Outline
Actual place of my attention is John 3:15, where Jesus says about faith and life, though here we clearly read G166 - αἰώνιον (aionion), but I want to derive my understanding of it from usage of G165 — αἰών (aion).
John 3:15:
[TR] ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον
[YLT] that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during
[KJV and others] That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Prerequisites
The closest related question I found: What words existed in Greek to express the concept "eternal"?
Some answers to consider:
- examples from Plato, Herodotus, etc.
- "For a translator to translate the exact same Greek word into...words that completely contradicts each other is shocking to say the least"
There are also examples of usages of same words in different senses, that I took into my mind.
First one is Strong's G1391 - δόξα (doxa), which is used in scripture mainly meaning 'glory', while Thayer's Greek Lexicon points out it to was being used mainly as 'opinion/view/judgement' in Ancient Greek literature. It is clear, that sense of words "glory" and "opinion" are so close, that they allow some limited interchanging without initial sense being damaged.
Matthew 6:13:
[TR] καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοῦς αἰῶνας ἀμήν
[YLT] 'And mayest Thou not lead us to temptation, but deliver us from the evil, because Thine is the reign, and the power, and the glory -- to the ages. Amen.
[KJV] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
[my edit of KJV] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and 'opinions and views', for ever. Amen.
What is done here for glory and opinions, does not seem possible at all for ages and eternality.
The second is Strong's G2889 — κόσμος (kosmos), which, from my point of view, allows different reading of it not only in different places, but even in one place, just with a small notion to not imply exclusion by one reading of another one.
Here is a related question: What does the word "world" mean in John 3:16
And answers to consider:
- "..A.W. Pink maintained that there are 7 uses for the word "world".."
- "..in both John 3:16 and John 17:9 the referent of KOSMOS is temple-centric Judaism.."
- ..1 John 2:2 - kosmos is definitely the whole world there.."
There is also an answer from another question which supports the view of the κόσμος as a 'whole world': "..The Bible clearly teaches that the provision of salvation is universal but the actuality is not.."
That "whole-world" view does not seem to contradict the view of reading κόσμος as "temple-centric Judaism", if the narrow reading does not exclude the wide one. They can coexist easily, due to the fact that people of Israel is anyway special addressee, for better or for worse, - as those who held books of prophesies about Jesus. Even on 1 John 2:2, YLT: "and he -- he is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" — all discussion can be reduced to set of arguments about the unknown context, that a word "whole" holds here.
Again, this different reading approach of the same word do not seem applicable to G165 αἰών (aion), that stands for reading it as 'ages' and 'eternity' both, as being said earlier. Or is it (applicable)..?
Before the question
Now, here is a notable place to look at, which greatly supports argumentation against exclusive usage of αἰών (aion) in a sense of 'some ages'. It is in John 8:50-52.
50-51:
[TR] ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ ζητῶ τὴν δόξαν μου· ἔστιν ὁ ζητῶν καὶ κρίνων | ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ἐάν τις τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐμὸν τηρήσῃ θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
[YLT] and I do not seek my own glory; there is who is seeking and is judging; | verily, verily, I say to you, If any one may keep my word, death he may not see -- to the age
[KJV] And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. | Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death
Here, Young's approach could seem misleading into the opposite, but It's becoming 100% clear that it's a colloquial metaphor right in the next verse.
52:
[TR] εἶπον οὖν αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι Νῦν ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι δαιμόνιον ἔχεις Ἀβραὰμ ἀπέθανεν καὶ οἱ προφῆται καὶ σὺ λέγεις Ἐάν τις τὸν λόγον μου τηρήσῃ οὐ μὴ γεύσεται θανάτου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
[YLT] The Jews, therefore, said to him, - Now we have known that thou hast a demon; Abraham did die, and the prophets, and thou dost say, If any one may keep my word, he shall not taste of death -- to the age!
[KJV] Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
Even though he translated αἰῶνα to a word "age", it does not seem to be read like 'century' or 'age of 75', etc., does not seem at all, in light of the reference to dead people, that was made by answerers.
From the other side, there is a counter-argument, which not only goes against previous, but also lets translators to set basis for confusion αἰῶνα with G2889 - κόσμος (kosmos), that is typically translated to a word "world".
Luke 18:29-30:
[TR] ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδείς ἐστιν ὃς ἀφῆκεν οἰκίαν ἢ γονεῖς ἢ ἀδελφοὺς ἢ γυναῖκα ἢ τέκνα ἕνεκεν τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ | ὃς οὐ μὴ ἀπολάβῃ πολλαπλασίονα ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ ἐρχομένῳ ζωὴν αἰώνιον
[YLT] and he said to them, 'Verily I say to you, that there is not one who left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children, for the sake of the reign of God | who may not receive back manifold more in this time, and in the coming age, life age-during.'
[KJV] And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake | Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
And after all, there is a pair of verses from Revelation that adds even more confusion to word understanding:
10:6:
[TR] καὶ ὤμοσεν ἐν τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ὃς ἔκτισεν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ ὅτι χρόνος οὐκ ἔσται έτι·
[YLT] and did swear in Him who doth live to the ages of the ages, who did create the heaven and the things in it, and the land and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it -- that time shall not be yet,
[KJV] And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
21:1:
[TR] Καὶ εἶδον οὐρανὸν καινὸν καὶ γῆν καινήν ὁ γὰρ πρῶτος οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ πρώτη γῆ παρῆλθεν καὶ ἡ θάλασσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι
[YLT] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more
[KJV] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea
Firstly, characterising "Him" as a 'creator of heavens and land' pushes to interpret "ages of the ages" as 'eternality', but then there are a new heaven and a new earth, which pushes back to interpret "ages of the ages" just as 'unimaginable amount of ages'.
The question
What was the basis for translators' reasoning when they translated αἰών from Greek? Was it even close to the understanding of this word, that was held by writers of New Testament?
I have a strong feeling that the word αἰών had had very clean and simple sense under itself, not like 'period of time' suggested by dictionaries, but as clean as 'time' solely, for example; and it should had been so clear for ancient greeks, that it was even used as a colloquial metaphor in everyday life, being applied wherever in different manners. Is there any Early Church father, who wrote in Greek, and that can shed some light on the definition of this word, not just its usage known today? If not, is there any popular Ancient Greek philosopher, who put some effort in defining the word?
Answer on any of these questions would be helpful.
Post scriptum
There are also two close questions, but they do not outline the problem enough as I see it, and therefore answers could not be made on them:
- Luke 16:8, what is the accurate translation "age" or "world"?
- How does "eternal/aidiois" Jude 6 compare with "eternal/aioniou" Jude 7?
I don't read good in Greek, but it is quite obvious that ''αἰών'' is linked to one of major concepts used by some medieval gnostics under the term "aeon", which I don't know where they took from, but they are for sure not originators of its sense. There is an article on Wikipedia about Aion as a Greek deity, but it seems very dubious and does not give anything.
Thanks for reading, I hope my outline of struggle in understanding is clear enough.
