Please show me any Greek grammar which says "When [aion/aionios] is used to describe God, His domain or our salvation it means a spiritual existence without end. When it is applied to temporal physical things (everything else), then it has a finite meaning?"
First of all, the only place in the Old Testament where the correct usage of “eternity” is used (transliterated – ad)is in Isaiah 57:15.
“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’” Eternity here means: “continued duration, always or perpetually. It is translated 41 times as ever; twice as everlasting; once as end; once as old; once as evermore; and once as perpetually.” (Strong's Concordance)
In most of these usages, God, His power or our salvation is described. Keep in mind, He inhabits eternity. And btw, technically, eternity goes in both directions with no beginning and no end, therefore only God inhabits eternity and He invites us into His realm. So we enter and move forward. Everything on earth is temporal and even the physical heavens as well. Obviously, Hades, the Lake of Fire did not always exist, therefore it is not eternal, but temporal and so will pass away as all former things will be destroyed. Death, Evil, Sin, Hades will pass away and be destroyed, Satan and his demonic horde as well – temporal.
This Hebrew word, “ad” is translated three different ways in this verse:
“He stood, and measured the earth: He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; His ways are everlasting.” Hab. 3:6 KJV Are mountains and hills everlasting or perpetual? No. In other versions, eternal is used. Does everlasting mean the same as eternal? Not really, In the English language we understand everlasting and forever to mean eternal, but mountains aren’t eternal. His ways are eternal but mountains will pass away.
Here is another version of that same verse that makes more sense:
“He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.” Hab. 3:6 WEB So we see variations in the translations.
“Forever” and “ever” are English terms. They are translated from the Hebrew word
owlam and the Greek word,
aion. They usually mean any period of time: lifetime, generation, epoch, eon, age (past or future) or the world. This Greek word for everlasting originally meant: age-lasting or age-during. Mountains last for an age and the age of the earth is finite.
Aionios would mean many lifetimes, generations or simply ages and ages. Both
aion and
aionios (or
aionion) sometimes mean a period of time pointing forward infinitely. Therefore, these words have variable meanings.
So to answer your question, here are some examples where these words represent God’s domain, our salvation:
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:11 NIV We are in Christ, therefore, in eternity. This of course means that we are currently living in two realms.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:18 KJV
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Rom. 1:25 KJV
“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Rom. 11:36 KJV
“According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eph. 3:11 KJV
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim.1:17 KJV
But the Word of the Lord endureth forever …” 1 Peter 1:25 KJV
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ASV
“He that believeth on the son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36 KJV
Other verses: Matt. 6:13; Luke 1:33; John 6:51; Gal. 1:4, 5; Heb.13:8;
1 Peter1:23; 1 John 2:17; Jude 25; Rev. 5:13; Pslam 37:18; Matt. 19:16
Here are some examples of aion, aionios used to mean temporal periods of time:
“Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.”
1 Cor. 10:11 ASV Ages or world is used in most versions since “the ends of eternity” doesn’t make sense.
In Rev. 22:5 this same word is translated as “for ever” which applies to eternal life in the new earth. “
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:7 ASV
“far above all principality, and authority, and might and lordship, and every name named, not only in this age, but in the coming one;” Eph. 1:21 YLT
“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in god, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9 KJV
“And wisdom we speak among the perfect, and wisdom not of this age , nor of the rulers of this age -- of those becoming useless.” 1 Cor. 2:6 YLT
“Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never (not ever) wash my feet …” John 13:8 ASV
“for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” Gen. 13:15 NKJV Young’s version says, “to the age”. Have the Jews possessed all that land to this day? No. They had it, they lost it several times and now they only have part of it. “for ages” can be used as well)
In Exodus 12:17, observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread was not an “everlasting” ordinance, used in NKJV. Again, these were temporal feasts celebrated throughout the Jewish generations. It lasted for ages, not eternal.
Ex. 27:20, 21, orders the children of Israel to burn the lamp “always” and then it would be a statute “for ever” does not imply eternal, but temporal. Did the lamp go out, does the statute continue? Just for generations, ages.
One of the key verses to examine is Matt. 25:46. Here we see the translators were cautious using the same word in different ways:
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” KJV Why here and not in other places? They knew the difference between everlasting and eternal. This verse shows the tension between two realms, one spiritual and one temporal. Here variable meanings are expressed but in other versions more accurately
: “And these shall go away to punishment age-during , but the righteous into life age-during.” YLT
NIV and NASB use eternal in both phrases.
“And these shall go away into the Punishment of the Ages, but the righteous into the Life of the Ages.” Weymouth New Testament
Punish comes from
kolasis which means
cutting off so (cutting off of the ages and eternal life) would give us a better understanding of this verse.
Perish and
destroy mean to
utterly ruin, consume; demolish; to put an end to; to kill. Perish sometimes means lost or no longer fit for intended us, or marred,
but when referring to the death of both body and soul, the first definition is correctly represented.
When God chooses He can place or allow someone or thing thing to be in fire and not be destroyed. See e.g.
Exodus 3:2 the burning bush
Daniel 3:23 The 3 Hebrew slaves
Really, the burning bush and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? We have the glory of God’s fire and then a miracle of God’s protection in fire to compare to punishment in the Lake of Fire?
Death is the point in time end of life, it has no physical presence therefore it cannot literally be thrown anywhere. But there is a death which can be thrown into the LofF.
Revelation 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.The angels of death and hades will be thrown into the LofF and their power to kill ended.
Is the angel of death God’s angel or is he Satan’s? God sends judgment upon the earth, the four horsemen. It appears to me that these are God’s angels who inflict judgment and blow the trumpets and pour the bowels out. I do not think they will be destroyed or punished. However death itself and Hades (a place) will be destroyed.
How was God glorified when He destroyed all the people on the earth, old, young, men women, children, infants, except for Noah and his family? How was God glorified when the destroyed all the people in Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, old, young, men, women, children, infants? How was God glorified when He commanded Israel to go into Canaan and destroy the cites and everyone in them old, young, men. women, children infants?
Deuteronomy 32:25
(25) The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
Exactly, as He destroyed the earth once, He put an end to those people. It is His prerogative to have them suffer for eons of time in Hades and then destroy them in the Lake of Fire or to just put an end to them within hours. Either way, God is not glorified in these acts of punishment. He is grieved, but He is a God of justice and sin needs to be fairly judged.
