An Analytical Study of Words
Chapter Seven
Eonian Means What?
A Search For Truth
"By this point in my studying I had begun to think that possibly these
theologians were employing more subterfuge than enlightened honesty in dealing with the
issue."
Dear Louis,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ! I read that you are to be a speaker at the upcoming Bible conference close to
Springfield, MO. I'm writing to say that I now plan on attending on Saturday, if possible.
I look forward to meeting you.
I enjoyed our correspondence of three years
ago and have not forgotten the nature or substance of your thoughts expressed then. Here
is the result of my thinking and studying on aionios in recent times. For some years (I'm
32 yrs. old) certain passages had made me wonder as to the scope of their meaning; i.e.
Romans 5, 1 Cor 15, Colossians 1, etc. In 1976 I received some sample literature, among
which were tracts on the Salvation of All. Being a "Bible believing" orthodox
evangelical, I rejected the idea. The year 1979 found me just having completed a year of
studying the Koine (Greek) language at a theological seminary. Thus new tools were
provided to eventually consider the idea of God being All in all.
As I began to seriously ponder this concept
(which I felt no particular desire to adopt), I began to read more literature, books,
pamphlets by others that were well reasoned from Scripture. I began to be convinced in
spite of my previous feelings. I decided I had better read the "pro-eternal
torment" position.
What do scholars of this position present?
Clouded and confused thoughts. First I read a classic by William G.T. Shedd entitled The
Doctrine of Endless Punishment. This was supposed by evangelicals to be the best
defense of the foregoing doctrine. His first section in which he appealed to the
"Church Fathers" I soon discounted, for as anyone who is even marginally aware
of "the Fathers" can testify: they proclaim many diverse and even esoteric
doctrines. The book did help me realize that one of the keys to resolving the question was
the meaning of the word aionioj.. Does it mean eternal (endless) or eonian (age-lasting)?
This is very critical. After much discussion, Shedd's conclusion as per page 84: anything,
endless or limited, can be denominated aionioj! Both ways! It depends on the
passage. And, of course, only a competent exegete such as Shedd can determine which of the
two opposite meanings is to be chosen in a particular passage. There was no help for me
here. What other conclusions did he come to? Page 145, "'If there were no God, we
should be compelled to invent one' is now a familiar sentiment. 'If there were no hell, we
should be compelled to invent one' is equally true." What else does this scholar say?
Page 159, "the Bible teaches that there will always be some sin, and some death, in
the universe." It's as if he had never read 1 Corinthians 15:26. One final quote from
Shedd, Page 119: "Nothing is requisite for (doctrine of endless torments) maintenance
but the admission of three cardinal truths of theism; namely, that there is a just God;
that man has free will; and that sin is a voluntary action." He did not give a
Scriptural reverence of Romans 11:32 for this statement. In fact, he gave no reference to
the Scriptures at this point.
I thought I might read a more recent book
of Endless Punishment--so I read a highly recommended Doctrine of Eternal Punishment
to gather more information on aionios. Page 49, "No sound Greek scholar can pretend
that aionios means anything less than eternal." I decided he must not have read
Shedd's book. Also the very highly esteemed translators of the New International Version
must not have read the latter book (or must not be "sound Greek scholars")
because their rendering in Romans 16:25 speaks about, "the mystery hidden from long
ages past." "Long Ages Past" being their translation "eonian
times." I was confused--one meaning only (eternal) or two (opposite) meanings?
Well, in our Greek class we learned to
trust the Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon to settle the questions that came to mind. I was
curious--would Arndt-Gingrich say one or two meanings? The answer: three
meanings: 1) endless past with definite ending point in the future, 2) definite beginning
point in past with endless future, 3) endless past and endless future! Ingenious! By this
point in my studying I had begun to think that possibly these theologians were employing
more subterfuge than enlightened honesty in dealing with the issue. Most other reference
works fall into one of the afore-mentioned categories when dealing with aionioj. Of
course, there are the King James Version's "world began" phrases.
I cannot yet give you a conclusion to this
whole matter from a personal perspective, but I think it will be obvious to you which
direction my thinking is headed.
In search of truth, Mike
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