IltfMORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
that they are raised merely that forthwith, or after a longer or shorter period, they may be destroyed.
It is in St. John also that the most emphatic assertions are found — apart from the special phraseology to whicli reference has been made — of the abiding lilessednt^ss and freedom from ill of those who believe in (Jlirist. ' He that believeth in me oi> fi.ii dwoOdi'ri' (ll-«) ; he that drinks of the Chri.st-given water ' oi) /ti) Si.^-fi<Tu' (4''') ; 'he that Cometh unto me ov jxri Treii/dcr?;, and he that be- lieveth on me oi» n'tj ditprjirei. ' irunrore ' (6"=^). The ' many mansions ' and the prepared place of 14- are clearly intended to convey the assurance of more than merely temporary resting - places. Finally, the prayer that all His followers may be one, as He is one vnth the Father (17"'-'), and may be with Him where He is (v. 2*), implies for those who are thus united a coequal duration of existence with Himself.
For the believer, therefore, the future, thus con- ditioned and defined, is a life of blessedness. But there is nothing to suggest, much less to .show, that the continuance of the life is dependent upon its felicity ; or that these two features are other than completely independent, no necessary connexion subsisting between them which would make an eternal but unblessed life a contradiction in terms.
atuv, oMkios, €1! rbf aiCJva or tous aiuinai. — The primary signiiic.-inee of the term alwp is not seri- ously in question. ' Age ' or ' period ' suggests a limited stretch of time marked Ijy a definite close. In this sense the word is found in the Gospels, with reference to the present era under which the speaker is living, either simply or as ethically characterized by degeneracy and corruption. The cares ToC at'ujpos choke the word ( M I K!-' ,Mk4''l; the sons of this alwv are wiser lli.m I In' -oii~ i<\ light (Lk 168) ; oStos 6 aidiv is c(mu,.^l"(l nmIU i\i,- aldv that is to follow it as 6 ^tWc^'i- (.Ml IS-], .n iKeinos (Lk 20^'"-) ; and the latter appears again as 6 epxVfos o-iiiiv in Mk 1(P li Lk 18*, where the present is oStos 6 KaipSs. It is worthy of notice that in one of the above passages (Lk 20*=) the future aliiv is something to be gained (Tu;^eif ) ; its nature or characteristic, therefore, was more prominent to the writer's mind than any mere question of duration. In one context, the parable of the Tares in St. Matthew, the end of the present age is definitely indicated (r;) a-wWXeia (ro5) aiiii-os (.\tt 1339f. 49j^ and tlie same phrase is twice emjiloj'ed later in the Ciospel, once by the disciples with reference to the Parousia, which they assume to be synchronous with the end of the ai'cic (24'), and again by Christ Himself, when He asserts His presence with His disciples ?us rfi^ o-wreXeias toS alCvo^ (28=").
In the last two passages especially it is clear that in no shape or form is there attached by the Speaker or His hearers to the phrase ' end of the age ' the thought of a termination of personality or conscious life. The close of the one epoch marks the opening of .anntlier. into wliicli pass without interrupli.PH the .■ictuis .-inil ji.n f iri]i,it()rs in the present. 'I'li.' )i|i-il'ji' -i\''ii t.. t lir ,li-,'i|,les of personal assocuitiun wiih lliin^clf. (ii- lathn of His personal assoeiatidii with tlieui -an association which is already subsisting [iyui tied' vixav cip.i, Alt 28-"), could hardly have been couched in more emphatic or significant terms, or in words less suggestive of a possible severance, however clearly they may admit or even require the thought of a change of the conditions under which it is main- tained.
aiwf is also twice nsed in the Gospels with reference to the past, ax' alQivo! Lk 1™, ^k toO aiCivo^ Jn 9^-. In neither case are the words those of Christ Himself. And all, perhaps, that need be
said is that the speake
[is and the man
born blind respectively, employ tlie ])hrase to denote in an indefinite kind of way the whole antecedent period of human history during which the conditions of life upon the earth have been such as they now know them to be, or believe them to have been in former times.
Elsewhere in the Gosjiels, the word under con- sideration is found only in the phrase els rbv aiQva, or f 1! Tois aidi/as. The latter occurs in Lk I"' and in the inserted doxology of Mt 6" (retained in the margin of the Revised Version). It may fairly be regarded as merely a strengthened form of' the other, intermediate between that and the yet more emphatic expression ei's toi>s aiwua^ tCiv alilipuv employed especially in the Apocalypse, and by St. Paul in doxologies. Ei's rdi/ aiCiva occurs once in St. Matthew and St. Luke (Mt 21«, Lk ps), twice in St. Mark (S-' 11"), am! twelve times in St. John (4" 6='- «* S'^'"'- sif. lu-a 11=« 12^ 138 14'<'), constituting indeed this Evan- gelist's sole use of the word alwf, with the excep- tion of the phrase above noted (9^-). Setting aside Mt 2V^ II Mk 11", which condemns the fig-tree to perpetual barrenness, and where /^j/kM eis rbv aidva is a .strong negation of any possible or prospective fruitfulness at any time ; and the passages from St. Luke, of which the first is Messianic and ex- pressly asserts the endlessness of the Messiah's kingdom, and the second has reference to the Divine attitude or action towards men, which also can hardly be thought of as subject to termination or change ; the remainder may be classified as positive or negative. In the former, the phrase 615 tAk alQva qualifies some verb expressive of con- tinuani-e or life (u}^ Jn G"- ■"*, (jL^veif 8^' 12^^ etvai 14"'l : ill ihr l.iHn ii i^ joined mth a more or less