The Evangelical Universalist Forum

AIWN and AIWNIOS

As my universalist theology makes no use of the ‘age enduring’ arguments I thought a well-written article by a fellow I used to post with on various theology boards some years ago (we both argued for the salvation of all) might be of interest. Haven’t heard from Apocatastasis (I called him [or her?] Apoc for short) for a long time, but saved this article he wrote for a theology board for possible future use. The link no longer works, apparently the thread has been deleted.

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Here is something I wrote and posted in the Biblical Languages forum. It is quite appropriate for this thread.

Anyone who has encountered and/or studied Christian Universalism has probably come across a subset of Christian Universalists who go to great lengths in denying that the Greek words AIWN and AIWNIOS ever, in Biblical usage, refer to eternity. They will uphold this position at the expense of defying virtually all current Biblical Greek scholarship.

These people will parrot a tired mantra, claiming that these Greek words do not mean what the Greek scholars would have us believe it means.

They base their rejection of the consensus of Greek scholarship on this issue (the consensus being that AIWNIOS is typically used in the New Testament to convey the notion of eternality) by appealing to an incredibly weak “law of grammar,” as they are fond of putting it: We are told that because a noun-based adjective must be semantically bound to the nounal root from which its derived, and because the noun AIWN always refers to a period of time, it follows that the adjective AIWNIOS must also refer to a period of time, and not eternity. There are, however, a few glaring errors with this argument:

  1. This argument is a textbook example of the etymologic fallacy also know as the “root fallacy.” Etymology is not enough to determine usage.

  2. English and Greek grammars, while similar on many fronts, do not follow the same set of grammatical laws.

  3. Even in English, many adjectives no longer retain the meaning of the noun from which they were originally derived. ‘Gorgeous’, ‘hideous’ and ‘monstrous’ come immediately to my mind.

  4. This argument presents an astounding denial of the dynamic nature of all languages: Words morph over time to mean something that cannot be gathered from its more ancient meanings, whether they be adjectives or the nouns from which they were formed.

  5. AIWN is in fact used in the plural to convey eternity (Luke 1:33, for example).

Many people have gotten a bad impression of Christian Universalist scholarship, considering it rather shoddy, because of the ridiculous dogmaticism of this subset of Universalists on this issue. It is thus my intention in this thread to show that the fact that AIWNIOS typically refers to eternality (even in verses such as Matthew 25:46 and 2 Thessalonians 1:9) is not at odds with the Biblical position that all sinners will finally be saved. I will seek to demonstrate that AIWNIOS, in the New Testament, typically conveys the notion of atemporality and functions as an epithet of divinity.

The late and great Greek scholar and Universalist, William Barclay, understood AIWNIOS to be the word of eternity in the sense of timelessness. Wrote Barclay, in his New Testament Words:

“The essence of the word aionios is that it is the word of the eternal order as contrasted with the order of this world; it is the word of deity as contrasted with humanity; essentially it is the word which can be properly applied to no one other than God. Aionios is the word which describes nothing less and nothing more than the life of God.”

Doesn’t this make good sense in light of the many verses which contrast things aeonian with the perishable things of this passing world?

Let’s examine some passages in light of what Barclay notes above.

“For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” - 2 Corinthians 5:1

Here AIWNIOS is used of the indissoluble things of Heaven in contrast to the things of the mundane world of corruption.

“…because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”- 2 Corinthians 4:18

In this verse, AIWNIOS describes that which human eyes have not seen, and ears have not heard, because they belong to the unseen realm of God.

“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” - John 6:27

AIWNIOS here refers to that Heavenly life which does not fade nor falter: It is the very life of Christ in contradistinction to the perishable life that humanity has in Adam.

This life that Christ gives - the very life of God - is not of this world, but is of the unseen realm of Spirit:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” - John 3:6

Bishop Wescott once wrote:

“In spiritual things we must guard against all conclusions which rest upon the notions of succession and duration. ‘Eternal life’ is that which St. Paul speaks of as 'e outos Zoe the life which is life indeed, and 'e zoe tou theou, the life of God. It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure.”

Indeed, from its first known appearance in Greek literature (Plato - see Timaeus 37d), AIWNIOS was used of that which transcends the world of time. This sense is retained in the New Testament, as is manifest considering that this word is routinely used in the New Testament contexts in which its juxtaposition to things perishable is manifest.

So then, what do we make of those verses which speak of “eternal destruction” and “eternal punishment”? Is it not that sort of destruction/punishment which originates in the eternal God?

“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” - 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9

Here we read that the wicked will be destroyed by Heavenly fire (note that the Greek word APO does not signify that the destruction consists in being away from God, but that the destruction comes from God). Aeonian destruction, evidently, is nonebut divine destruction, just as aeonian punishment is simply that sort of perfect parental punishment which originates in the Heavenly Father.

Yes, AIWNIOS means ‘eternal’ (in the sense of temporal-transcendence) and yes, this is perfectly compatible with Scriptural Universalism.

Apocatastasis

*All verses taken from the KJV.

forum.bible.org/viewtopic.php?t=8138