made known to all the Gentiles (Rom. 16:25-26)

    In both of these cases, something which is undeniably not everlasting is described as age-during in the immediate vicinity of something which is undeniably everlasting being described as age-during. The hills which are age-during are said to melt in the presence of the God whose ways are age-during. The gospel kept silent in times of ages (χρονοις αιωνιοις) has now been manifested by a command of the age-during God (του αιωνιου θεου). Therefore, even if the “life of the Age” of Matt. 25:46 is everlasting, the “punishment of the Age” does not need to also be everlasting. This passage does not prove that the punishment of unbelievers will never end.

    5. Undying Worm and Unquenchable Fire (NT)

“And whoever may offend one of these little [ones] believing in me, it is more good for him if a heavy millstone is put around his neck and he has been cast to the sea. And if your hand may offend you, cut it off. It is good for you to enter into the life crippled, rather [than] to go away to the Gehenna, to the unquenchable fire, having two hands. And if your foot may offend you, cut it off. It is good for you to enter into the life lame, rather [than] to be cast to the Gehenna having two feet. And if your eye may offend you, cast it out. It is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God one-eyed, rather [than] having two eyes, to be cast to the Gehenna, where ‘their worm is not dying, and the fire is not quenched’.” (Mk. 9:42-48)

    I already dealt with this argument for everlasting punishment in my discussion on Isaiah 66:22-24, so I won’t reiterate the points I made there. However, this point cannot be stressed enough, that by Gehenna the literal Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem is meant (see Isa. 64:20-24) — the same valley of which it is said that it will eventually become holy to God (Jer. 31:40), and which must eventually be destroyed along with the rest of the earth (1 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 20:11; 21:1, 5). Thus, the fire within Gehenna cannot truly last forever. The undying worm and unquenchable fire are meant to emphasize the totality of decay and desecration of the bodies cast within, not the length of time for which the punishment is applied. After all, other so-called “unquenchable” fires have long since gone out (e.g., Lev. 6:12-13, Isa. 34:10, Jer. 17:27, Ezek. 20:46-48).

    6. Everlasting Destruction

[This is] a proof of the righteous judgment of God, for you to be deemed worthy of the kingdom of God, and on behalf of which you suffer. Indeed [it is] righteous with God to recompense those afflicting you with affliction, and to you, the [ones] oppressed, relief with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful messengers, in a flame of fire giving vengeance to those [who] have not known God and to those not obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who will pay a penalty of age-during destruction from [the] face of the Lord and the glory of his power, when he may come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all those [who] believed, because our testimony to you was believed in that day. (2 Thess. 1:5-10)

    It is argued that this passage proves that the punishment of unbelievers (whether torment or annihilation) will never have an end, because it describes their destruction as αιωνιος (“age-during”). However, as we have seen, this argument fails because αιωνιος does not mean “everlasting,” but refers to those things which pertain to the ages, and in all instances describes things which do have an end (with the sole exception of God Himself). This passage is no exception, especially because the destruction of these unbelievers will end (or at least cease for a time) when they are resurrected one thousand years later to the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).

    7. The Punishment of Eternal Fire

...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, [in] like manner with them having committed prostitution and having gone away after other flesh, are set [as] an example, undergoing a penalty of age-during fire. (Jude 7)

    This passage is thought to prove that the punishment of unbelievers, specifically of Sodom and Gomorrah, will never have an end because the fire in which they are penalized is described as αιωνιος. Again, this argument fails because αιωνιος does not describe everlastingness, but instead describes things which pertain to the ages. However, that argument fails even more spectacularly when applied to this passage specifically, because we know that the fire which burned Sodom and Gomorrah no longer burns. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel tells us that one day Sodom will be restored to its former glory (Ezek. 16:53-55)! Thus, Jude 7 is actually further proof that the punishment of unbelievers will, eventually, have an end.

    8. Blackest Darkness Reserved Forever

[These false teachers are] fierce waves of [the] sea, foaming out their shame; wandering stars, to whom the gloom of the darkness has been kept for an age. (Jude 13)

    Most Bible versions translate “for an age” (εις αιωνα) as “for ever,” which leads uninformed readers to think that these false teachers will be kept in the gloom of darkness for eternity. However, the expression “for an age” or “for the age” does not refer to an everlasting period, as numerous examples from the LXX and the New Testament demonstrate; rather, when used in the eschatological sense, it refers to something which lasts for a single eschatological age (most often referring to the coming Messianic age). And in fact, just a few verses later, Jude acknowledges more than one age to come (v. 25), so the fact that the gloom of darkness is reserved for only “an age [singular]” is proof that this does not describe an everlasting punishment.

