Page:A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament.djvu/43

αἰών Greek authors &emsp; 1. age (Lat. aevum, which is 🇬🇷 with the Aeolic digamma), a human lifetime (in Hom., Hdt., Pind., Tragic poets), life itself (Hom. Il. 5, 685 🇬🇷 etc.). &emsp; 2. an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, (Plat. Tim. p. 37 d. 38 a.; Tim. Locr. p. 97 d. [quoted below]; Plut., al.). With this signification the Hebrew and Rabbinic idea of the word (of which in the Sept. 🇬🇷 is the equiv.) combines in the bibl. and eccl. writ. Hence in the N. T. used &emsp; 1. &ensp; a. univ.: in the phrases 🇬🇷, (Gen. vi. 3), for ever, Jn. vi. 51, 58; xiv. 16; Heb. v. 6; vi. 20, etc.; and strengthened 🇬🇷, Heb. i. 8 [fr. Ps. xliv. (xlv.) 7 Alex., cf. W. § 36, 2] (Tob. vi. 18; Ps. lxxxii. (lxxxiii.) 18, etc.); 🇬🇷, Jude 13; 🇬🇷 unto the day which is eternity (gen. of appos.), 2 Pet. iii. 18 [cf. Sir. xviii. 10 (9)]; with a negation: never, Jn. iv. 14 [Lchm. in br.]; viii. 51; x. 28; xi. 26; xiii. 8; 1 Co. viii. 13; or not for ever, not always, Jn. viii. 35; 🇬🇷 unto the ages, i. e. as long as time shall be (the plur. denotes the individual ages whose sum is eternity): [Lk. i. 33]; Ro. i. 25; ix. 5; xi. 36; [xvi. 27 R G Tr WH]; 2 Co. xi. 31; Heb. xiii. 8; 🇬🇷, Jude 25; 🇬🇷 (in which expression the endless future is divided up into various periods, the shorter of which are comprehended in the longer [cf. W. § 36, 2; among the various phrases to express duration composed of this word with prep. or adjuncts, (which to the number of more than fifteen are to be found in the Sept., cf. Vaughan on Ro. i. 25), this combination of the double plural seems to be peculiar to the N. T.]): [Ro. xvi. 27 L T]; Gal. i. 5: [Phil. iv. 20]; 1 Tim. i. 17; [2 Tim. iv. 18; 1 Pet. iv. 11]; Rev. i. 6, 18; iv. 9 sq.; v. 13; vii. 12; x. 6; xi. 15; xv. 7; xix. 3; xx. 10; xxii. 5; 🇬🇷, Rev. xiv. 11; 🇬🇷 the (whole) age embracing the (shorter) ages, Eph. iii. 21 (cf. Mey. [or Ellic.] ad loc.); 🇬🇷 from the ages down, from eternity, Col. i. 26; Eph. iii. 9; 🇬🇷 before time was, before the foundation of the world, 1 Co. ii. 7; 🇬🇷 eternal purpose, Eph iii. 11. &ensp; b. in hyperbolic and popular usage: 🇬🇷 (, Gen. vi. 4, cf. Deut. xxxii. 7) from the most ancient time down, (within the memory of man), from of old, Lk. i. 70; Acts iii. 21; xv. 18, (Tob. iv. 12 🇬🇷; Longin. 34 🇬🇷); also 🇬🇷, Jn. ix. 32, (1 Esdr. ii. 19, 22 (23); Diod. iv. 83 of the temple of Venus 🇬🇷, 17, 1 🇬🇷, (excerpt. de legat. xl.] p. 632 🇬🇷). &emsp; 2. by meton. of the container for the contained, 🇬🇷 denotes the worlds, the universe, i. e. the aggregate of things contained in time, [on the plur. cf. W. 176 (166); B. 24 (21)]: Heb. i. 2; xi. 3; and (?) 1 Tim. i. 17: [Rev. xv. 3 WH txt.; cf. Ps. cxliv. (cxlv.) 13; Tob. xiii. 6, 10; Sir. xxxvi. 22; Philo de plant. Noë § 12 bis; de mundo § 7; Joseph. antt. 1, 18, 7; Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 61, 2; 35, 3 (🇬🇷); 55, 6 (🇬🇷): Constt. Ap. 7, 34; see Abbot in Journ. Soc. Bibl. Lit. etc. i. p. 106 n.]