‘The word by itself, whether adjective or substantive, never means endless.” – Canon FARRAR “The conception of eternity, in the Semitic languages, is that of a long duration and series of ages” -Rev. J. S. BLUNT – Dict. of Theology. “‘Tis notoriously known,” says Bishop RUST, “that the Jews, whether writing in Hebrew or Greek, do by olam (the Hebrew word corresponding to aion), and aion mean any remarkable period and duration, linked here whether it be of life, or dispensation, or polity.” “The word aion is never used in Scripture, or anywhere else, in the sense of endlessness (vulgarly called eternity, it always meant, both in Scripture and out, a period of time; else how could it have a plural – how could you talk of the aeons and aeons of aeons as the Scripture does ?” – C. – See HUET, Orig. ii. p. 162.

In Num

Again, a point of great importance is this, that it would have been impossible for the Jews, as it is impossible for us, to accept Christ, except by assigning a limited – nay, a very limited duration – to those Mosaic ordinances which were said in the Old Testament to be “for ever,” to be “everlasting” (aeonian). Every line of the New Testament, nay, the very existence of Christianity is thus in fact a proof of the limited sense of aionios in Scripture. Our Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, our Holy Communion, every prayer uttered in a Christian Church, or in our homes, in the name of the Lord Jesus: our hopes of being “for ever with the Lord ” – these contain one and all an affirmation most real, though tacit, of the temporary sense of aionios.

KINGSLEY

As a further illustration of the meaning of aion and aionios, let me point out that in the Greek version of the Old Testament (the ong the Jews in Our Lord’s time, from which He and the Apostles usually quoted, and whose authority, therefore, should be decisive on this point – these terms are repeatedly applied to things that have long ceased to exist.

Thus the AARONIC priesthood is said to be “everlasting,” Num. xxv. 13. The land of Canaan is given as an “everlasting “possession. and “forever,” Gen. xvii. 8, and xiii. 15. In Deut. xxiii. 3, “for ever” is distinctly made an equivalent to “even to the tenth generation.” In Lam. v. 19, “for ever and ever” is the equivalent of from “generation to generation.” The inhabitants of Palestine are to be bondsmen “for ever, ” Lev. xxv. 46. xviii. 19, the heave offerings of the holy things are a covenant “for ever.” CALEB obtains his inheritance “for ever” Josh. xiv. 9. And DAVID’S seed is to endure “for ever,” his throne “for ever, ” his house “for ever ;” nay, the Passover is to endure “for ever ;” and in Isaiah xxxii. 14, the forts and towers shall be “dens for ever, until the spirit be poured upon us.” So in Jude vii., Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be suffering the vengeance of eternal (aeonian) fire, i.e., their temporal overthrow by fire, for they have a definite promise of final restoration.- Ez. xvi. 55.

Christ’s kingdom is to last “for ever,” yet we are distinctly told that this very kingdom is to end.- 1 Cor. xv. 24. Indeed, quotation might be added to quotation, both from the Bible and from early authors, to prove this limited meaning of aion and its derivatives; but enough has probably been said to prove that it is wholly impossible, and indeed absurd, to contend that any idea of endless duration is necessarily or commonly implied by either aion or aionios.