The following is a sample chapter of Hell and Eternity Its all Greek to me by A. Wayne.

. ISBN 978147508400 In the New Testament, the word eternal is translated from three Greek wordsthose words are aidios, aionios and aion. In the Old Testament we see several words translated as everlasting or eternal, but the main one of focus is the Hebrew word olam.

AIDIOS
The first word, and by the far the most simple to understand is the Greek word aidios. The definition aidios from Strongs Concordance is as follows: aidios: everlasting Original Word: , Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: aidios Phonetic Spelling: (ah-id'-ee-os) Short Definition: eternal Definition: eternal, everlasting.1 It is plain to see that the word aidios unquestionably means eternal and should be translated as eternal or everlasting in all translations of the Bible. Interestingly enough, this word occurs only twice in the entire New Testament. In Romans: Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made2 As well as in Jude: And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.3 If this word, that unquestionably means eternal or everlasting only occurs twice in the entire Bible, and never refers to the afterlife, you might be wondering what other words get translated as eternal. Read on to find out.

1 2

http://concordances.org/greek/126.htm Romans 1:20 (NRSV, truncated) 3 Jude 1:6 (NRSV)

AION
The definition of aion as put forth by Strongs Concordance is as follows: ain: a space of time, an age Original Word: , , Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: ain Phonetic Spelling: (ahee-ohn') Short Definition: an age, a cycle of time Definition: an age, a cycle (of time), especially of the present age as contrasted with the future age, and of one of a series of ages stretching to infinity.4 From Strongs concordance we see a fairly simple definition. Strongs immediate definition (next to the word) is a space of time or an age. This is easy enough to understand, especially when we consider that the English word eon is actually derived from the Greek word aion. The short definition says it slightly differently, but with the same idea, as an age or a cycle of time. Finally, the long definition adds in the fact that it usually is contrasting this age to a future one and one of a series of ages stretching into infinity. Therefore, its clear that this word aion has no reference at all to eternity excepting that it refers to an age that is one of a series of ages contained within eternity. Therefore to translate the word aion into eternal, everlasting, forever or any similar word is irresponsible not to mention misleading. Yet, of the many times that aion occurs in the Greek, the NASB translates this word in the following ways: age (20), ages (6), ancient time (1), beginning of time (1), course (1), eternal (2), eternity (1), ever (2), forever (27), forever and ever (20), forevermore (2), long ago (1), never (1), old (1), time (1), world (7), worlds (1). As you can see its translated as eternal, eternity, forever, forever and ever and forevermore a total of 52 times! Thats over half of the occurrences translated incorrectly.
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http://concordances.org/greek/165.htm

Strongs Concordance doesnt even hint at eternity in its definition of the word. One also has to wonder how this simple word aion gets translated as both forever and forever and ever. The translators have clearly added words in this case where they do not even exist. In Rob Bells book Love Wins, Mr. Bell makes a case that the word aion refers to an intensity of experience and this is verified by HELPSTM Word Study: 165 ain (see also the cognate adjective, 166 /ainios, "age-long") properly, an age (era, "time-span"), characterized by a specific quality (type of existence).5 You can see Rob Bells claim that it refers to a quality or type of existence is validated from this source. Now the problem with Rob Bells book is that it does not address one other word, and that word is aionios, although it does come from the root word aion, most argue that the definition is actually different. So, lets look at the definition of aionios.

AIONIOS
Again from Strongs Concordance, here is the definition of aionios: ainios: agelong, eternal Original Word: , , Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: ainios Phonetic Spelling: (ahee-o'-nee-os) Short Definition: eternal, unending Definition: age-long, and therefore: practically eternal, unending; partaking of the character of that which lasts for an age, as contrasted with that which is brief and fleeting.6 This definition is a little more confusing. The immediate definition says agelong or eternal. This is odd because we know that an age is not eternal; these two definitions do not fit together. The definitions of this word are strange. The short definition gives us eternal or unending. The long definition, (which on the previous word aion was the same as the short but with added clarification) actually starts out with age-long again. It then goes on to say that its practically eternal. While practically eternal may be a long time, it is certainly not the same thing.