. So 🇬🇷 in Sap. xiii. 9; xiv. 6; xviii. 4; the same use occurs in the Talmud, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic; cf. Bleek, Hebräerbr. ii. 1, p. 36 sqq.; Gesenius, Thesaur. ii. p. 1036; [cf. the use of 🇬🇷 in the Fathers i. q. the world of mankind, e. g. Ignat. ad Eph. 19, 2]. &emsp; 3. As the Jews distinguished the time before the Messiah, and   the time after the advent of the Messiah (cf. Riehm, Lehrb. d. Hebräerbr. p. 204 sqq.; [Schürer § 29, 9]), so most of the N. T. writers distinguish 🇬🇷 this age (also simply 🇬🇷, Mt. xiii. 22; Mk. iv. 19 G L T Tr WH; 🇬🇷; Gal. i. 4; 🇬🇷, 1 Tim. vi. 17; [2 Tim. iv. 10]; Tit. ii. 12), the time before the appointed return or truly Messianic advent of Christ (i.e. the 🇬🇷, q. v.), the period of instability, weakness, impiety, wickedness, calamity, misery,—and 🇬🇷 the future age (also 🇬🇷, Lk. xx. 35; 🇬🇷, Lk. xviii. 30; Mk. x. 30; 🇬🇷, Eph. ii. 7), i. e. the age after the return of Christ in majesty, the period of the consummate establishment of the divine kingdom and all its blessings: Mt. xii. 32; Eph. i. 21; cf. Fritzsche on Rom. vol. iii. 22 sq. Hence the things of ‘this age’ are mentioned in the N. T. with censure: 🇬🇷, by meton. men controlled by the thoughts and pursuits of this present time, Ro. xii. 2, the same who are called 🇬🇷 in Lk. xvi. 8; xx. 34; 🇬🇷 conformably to the age to which this (wicked) world belongs, Eph. ii. 2 [cf. Trench § lix. sub fin.]; 🇬🇷, 2 Tim. iv. 10 (see 🇬🇷); 🇬🇷, 1 Co. ii. 6 (see 🇬🇷); 🇬🇷 the devil, who rules the thoughts and deeds of the men of this age, 2 Co. iv. 4; 🇬🇷 the anxieties for the things of this age, Mk. iv. 19; 🇬🇷 rich in worldly wealth, 1 Tim. vi. 17; 🇬🇷. such wisdom as belongs to this age,—full of error, arrogant, hostile to the gospel, 1 Co. ii. 6; 🇬🇷. disputer, sophist, such as we now find him, 1 Co. i. 20; 🇬🇷. the end, or rather consummation, of the age preceding Christ's return, with which will be connected the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, the demolition of this world and its restoration to a more excellent condition [cf. 4 Esdr. vii. 43], Mt. xiii. 39 sq. 49; xxiv. 3; xxviii. 20; it is called 🇬🇷 in Heb. ix. 26 [so Test. xii. Patr., test. Levi 10, test. Benj. 11 (cf. Vorstman p. 133)]; 🇬🇷 the ends (last part) of the ages before the return of Christ, 1 Co. x. 11; 🇬🇷 powers which present themselves from the future or divine order of things, i.e. the Holy Spirit, Heb. vi. 5; 🇬🇷 tο partake of the blessings of the future age, Lk. xx. 35. Among the N. T. writers James does not use the word 🇬🇷.

[On the word in its relation to 🇬🇷 see Trench § lix. Its biblical sense and its relation to are discussed by Stuart, Exeget. Essays on Words relating to Fut. Punishment, Andover, 1830 (and Presbyt. Publ. Committee, Phil.); Tayler Lewis in Lange’s Com. on Eccl. pp. 44-51; J. W. Hanson, Aion-Aionios, (pp. 174), Chicago, 1880. See esp.