Since the word eon (aiōn) or age
in Scripture may denote either the present finite age or the future endless
age, in order to determine the meaning of eonian (aiōnios), it is necessary
first to determine in which of the two eons—the limited or the endless—the thing
exists to which the epithet is applied, because anything in either eon may be denominated
“eonian.” The adjective follows its substantive in meaning. Onesimus, as a slave,
existed in this world (aiōn) of “time,” and when he is called an eonian or “everlasting”
(aiōnios) servant (Philem. 15), it is meant that his servitude continues as
long as the finite eon in which he is a servant; and this is practically at an
end for him, when he dies and leaves it. The mountains are denominated eonian
or “everlasting” (aiōnia) in the sense that they endure as long as the finite
world (aiōn) of which they are a part endures. God, on the other hand, is a
being that exists in the infinite aiōn and is therefore aiōnios in the endless
signification of the world. The same is true of the spirits of angels and men,
because they exist in the future eon as well as in the present one. If anything
belongs solely to the present age or eon, it is eonian in the limited significance;
if it belongs to the future age or eon, it is eonian in the unlimited
signification. If, therefore, the punishment of the wicked occurs in the
present eon, it is eonian in the sense of temporal; but if it occurs in the
future eon, it is eonian in the sense of endless. The adjective takes its
meaning from its noun.
The English word forever has the
same twofold meaning in Scripture and in common use. Sometimes it means as long
as a man lives upon earth. The Hebrew servant that had his ear bored with an
awl to the door of his master who to be his servant “forever” (Exod. 21:6).
Sometimes it means as long as the Jewish state should last. The ceremonial laws
were to be statutes “forever” (Lev. 16:34). Sometimes it means as long as the
world stands: “One generation passes away, and other generation comes; but the
earth abides forever” (Eccles. 1:4). In all such instances, “forever” refers to
the temporal eon and denotes finite duration. But in other instances, and they
are the great majority in Scripture, “forever” refers to the endless eon, as
when it is said that “God is over all blessed forever.” The limited
signification of “forever” in the former cases does not disprove its unlimited
signification in the latter. The Onesimus was an “everlasting” (aiōnios)
servant and that the hills are “everlasting” (aiōnia) no more disproves the
everlastingness of God, the soul, heaven, and hell than the term forever in a
title deed disproves it. To hold land “forever” is to hold it “as long as grass
grows and water runs,” that is, as long as this world or eon endures. (William
G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology: Complete and Unabridged, Volumes 1-3 [Reformed
Retrieval, 2021], 784-85)
Further Reading