5 6

http://concordances.org/greek/165.htm http://concordances.org/greek/166.htm

The last part sums it up as partaking of the character of that which lasts for an age. When we see the immediate definition and the long definition, it becomes apparent that age-long is the most accurate definition, especially considering the fact that we already know that aion, its root word, means an age. When we consider the fact that aion is a noun and aionios is an adjective this further points to age-long as the correct definition. For even more evidence of this, see this excerpt from the HELPSTM Word Study: Cognate: 166 ainios (an adjective, derived from 165 /ain ("an age, having a particular character and quality") properly, "age-like" ("like-an-age"), i.e. an "age-characteristic" (the quality describing a particular age); (figuratively) the unique quality (reality) of God's life at work in the believer, i.e. as the Lord manifests His self-existent life (as it is in His sinless abode of heaven).7 You can see that this not only further validates my point that aionios refers to age-long, but also shares a similar quality with aion in that it describes the quality of a given age. Remember also that the HELPSTM Word Study on aion actually refers to ainios which it calls age-long. HELPSTM Word Study further elaborates: [166 (ainios) does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age (165 /ain) it relates to. Thus believers live in "eternal (166 /ainios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession. (Note the Gk present tense of having eternal life in Jn 3:36, 5:24, 6:47; cf. Ro 6:23.)]8 Interestingly, its stated that this aionios life is experienced right now and notes the present tense of various verses including John 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life9 These resources, Strongs Concordance and the HELPSTM Word Studies are written by far more intelligent and scholarly individuals than myself. After I read these sources and these definitions, as well as the definition of aion, it became abundantly clear to me that this word should always be translated as something akin to age-long and yet in most popular Bible translations its always translated as eternal, eternity, forever and other similar words. I find it both misleading and, frankly, insulting that the authors felt the need to use a secondary definition of aionios throughout the entire Bible and not even provide the courtesy of a footnote.
7 8

http://concordances.org/greek/166.htm http://concordances.org/greek/166.htm 9 John 3:36 (NRSV, truncated)

GREEK SUMMARY FOR ETERNAL

While the word aidios literally means eternal or everlasting, the words aion and aionios are clearly meant to refer to an age or a quality or description of an age not eternal. If youre still not convinced, consider this stunning fact: Of the estimated 9 to 15 authors of the New Testament, every single one of them uses the word aionios in every verse that refers to the afterlife. Why would all of the authors choose to use this word instead of aidios which so clearly means eternal? Most perplexing of all, in the book of Romans, Paul uses the word aidios when describing Gods eternal power. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal [aidios] power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse.10 In the very next chapter of Romans, however, he uses aionios to describe the afterlife. To those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal [aionios] life.11 Clearly, this illustrates that it was not simply Pauls preference to use aidios instead of aionios to mean eternal. Instead, this points to the fact that these words have two different meanings. If this word aionios actually means age-long, then it has pretty serious implications about the afterlife and particularly punishment in the afterlife. It denotes a finite duration, that may be a long period and even be practically eternal, but there is a big difference between practically eternal and actually eternal. At this point, a question is bound to arise on the subject of Heaven: Are there verses which also use the word aionios? The answer is yes, because they refer to Heaven in its current temporary form. While some are bound to be punished, there will also be those who are to be rewarded for an age. Though highly speculative, the Bible seems to indicate in Revelation that martyrs of the Christian faith are among those who will be in the current Heaven for an age. When I say current Heaven, I am saying this because Revelation speaks of a New Heaven, but this will be expanded upon more in later chapters. While some may speculate that aionios could mean eternal or everlasting, I think that the message is clear in the Bible. If every author chose to use this word instead of aidios (which is infinitely clearer) when referring to the afterlife, then I cant chalk that up to an oversight of the authors. They deliberately avoid the word aidios when referring to the afterlife because other religions were
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Romans 1:20 (NRSV) Romans 2:7 (NRSV)

preaching eternal or aidios punishment and these authors did not want their ideas of the ages to come mixed up with pagan ideas of eternity.

