This idea of eternal life as a glorious future in- heritance finds also frequent expression in the Epistles. Those who ' by patience in well-doin" seek for glory and honour and immortality ' shall receive eternal life as a reward of the righteous judgment of God (Ro 2'). All who are made free from sin and become servants of God ' have their fruit unto sanctification, and the end life eternal ' (Ro 5=' 6~). In the Epistle to the Hebrews (1" 9"^) we read of ' them that shall inherit salvation," and of them that ' receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.' In 1 P I'' the writer tells his readers that God has begotten them unto a living hope, 'unto an inheritance incorruptible, and uiideliled, and that fadeth not away, reserved for them in heaven.' According to all these scriptures, eternal life is begotten in the Christian believer by the Holy Spirit of God, and is to be perpetuated through the ages of ages. It is eternal in quality as bein<' a participation in the Divine nature of the EternalOne, and eternal in duration as continuing for ever and ever. It is a possession of manifold fulness, and is conditioned in a character of god- likeness, which ' has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come' (1 Ti 4»). There can be no living this life apart from God, for it is begotten in the soul by a heavenly birth, and must be continually nourished by the Spirit of God. Such vital union with the eternal Spirit brings un- speakable blessedness in this life .md in tliis world ; but it is as permanent and aliiiliiii; :is the nature of God, and is therefore a]iiiiii|)ii!i(i'ly culled an incorruptible inheritance. V.-.uU individual life, whose 'fellowship is with the F'ather, and with His Son Jesus Christ' (1 Jn P), is conceived as con- tinuing eternally in that heavenly fellowshij). In this age and that which is to come, in this world ?.nd in any other, on the earth or in the heavens, the child of God abides in eternal life.
See art. EscliatoloL'v ii. 2. and so far as this sub- ie(t 1 elates to the Futuie Stite 11 tt HfaveN, IM-VIOUI^LIIY RbSUf KiClIOV
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ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
pp. 312-:
bl. Theol.
rhenlnm/ of the XT, pp. 224-233; ^ol, ii. pp. 347-352.
M. S. Teeey.
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.— RV of Mt 25*« {ds Kd\a(Tiv aliiviov). The AV here and in 26 other passages has 'everlasting.' The adjective alwvios occurs 70 times in the NT (1 Ti 6" omitted in BV). and in the RV, with one exception (Phileni '■'>), is uniformly rendered -ricDMl.' riii.s is a distinct gain, as it leaves the . ,.iri -uihIm ,iiice to hedeter- mined by use. Thrcr ) i ,_-^ -Ik.uM be examined: 'Through times etcrnU lUc Hi- J ; 'before times eternal ' (2 Ti 1», Tit 1-) ; in tliese uses it is clear that 'eternal' and 'everlasting' are not inter- changeable. This agi-ees >vith the LXX, in which aiiinos is used of the rites and ceremonies of Judaism which are done away in Christianitj' (Ex 12" 299 40'=, Nu 18>» and others). The suggested use of ' iBonian ' has failed to find approval not- withstanding its advantages, and ' age-long ' is inept.
For NT thought the use of the term in the Fourth Gospel should be studied. Excluding parallel passages, 'eternal life' is found 21 times in the Gospels, ami ni tlicse 17 are in John. In this Gospel, as .-ilsd in 1 .In., the notions of succes- sion and duratidn are cliiuinated, and 'eternal' bei-onies almost synonynuius with ' r>i\iiir.' ' It is nut .111 endless duration of licin- in time. Init being lit wliicii time is not a nicasun'' (Wi'^tcott, see Adilitiunal note on 1 Jn 5-"). Sci^ Etf.i.'Nai. Life.
In the Synoptic Gospels, to ' enter into life ' and to ' enter into the kingdom ' are used interchange- ably (cf. Mt 19«- " with "-', Mk 9« with ", Mt 25" 'inherit the kingdom,' and v.* 'unto eternal life'). In the Fourth Gospel ' eternal life ' is the equiva- lent of 'tlie kingdom of heaven' of the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Jn 3^- =, where ' the kingdom of God ' occurs, with v.'=). This suggests a very compre- hensive and definite idea. ' Eternal life ' is the life of the Kingdom of God, forgiveness, righteousness, salvation, blessing, whatever that life is declared to be in the teaching of Jesus. ' Eternal punish- ment ' is the antithesis of ' eternal life,' the penal- ties upon all unrighteousness inseparably bound lip with the Kingdom, and which, in His new teaching of the Kingdom, Jesus plainly sets forth. As a workin" principle, then, ' eternal ' may be accepted as descriptive of things belonging to, essentially bound up with, the Kingdom, and is .iliiicist the equivalent of ' Messianic,' in the Chris- ti.iii, a- (ipposed to the merely Jewish significance ot the term, 'that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye may have life in his name' (Jn '_'n-'i. 'rhiM' (lr..|.i.r meanings of aldvios in the NT -liquid ~ri\.- t.. remove the question of the tiim- rlrin.ni in miuiv punishment from the unsatisfactory l..i^j> .,t nu-rc verbal interpretations.