Eternal is in general the rendering in the A. V. of the Hel). cbi", olam' , and the Greek niutv or aiw- vioQ (both frequently "everlasting," "ever," etc.),
ETERNAL
314
ETERNAL LIFE
besides occasionally of O'lJ!?, h/dem (strictly early, of yore, referriiit; to the past, Deut. xxxiii, 27, elsewhere "ancient," "of old," etc.), and dtctoc (Itoin. i, '20; "everlasting," Jude C), which is kindred in etymology and import with aimnoQ. Both cbi:? and atojv are properly represented by "eternal," inasmuch as they usually refer to indefinite tnwa past as well as future. The former is from the root C?:', to hide, and thus strictly designates the occult time of the past, q. d. "time out of mind," or time immemorial (I'sa. cxxix, 24 ; Jer. vi, IG ; xviii, 15 ; Jol) xxii, 15 ; Amos ix, 11 ; Deut. xxxii, 7; Prov. xxii, 28; Psa. xxiv, 7; cxliii, 3 ; Ezek. xxvi, 20), but not necessarily remote antiq- uity (Psa. cxxxix, 24 ; Job xxii, 15 ; Jer. vi, 16 ; xviii, 15 ; Dan. ix, 24 ; and especially Isa. Iviii, 12 ; Ixi, 4). Prospectively it denotes an indefinite time to come, forever, i. e. relatively, e. g. to an individual life (Deut. XV, 17; Exod. xxi, G; 1 Sam. xxvii, 12, etc.), that of a race (1 Sam. ii, 20; xiii, 12; 2 Sam. vii, IG ; 1 Chron. xvii, 12, etc.), or of the present constitution of the universe (Eccles. i, 4 ; Psa. civ, 5 ; Ixxviii, G9, etc.); or absolutely (Gen. xvii, 7; xvii, 8; Exod. xii, 14 ; Jer. li, 39 ; Eccles. xii, 5, etc.). Yet that the na- ture of the subject is to apply the only limitation is shown by the fact that while the term is used of God in the widest sense, both of the past and future (Gen. xxi, 33; Isa. xl, 28; Dan. xii, 7), it is also emploj^ed hj'perbolicall}' or poetically of a "good long period" (Isa. XXX, 14, 15), especially in salutations and invoca- tions (1 Kings i, 31 ; Neh. ii, 3). In all these significa- tions and applications it is often used in the plural (ni^bi:'), whether past (Isa. li, 9 ; Dan. ix, 24 ; Ec- cles. i, 10) or future (Psa. Ixi, 5; Ixxvii, 6, etc.), and this sometimes in a reduplicated form, like "ages of ages" (aiiopcc). Peculiar is the Kabbinical usage (Buxtorf, Lex. Tulin. col. 1G20) f(n- the world (so Greek alio)'), but only in Eccles. iii, 11. — Gesenius's and Furst's Ileb. Lex. s. v. ; Hommel, De vi vocis obi" (Wittemb. 1795).
The Greek term alw> remarkably corresponds to the Hebrew a31> in nearly all these senses, and is its nsual rendering iu'tlio Sept. It is derived from «ai, aiix), to breathe, or directly from the adverb oti (orig- inally alii), always (itself an old dative from an obso- lete noun «/po(,' or «i'oi> = Lat. aimm, probably derived from cioj, and the same in root with the English ever, and also, perhaps, aye), with the locative termination -01' appended to the root. The adjective aiwvioQ, with which we are herj more directly concerned, follows most of the shades of meaning and appropriations of the primitive. Its general import is enduring, perpetu- ul. In the N. T. it is spoken of the past in a restricted manner, in the sense of ancient or primeval (Rom. xvi, 25; 2 Tim. i, 9; Titus i, 2); or of the past and future alisolut^ly (IJom. xvi, 26; Hob. ix, 14); elsewhere of the future, in an unlimited sense, endless (2 Cor. iv, 18 ; V, 1 ; Luke xvi, 9 ; Heb. xiii, 20 ; ix, 12 ; Kev. xiv, 6 ; ITim.vi, 16 ; Philcm. 15), as of the prospect of Christ's kingdom (2 Pet. i, 11), but especially of the happj' fu- ture of the saints in heaven (particularly in the phrase "life everlasting," :Matt. xix, 16, 29;" xxv, 46, and often), or the miserable fate of the wicked in liell (e. g. as punishment, JIatt. xxv, 46; condemnation, Mark iii, 29 ; judgment, Heb. vi, 2 ; destruction, 2 Thess. i, 9, or fire, Jlatt. xviii, 8 ; xxv, 41 ; Jude 7). — Robin- son, Lex. of the N. T. s. v. ; Leavitt, in the Christian J\fonth. Spect. ix, 617; Goodwin, in the Chris. Exam- inir, ix, 20; x, 34, 166; xii, 97, 169; Stuart, in the Spirit of the Pilgrims, ii, 405 ; Cremer, Wijrterbuch d. N. T. Gracitat, p. 46.
Eternal Life (I'oj?) aithvioc). I. Biblical Usage of the Terms. — 1. In the O.^T. we find this expression occurring only in Dan. xii, 2 : Some shall aicaken "^"rh dii^, Sept. £('c 4'w>;t' alojviov, the others cbl" "j'iX'nib.
For the first indication on this point. Lev. xviii, 5; Ezek. XX, 11 ; xviii, 21 ; Habak. ii, 4 (comp. Gal. iii, 11, 12) ; Psa. xxxiv, 13 (comp. 1 Pet. iii, 10) are to be referred to.