    9. The Smoke of Their Torment Rises for Ever and Ever

And another messenger, a third, followed them, in a great voice saying, “If someone worships the beast and its image, and takes a mark upon his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, having been mixed undiluted in the cup of His anger. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur, before holy messengers and the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises up for ages of ages; and [they] do not have rest day and night, those worshipping the beast and its image, and if someone takes the mark of its name.” (Rev. 14:9-11)

    Because most Bible versions translate “for ages of ages” (εις αιωνας αιωνων) as “for ever and ever,” this passage is thought to show that the torment of those who take the mark of the beast will last for eternity. However, this is a very imprecise and inaccurate translation, because in the eschatology of the New Testament the “ages of the ages” describe the oncoming ages during which Christ and the saints will be reigning (2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 1:8; 13:21; 1 Pet. 4:11; Rev. 1:6; 5:13; 11:15; 22:5). These oncoming ages will have an end (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Heb. 9:26), so to say that because something is described as “for (the) ages of (the) ages,” it must not have an end, is simply incorrect.

    Furthermore, it is said that this punishment is “the wine of the wrath of God.” But what is this wine? Just a few verses later, it is said to be nothing other than the seven bowls of wrath which will be poured out upon those who take the mark of the beast’s name:

And the messenger cast his sickle into the earth, and harvested the grapevine of the earth, and cast [the grapes] into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the bridles of the horses, from one thousand six hundred stadia. And I saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvelous, seven messengers having seven plagues - the last, because in them the wrath of God was completed. (Rev. 14:19-15:1)

These bowls consist of boils and ulcers, water poisoning, burning, pain in darkness, the battle of Armageddon, and the destruction of Babylon (Rev. 16), and they will be poured out upon those who take the mark of the beast’s name. However, these great and terrible plagues only last until the end of the tribulation, no more than three and a half years — certainly not “for ever and ever.”

    This interpretation may be contested on the grounds that the torment is said to last for ages of ages. However, this is inaccurate. The torment itself is not said to last for ages of ages, but the smoke of the torment. The exact same thing is said of Babylon in Rev. 19:3, and yet the punishment of Babylon lasted no longer than “a day” (Rev. 18:8) or even “an hour” (Rev. 18:10, 17, 19). Therefore, the context shows that Rev. 14:9-11 is not speaking of any ‘eternal punishment’ for those who take the mark of the beast’s name, but the seven bowls of the wine of God’s wrath which will be poured out upon those who take this mark, the smoke of which shall go up for ages of ages.

    10. The Lake of Fire

And the Adversary, the [one] deceiving them, was cast to the Lake of the Fire and of sulfur, where also the beast and the false prophet [are], and they will be tormented day and night for the ages of the ages... Then the death and the Hades were cast to the Lake of the Fire. This, the Lake of the Fire, is the second death. And if someone was not found having been written in the Scroll of the Life, he was cast to the Lake of the Fire. (Rev. 20:10, 14-15)

    This passage characterizes the torment of the Adversary, beast, and false prophet in the Lake of the Fire as “for the ages of the ages” (εις τους αιωνας των αιωνων), which is translated in most Bible versions as “for ever and ever.” Like with Rev. 14:9-11, this argument fails because the “ages of the ages” does not describe an eternal time period, but instead the ages during which Christ and the saints reign together (2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 13:21; Rev. 1:6; 5:13; 11:15; 22:5), which will have an end (1 Cor. 15:24-28). Certainly this does not prove that the torment of these three will have an end, any more than it proves that God’s glory will have an end (cf. Gal. 1:5, Php. 4:20), but neither does it prove that their torment will not have an end.

    Conclusion

In this word study, we saw that olam, αιων, and αιωνιος refer to indefinite time periods throughout the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint, but are rarely - if ever - used to describe everlastingness (even when applied to God Himself). In line with this, the New Testament also uses αιων and αιωνιος to describe indefinite time periods, but with the more developed eschatology of the NT also came a specialized usage of these words to refer to defined eschatological periods known as “ages” or “eons.”

    Although αιων and αιωνιος are often taken to mean “everlasting,” “eternal,” or “for ever,” the scriptural evidence does not support such a translation. Instead, the expressions εις τον αιωνα (lit. “for the age”), εις τους αιωνας (lit. “for the ages”), and εις τους αιωνας των αιωνων (lit. “for the ages of the ages”) each refer to the future ages during which Christ and the saints will be reigning, which will eventually end once Christ returns the kingdom of God to the Father. Likewise, the adjective αιωνιος describes things which are “age-during” (pertaining to/of the ages).

    There are Greek words which describe things that are truly without end, such as αιδιος (“eternal”), παντοτε (“at all times”), απεραντος (“interminable”), and ατελευτος (“endless”). However, none of these words are ever used to describe the punishment of the wicked; only derivatives and cognates of the word αιων (“age,” referring to a defined eschatological period) are used. Furthermore, the context of most of the passages used to support everlasting punishment shows that the meaning cannot be “everlasting.” Unfortunately, virtually all translations of scripture obscure this fact by using inaccurate translations of αιων and αιωνιος.