OLAM
In the Old Testament, there is one particular verse that people often point to as proof for an eternal hell outside of the New Testament: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.12 Since the Old Testament is predominantly Hebrew, I did not expect the word for everlasting to suffer the same translation discrepancy as the Greek. To my complete surprise, it does! The word olam suffers from the same problems that aionios does. Its definition from Strongs Concordance is as follows: olam: long duration, antiquity, futurity Original Word: Transliteration: olam Phonetic Spelling: (o-lawm') Short Definition: forever13 The immediate definition is long duration, antiquity or futurity. Im not sure how the short definition then gets defined as forever. There is no long definition in Strongs concordance for this Hebrew word, but we can look at what Strongs Exhaustive Concordance says about it: Or lolam {o-lawm'}; from alam; properly, concealed, i.e. The vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always -- alway(-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, (n))ever(-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end).14 Exhaustive is right! There are many definitions given for olam in this exhaustive concordance, but a couple important things to note are:

12 13

Daniel 12:2 (NRSV) http://concordances.org/hebrew/5769.htm 14 http://concordances.org/hebrew/5769.htm

1. Its derived from the Hebrew word alam 2. It has definitions consistent with aionios such as practically eternal and lasting a long time. With that in mind, lets look at the Hebrew word from which it is derived, alam. alam: to conceal Original Word: Transliteration: alam Phonetic Spelling: (aw-lam') Short Definition: hidden15 Thats it! The exhaustive concordance on this one doesnt even have a whole lot to say, and youre welcome to look it up yourself. Unfortunately, looking at the root word does not give us conclusive proof of what the word olam means, but it does give us an idea that it has something to do with being hidden or concealed. However, the similarity of the definition to the Greek word aionios raises some questions. If only there was a way to know what the Greek equivalent is to the Hebrew word olam. Luckily, there is. In the Septuagint (sep-too-uh-jint), often abbreviated as simply LXX, which is the translation of the Old Testament into Greek translated in stages between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, the Hebrew word olam is in fact always translated into the Greek aionios. In terms of reliability its important to note that the Septuagint was in fact directly quoted from by many of the writers of the New Testament so they obviously viewed it as reliable. If olam is translated in the Septuagint as aionios, then I need not go any further. Olam and aionios unquestionably have the same meaning; at least the writers of the New Testament who quoted from the Septuagint would have to agree. As a side note, the word olam is not even consistently translated as eternal or everlasting, but sometimes even as such phrases as days of old. In fact, Jonah describes his time in the belly of the whale as an olam duration. Three days? Is that what everlasting means? This not only raises questions as to the validity of translating olam as everlasting, but also the word aionios since these two words are equivalent in their respective languages.

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http://concordances.org/hebrew/5956.htm

ETERNAL SUMMARY
Weve studied quite a few words in this chapter about the English word eternal. I briefly looked at the Greek word aidios and its unquestionable definition of eternal, and also noted that it is not used once in the entire New Testament when speaking of the afterlife. Aion and aionios were both looked at thoroughly and I believe quite conclusively were shown to not mean eternal, but rather mean an age, pertaining to an age or age-long. Moving on to Hebrew, the word olam was studied as well as its root word alam. Olam was shown conclusively to mean the exact same thing as aionios thanks to the Septuagint, and should be something akin to age-long. By cross comparison, Ive shown that both olam and aionios cannot mean eternal, especially considering the varying definitions that olam has, including a period of time referring to three days. The Hebrew words that should be translated as eternal are ad, meaning perpetuity16 and the word netsach meaning enduring, everlasting or perpetuity.17 Hopefully after reading this chapter, youve been enlightened to the fact that the Bible never refers to any eternal or everlasting punishment. I believe Ive proven this pretty much conclusively based on the Hebrew and Greek words. However, when looking into the Bible, we must consider it as a whole and also consider Gods character. Is eternal punishment more consistent with the rest of scripture and Gods loving character, or is a finite punishment more consistent? The answer to these questions will become clear in future chapters, but for now, I still have some Greek words to look at.

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http://concordances.org/hebrew/5703.htm http://concordances.org/hebrew/5331.htm