The chief meanings of aiuv in classical Greek are : (1) a lifetime ; (2) an age or period ; (3) a period of unlimited duration. In the LXX, which is largely determinative for NT usage, aluv (usually repre- senting Heb. cViy) is employed with the same variations as in the older Greek literature ; and the length of time referred to must be determined from the context. In some cases eU rbv cUQva refers to the duration of a single human life (Ex 19* 21^) ; in others it is applied to the length of a dynasty (1 Ch 28'*), the lasting nature of an ordin- ance (2 Ch 2*), the national existence of Israel (2 Ch 9«), the perpetuity of the earth (Ec V), the en- during character of God (Ps 9^) and of the Divine truth and mercy (117^ 118>). Similarly aluvios is applied to the ancient gates of Zion (Ps 24'), to certain Levitical ordinances (Lv 16'^- **), to the covenants of God with men (Gn 9^^ 17', etc.), to the Divine mercy (Is 54^) and love (Jer 31^). Only rarely do we 6nd the word applied directly to God Himself (Gn 21^, Is 40^8). Passing from the LXX, we have to notice the bearing upon NT usage of the distinction made in the later Jewish theology (see Schiirer, HJP IL iL 133) between the present age (nin oViy) and the coming or Messianic age (x^n dVij;), a distinction which reappears in the NT in the expressions 6 a'ujv oStos and 6 alup 6 fiiSXui' or 6 ipx6iJ-evot.
Coming now to the NT with the previous history of aidiv and aldvios in view, we find that the terms are still used as before with various connotations. In 1 Co 8'3, unless St. Paul is writing by way of pure hyperbole, aluv can refer only to his own lifetime. In Ac 32' it refers to the age of prophecy. Its fre- quent employment in the plural suggests that in the singular the word denotes something less than unending time ; while the phrases irpd tQv alwvwv (1 Co 2') and rd riXr] tQv aiuivwv (10") point to ages that were conceived of, not as everlasting, but as having a beginning and coming to an end. Even the coming or Messianic alihv, as contrasted with the present time (Mk 10*", Eph pi, etc.), is not con- ceived of by St. Paul as endless. In 2 P 1" Christ's Kingdom is described as aiutvios ; but St. Paul anticipates a time when Christ shall deliver up His Kingdom to God the Father (1 Co 15^).
The use of the adjective is again similar to that
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of the noun. Whether alujviov is treated as an ad- verb or an adjective in Pliilem ^^, it is evident that the meaning must be restricted to the lifetime of Onesimus and Philemon. The xpi^""' aiuvLoi of E,o 16-^ are the ages during which the mystery of the gospel was kept secret, in contrast with the age of its revelation. Those xpo''"' o.Iuivloi, moreover, are not to be thought of as stretching backwards everlast- ingly, as is proved by the irpb xp^vuv aluviuv of 2 Ti P, Tit P. The al^vios 6»e6s of Ro W^ carries with it unquestionably the idea of everlastingness ; but it is worth noting that this is the only occasion in the NT when the term is applied to God, and that the dox- ology in which it occurs is of doubtful genuineness. It is when we come to consider the expression ^(i)r) aiwvios (cf. awrr^pia [He 5^], Xijrpwcris [9'-], KK-rjpO' vofjiia [v. '^]), which is of very frequent occurrence in the Joliannine and Pauline writings, together with the contrasted conceptions irOp alwviov (Mt 18^ 25"'^ Jude^), KdXaais aluivios (Mt 25'*^), 6\edpos aiw^tos (2 Th P), Kp?fj.a alwvLov (He 6"), that we find the real crux of the difficulty of translating the term. It has often been insisted that the meaning of the word is the same in either case, and that if ' seonian fire ' is less than everlasting, ' seonian life ' must also be less. Sometimes this argument has been met by the objection that aluvios is not a quantita- tive but a spiritual and qualitative term, express- ing a kind rather than a length of being. That the word is frequently so used in the Joliannine writings appears evident (e.g. Jn 17^, 1 Jn 3'''- ^^ 5^^) ; and in the Pauline Epistles also we have various examples of it.- employment in a sense that is in- tensive rather than extensive — notably the equation in 1 Ti 61-- ^^ (KV) between ' eternal lile' and ' the life which is life indeed.' And yet it must be ad- mitted that tlie whole history of the term points to the underlying idea of duration, and not of duration only, but of a duration that is permanent. With equal clearness, however, that history shows that the permanence affirmed is not absolute, but relative to the nature of the subject. When ap- plied to the loving service of a Cliristian slave to a Christian master, aldivios denotes a permanence as lasting as the earthly relation between master and slave will permit. When used of the ages be- fore the gospel was revealed, it means throughout the whole length of those ages. When applied to God or to the Spirit (He 9'"*), it means as ever- lasting as the Divine nature itself. And when we come to ' eternal life ' on the one hand and ' eternal fire " or ' eternal destruction ' on the other, they also must be rendered according to our conception of the inherent nature of the thing referred to. And many will hold that while good, as emanat- ing from God, is necessarily indestructible, evil, as contrary to the Divine nature and will, must even- tually cease to be — ' that God may be all in all ' (1 Co 15^). 'Ionian fire,' therefore, may mean a fire that goes on burning until it has burned itself out; 'aeonian destruction,' a destruction that con- tinues until there is nothing left to destroy. But 'itonian life,' being life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ro 6-* ; cf. 1 Jn 5"), must be as enduring as the Divine immortality. If the spirit of life in Christ Jesus dwells in us, nothing shall be able to separ- ate us from the love of God (Ro S^- "• 8«-3S). See, further, LiFE AND DEATH.