102 Meaning of Eternal. CHAP. 



characteristic and fundamental doctrine of Our Lord. 

 It has been generally believed that in this passage 

 "eternal" means absolutely endless, that "punish- 

 ment" means mere vengeance, and that fire means 

 nothing more than the infliction of the intensest pain. 

 But none of these interpretations can be sustained. 



The word cuwvto?, which is translated by eternal, 

 is derived from cuwv, an age, which signifies a time 

 of limited duration ; especially, in the New Testa- 

 ment, the period of the present world or the present 

 dispensation; as in the expression, "the harvest is 

 the end of the world," 1 where the exact translation, 

 given in the margin of the Eevised Version, is " the 

 consummation of the age." aiwvios is an indefinite 

 word; in most places it means only agelong \ and 

 there is at least one passage in the New Testament 

 where it is definitely used of time which, so far from 

 being endless, has already come to an end : " The 

 revelation of the mystery which has been kept in 

 silence through times eternal, but now is manifested ; 

 and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according 

 to the commandment of the eternal God, is made 

 known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith." 2 

 Here the word eternal is used twice ; being in the 

 one place applied to the times which ended with the 

 coming of Christ, and in the other to Him who 

 "hath immortality" by His essential nature. In 



1 Matt. xiii. 39. 



2 Rom. xvi. 25, 26. See also 2 Tim. i. 9, and Titus i. 2, for 

 the expression "before times eternal." 



