If Jesus, the evangelists, or the
other New Testament writers had wanted to teach eternal punishment, Greek words
were available to them, including aïdios (eternal), aperantos (unlimited,
endless), adialeiptos (unceasing), and ateleutos (endless), in
lieu of the ambiguous and unsuitable aiónios. Yet they did not avail themselves
of them. But another century Jew did, Josephus Flavius. He tells us that the
Pharisees teach that the wicked suffer “eternal retribution” (αιδιω τιμωρια),
(Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.155) “eternal imprisonment” (ειργμον αιδιον),
(Josephus, Antiquities 1814), while the Essenes teach that the wicked
are condemned to “unending retributions” (τιμωριων αδιαλειπτων)
(Josephus, Wars 2.155) and “deathless retribution” (αθανατον τιμωριαν) (Ibid.,
2.157) (Alvin F. Kimel, Jr., “Sometimes Eternity Ain’t Forever,” in Destined
for Joy: The Gospel of Universal Salvation [2022], 138-39)