W. H. r)y.soN. ETERNAL SIN.-The RV of Mk 3=» [aiojnov a/Mprrj/jiaTOi, so NBL ; C* ^''' D read afiaprias) ; AV ' eternal damnation ' (/cpia-eu!, .so AC=), ' a strong translation of an incorrect text' (Morison). It is not surprising that the latter explanation of a difficult word {a.ij.dpTr]/j.a) should have found its way into the text of some later MSS. As an explana- tion of the correct text, ' eternal judgment ' — or, as the judgment is clearly .idverse, ' eternal condem- nation'— is not without force. It has the merit of emphasizing the essential matter, which any interpretation, to be adequate, must take into account, that an ' eternal sin ' is a sin which 'hath never forgiveness.' But this early glo.ss is inadequate. There is more than the emphasis of repetition. It is not the /kiih/I;/ of the sin, hut its nature, which is declared ; not the mere duration
ETERNAL SIN
ETERNITY
of the sin or of the sinning, but the guilt ; not eternally siniiiny;, but an eternal sin.
That sin tends to propagate itself is witnessed to by experience, and that continuance in sinning must exclude forgiveness is an essential principle of all moral judgment. Sin and penalty are of necessity coterminous. But unforgiven because unrepcntcd of is true of all sin, and is no adequate explanation "of an ' eternal sin ' which carries the judgment ' unforgivable.' The absoluteness of the sentence is already declared in the words ' liath never forsiveness ;' it is the ultimate ground of this jiiilmiiciil « liich is further declared.
'Kti'iiKil NJii ' liiuls its contrast and opposite in 'etoni.il lifr, whirh is not simply or character- istically cndlrs.s life, but essential, perfect life, ' the life which is life indeed' (ITiB'^RV), the life of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 9)"- «■ ■" and Jn Z'-^- '"'■), the life of God (1 Jn 1= RV). So ' eternal sin ' is more than ' sin eternally repeat- ing itself,' it is a fixed state of sin, sin which has become character, nature, moral death, which is death indeed. But see art. BLASPHEMY, p. 209". This is the final revolt of man, free will carried to its ultimate in the defiance of God, a final con- dition, liopeless and beyond recovery, beyond the reach even of Divine illumination and influence. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews cer- tainly contemplates in 6'"* the possibility of such fatal apostasy, cf. also 1 Jn 5'" ' sin unto death ' (see Westcott, ad loc.) ; but neither of these pas- sages appears to the present writer to afford help
Two questions must be distinguished — the actuality and the possibility of this state of moral depravity. That the grace of God should prove unavailing is indeed hard to believe, and by many the thought is rejected utterly. Yet there is much in the teaching of .Tpsus and in human life to justify the fear thnt thi- iii.~-il>ility may become an actual fact. The h.rJrinii^ ..f the heiirt which follows all unfaithfuliii--. i- ilu- witness in human life to what must inevitably result if unfaithful- ness is persisted in, a fixed state of spiritual blind- ness and insensibility. There is a law of degenera- tion in the moral world as in the natural. But it is in the Scripture doctrine of sin that the full ground of this fear is seen. According to the teach- ing of Jesus, the measure of responsibility is ' the light that is in thee' (Mt 6='), and sin is wilful disregard of the light of truth. To be blind is to be without sin ; but to those who say ' we see,' and yet walk in darkness, 'sin remaineth' (JnQ'"). So every increase of light brings increased responsi- bility (Jn 3" 15-*) ; and for self-willed deliberate refusal of the Divine grace, refusal not in ignorance or misunderstanding but with full consciousness and choice of will so that the will itself becomes identified with evil, there can only be judgniciil. not because the Divine compassions fail, but \n- cause the redemption, as the Redeemer, is dcspisnl and rejected of men. In the final issue the free will of man is valid even against the beseechings of (Jod (Jn 5*, Mt 233').
The doom of the finally imjjenitent is here nega- tively told: 'hath never forgiveness'; but that includes the uttermost penalty, exclusion from the Kinicdoni of the Father, loss of the 'eternal life.' This is sin's last stage and uttermost working ; it cuts the soul off from God, its source and life. ' Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death ' ( J,a 1 ">). See, further, art. SiN.
\V. H. Dyson.
ETERNITY There is no word either in OT
Hebrew or in NT Greek corresponding to the abstract idea of eternity.
In Is 6715 both AV and RV have the phrase ' the high and \oi\,\i One that iniiabileth eternity.' MThas ly ]2t\ lit. 'dwelling for ever' — the thought of the WTiter being evidently the un- chan{}eahleness of God. ny probably comes nearest of all Hebrew words to express permanence. Originally it was a substantive connected with Assyr. adii, meaning 'time,' 'passing time,' 'the present.' But in OT it is used adverbially to express indefinite duration of time generally in the future. Its use is mainlv poetical : of God (Is 5716), His law (Ps 199), His attri- butes (1113. 10). But it is found also in connexion with things whose existence in Hebrew thought would be limited, c.ff. a king's life (Ps 216, Pr 29W), the lip of truth (Pr 1219).