The adjectival form of a word does not always have the same connotation as the nominal form—or the verbal form for that matter. For example, the adjective “likely” has a quite different meaning from the verbal form “like.”
This is the case with the Greek adjective “αιωνιος” (aiōnios) This adjective has a different meaning from the nominal form “αιων” (aiōn). Whereas the noun “αιων” basically means “an age,” it does not follow that the adjective “αιωνιος” means “age-long” as some affirm, or that it has any other direct meaning related to “age.” That may not be good news for those of us who deny that “αιωνιος” means “eternal” (I, too deny it) but I think we will find that the meaning “lasting” fits every context. And it makes perfect sense in Matthew 25:46
Yes κολασις (kolasis) means “correction” not “punishment.” The word was originally used to denote the pruning of plants in order to correct their growth. Later the same word was used in reference to correcting children’s behaviour.
Now it would be impossible to administer “eternal correction.” For if it were eternal, those receiving it would NEVER become corrected!
The adjective “αιωνιος” does not denote any period of time—long or short. When used to describe something, it says only that it lasts.
The word was used in koine Greek (the Greek spoken from 300 B.C. to 300 A.D.) to refer to anything which is enduring. The word was used by Diodorus Siculus to describe the stone used to build a wall. The word seems to have been used as meaning “lasting” or “durable”.
Josephus in “The Wars of the Jews” book 6, states that Jonathan was condemned to “αἰωνιος” imprisonment. Yet that prison sentence is said to have lasted only three years.
The word is used in the Septuagint to indicate the length of time that Jonah was in the belly of the fish (only three days).
The fact that “αἰωνιος” is used to describe God (who is eternal) doesn’t prove the word means “eternal,” just as the fact that it was used to describe the length of time that Jonah was in the belly of the fish proves that “αἰωνιος” means “for three days.”
So again, "