THESE terms are regarded by many as most positive proof of endless duration, and are applied to the future punishment of the wicked or condemned. But it is a remarkable fact that though the original words, aion and aionios occur 179 times in the New Testament, they are used only nine times in connection with punishment! Matt. xviii, 8; xxv, 41, 46; 2 Thess. i, 9; Mark iii, 29; Heb. vi, 2; 2 Pet. iii, 17; Jude vii, 13.
What! is the gospel, or \"good news,\" a special revelation of endless punishment, and yet the above assertion true! The original words denoting it are applied only in nine instances to any punishment from a usage of one hundred and seventy-nine times, and then by repetition in twenty instances, making its actual occurrence one hundred and ninety-nine times.
Learned critics and lexicographers all agree in rendering the nouns aion and aionios a space of time, past, present and future—an age whether longer or shorter—a long period of time—a lifetime—an eternity—a long duration, sometimes lasting. These words being ambiguous, we are to understand them according to the nature and circumstances of the things to which they are applied. The Greek authors employ these terms in a sense which excludes the idea of endless. PLATO has \"eternal drunkenness.\" EUSEBIUS, an early Christian ecclesiastical writer, says of the darkness of chaos preceding creation, \"they continued for a long eternity.\" \"Alter not the eternal boundaries,\" &c. Examples might be multiplied beyond number, Josephus employs aion thus, \"the everlasting name of the patriarchs;\" \"the everlasting glory of the Jewish nation,\" which ended 2000 years ago; \"the everlasting reputation\" of Herod; \"the everlasting worship\" in the temple which ceased 1800 years ago; \"the everlasting imprisonment\" to which John the tyrant was condemned, and could continue but a few years at most. Josephus and the apostles stood in the same relation to the Greek language, all embracing both Greek and Jewish elements for the meaning and usage of these words. There is also an entire scriptural harmony between these terms and their Hebrew equivalents, thus: \"I will give thee the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.\" Gen. xvii, 8, and in verse 13, \"my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.\" And yet the Jews have been driven from the land, and the covenant of circumcision these 1800 years. An everlasting priesthood was that of Aaron; yet it was put aside by God's authority, and the priesthood of Christ set up in its place. Ex. xl, 15.
There is no more authority for the belief, that the everlasting punishment of Matt. xxv, 46 is endless, than there is for believing the priesthood of Aaron to be endless. The word may sometimes mean literally, eternity; but its force is taken from the subject or person upon which, or to whom, it is addressed. Everlasting God means endless—it cannot mean otherwise, because God is immortal and eternal; not by any force of the word everlasting, for it borrows its sense of endlessness from God, not God from everlasting.