What age were the disciples referring to in Mathew 24:3?

Question

What age were Jesus' disciples referring to when they asked Him about signs of His coming? Some might believe this question relates to the end of the world if reading the KJ version:

KJ: Mat 24:3

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

But the word translated as 'World', 'Aion' seems better translated as 'Age', which is what we read in the NASB version:

NASB: Mat 24:3

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

If 'Age' is the correct translation, what age were they referring to?

Answer 1

This might simply be another example of confusion caused by a comma inserted by the translators. Compare it with:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?

There is one sign that applies both to Jesus's return and to the end of the age, and that's because this current age ends when Jesus returns.

During this current age, God is neither trying to save the world nor battling against Satan for souls. Rather, it is a time for recruiting and training a small number of elect, and now as we approach the end, a time to spread the Gospel to the world, including to those that will not believe it yet.

When Jesus returns, the elect will be resurrected or converted to immortality, to serve with him in the Kingdom during the Millennium. Peace will return to the Earth, and those people that are still living here will be converted to God's way of life, a process made easier for many by their previous knowledge of the Gospel.

That process will be a very dramatic change, and the world will obviously enter a new age.

(One might consider Jesus's ministry, Moses's recording of God's law, Abraham's covenant, Noah's restart, and Adam and Eve's expulsion as being similar transitions from one age to another.)

Answer 2

It appears that there are a least a couple of questions wrapped up here:

1. Is "age" the best translation?
2. If so, to what does it refer?

Here's a bit of Vine's on "age":

[ A-1,Noun,G165, aion ] an age, era" (to be connected with aei, "ever," rather than with ao, "to breathe"), signifies a period of indefinite duration, or time viewed in relation to what takes place in the period.

The NT in the KJV was supposedly translated using textus receptus.

In all the versions I can find, Matt. 24:3 ends like so:

και της συντελειας του αιωνος

So I suppose that "age" is a very good translation of that. KJV isn't the only one to render this as "world", however. "Age" and "world" aren't the only options either. Here's another:

"time" - ERV (and others)

What does this mean, however? I suppose that's open for interpretation and will depend on a given individual's eschatology.

A simple answer given the context as described in verses 1 and 2 of the same chapter would be the destruction of the temple and the end of the Jewish era or "age".

However, many verses in Matthew chapter 24 point to something bigger than just the end of the Jewish era.

Answer 3

The disciples do not tell us (in that passage of scripture) what you want to know. They seem to have had one thing in mind, but if Jesus had more than one thing in mind, his answer would be the best way of finding that out. After all, many times people asked him questions that he either did not answer as they expected, or he told them a parable that sent them away thinking, in order to find the answer.

In this case, Jesus did not answer with a parable except much further along in the passage, when he could have switched to another (though related) matter. To begin with, he answered directly about signs that would point to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. That is the unarguable context from ch. 23 vs. 37 At the start he detailed signs that would NOT mark the end of that particular age - the age of temple worship based in Jerusalem (24:2). I agree that the best meaning is 'age'. The Greek for 'world' is not 'kosmos' but 'ouikomene' which means a localised area or the known inhabited earth at that time.

Jesus began by warning his disciples about being deceived regarding that matter. He foretold the arising of many false prophets, claiming to be the Christ (Messiah). He said not to heed rumours of wars, nor when nation arose against nation, nor when famine, pestilence and earthquakes happened in various places. They could expect that, "but the end is not yet" (vs. 6).

However, as Jesus went on to what would happen by way of signs, it appears he was getting them to think about a global situation that - at that time - they had no idea about. They were only thinking about the nation of Israel. He was directing them to think about the good news (gospel) of Christ being proclaimed world-wide. He foretold a time of tribulation "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (vss.21-22)

When the literal temple of Jerusalem was finally destroyed in A.D. 70 and thousands of Jews had died horribly or were taken off as slaves, that would fulfil some of the things Jesus foretold, yet by the time the aged apostle John received the visions of the revelation of Jesus Christ, circa A.D. 95, only then did more significance attach to Jesus' prophecy in Mat. 24. By then, the apostles would have experienced seeing the resurrected Christ and his return to heaven; by the time of the Revelation, they would recognise phrases about the greatest tribulation ever, of the days having to be cut short so that the elect would not be deceived, and Christ's spectacular descent from the clouds down to earth, for the Day of Judgment.

We may be confident that Christians entering the second century would have a greater insight into, and understanding of Jesus' Mat. 24 prophecy than when on that mount, asking Jesus face to face about Jerusalem's destruction. Likewise with ourselves today. We look at all those questions from our point of view, with a far greater grasp of what has happened after Jesus' prophecy. But you ask what the disciples were thinking at that time, long, long ago.

My answer is that they appeared to be thinking about the temple in Jerusalem being destroyed, thinking that would coincide with Jesus returning in triumph as Israel's king. That was the age they were thinking about, one that would end with that destruction. They had a lot to learn (as do we!)