Aionios in 2Tim 1:9, Titus 1:2 and Rom 16:25

[Origen]

Those examples are rare exceptions.

Which examples? Rare exceptions of what?

Aionios means eternal, and context makes that clear in 90% of its uses.

We disagree there. IMO in the NT aionion means eonian.

If it means eternal, then do you believe in “eternal punishment” & fire (Mt.25:41,46) & eternal destruction (2 Thess.1:9), & eternal sin (Mk.3:29)? How about the parallel passage to Mt.25:41 with torments forever (Rev.20:10). Have you rejected universalism?

The fact that there are a few verses where interpreting aionios as eternal do not make sense if broken down literally doesn’t change that.

The meaning of any instance of aionion is determined by usage & its particular context.

[Origen]

In the comments section of this blog are some remarks that i found interesting, such as:

Aionios primarily refers to something that occurs during age(s) (which is a major theme of the new testament; multiple ages), which by definition occur inside a restricted time frame. Otherwise, you get nonsensical translations of certain passages which when translated literally would mean something like “to the eternity of eternities” or “forever and evers”, meaning multiple eternities. Or “in eternities past” or some other illogical nonsense like that.
It’s true that aionios can be applied TO eternal things, and can apparently be used to imply that in other respects, but it doesn’t have that intrinsic meaning in and of itself. If it did, it would work that way in every instance it is used, but it doesn’t.

Another reason that aionios cannot mean eternal (in the strictest sense) is that in order for something to truly be eternal, it must have no beginning as well as no end. If something has a beginning, then there had to be a point in time in which it started, which would automatically make it pertain to time.

Strong’s is amusingly self-contradictory on the point:

Strong’s Concordance
aiónios: agelong, eternal (how the hell can it mean age-long AND eternal? Those two concepts are not equivalent)
Original Word: αἰώνιος, ία, ιον
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: aiónios
Phonetic Spelling: (ahee-o’-nee-os)
Short Definition: eternal, unending (But wait for it…)

Definition: age-long, and therefore: practically eternal, unending; partaking of the character of that which lasts for an age, as contrasted with that which is brief and fleeting.

(Er, hang on; ACTUAL DEFINITION is age-long, yet this somehow means “practically eternal”? Give me a break. Also “Partaking of the CHARACTER of that which LASTS FOR AN AGE.” That sounds blatantly qualitative to me.)

HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 166 aiṓnios (an adjective, derived from 165 /aiṓn (“an age, having a particular character and quality”) – properly, “age-like” (“like-an-age”), i.e. an “age-characteristic” (the quality describing a particular age);

(figuratively) the unique QUALITY (reality) of God’s life at work in the believer, i.e. as the Lord manifests His self-existent life (as it is in His sinless abode of heaven).

(Again, sounds qualitative to me.)

"Eternal (166 /aiṓnios) life operates simultaneously outside of time, inside of time, and beyond time – i.e. what gives time its everlasting meaning for the believer through faith, yet is also time-independent. See 165 (aiōn).

(I’m sorry, but this is gibberish. It’s independent or outside of time but also occurs within it?)

[166 (aiṓnios) does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the QUALITY of the age (165 /aiṓn) it relates to.

(Yeah, I’m pretty sure this was basically a point I raised. It pertains to a finite period of TIME. So how does it mean eternal or endless again?)

Thus believers live in “eternal (166 /aiṓnios) life” right now, experiencing this QUALITY of God’s life now as a present possession. (Note the Gk present tense of having eternal life in Jn 3:36, 5:24, 6:47; cf. Ro 6:23.)]

This last note is interesting as well. The Greek in all of those passages referenced is in present tense when referring to “eternal” life. Again, time-bound.

Even Strong’s is clearly at odds with (some of) it’s own definition here. It’s self-contradictory rubbish. It can’t mean truly eternal, unless it is applied to something that is intrinsically eternal.

Indeed Very Many: Universalism in the Early Church

[Origen]

In the Greek Old Testament (LXX, Septuagint) of Isaiah 54:4 the word aionios appears and is used of finite duration:

4 You should not fear that you were disgraced, nor should you feel ashamed that you were berated. For shame everlasting(aionios) you shall forget; and the scorn of your widowhood in no way shall you remember any longer (Apostolic Bible Polygot, LXX)

The same phrase, and Greek words, for “shame everlasting”(aionios) in Isa.54:4 occur again at Dan.12:2 LXX, which i have higlighted within the brackets:

Dan.12:2 καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν καθευδόντων ἐν γῆς χώματι ἐξεγερθήσονται οὗτοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ οὗτοι εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ εἰς [αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον]

Isa.54:4 μὴ φοβοῦ ὅτι κατῃσχύνθης μηδὲ ἐντραπῇς ὅτι ὠνειδίσθης ὅτι [αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον] ἐπιλήσῃ καὶ ὄνειδος τῆς χηρείας σου οὐ μὴ μνησθήσῃ

http://lexicon.katabiblon.com/index.php?lemma=αἰσχύνη

http://biblehub.com/greek/152.htm

In Isa.54:4 aionios/eonian is finite: “For shame everlasting[eonian] you shall forget”.

In that light we might consider that the exact same phrase from the LXX scholars, “shame everlasting [eonian]” in Dan.12:2, may also be finite.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/2931562-does-aionios-always-mean-eternal-ancient.html#ixzz5JOdjdSmt

[Origen]

Those examples are rare exceptions. Aionios means eternal, and context makes that clear in 90% of its uses. The fact that there are a few verses where interpreting aionios as eternal do not make sense if broken down literally doesn’t change that.

Can you provide a single example in all of ancient Greek where you think context makes it clear that aionios means “eternal”? I don’t see any examples of such in the NT or Greek OT. Do you also think aion & olam mean eternal? The following post quotes dozens of examples of aionios as a finite duration & refers to dozens of others where it is finite:

Aionios as limited duration, not endless...examples of

"“Philo [20 BC - 50 AD, contemporary with Christ] used the exact phraseology we find in Matthew 25:46 - just as Christ used it - in the context of temporal affairs between people of different socio-economic classes:” " “It is better not to promise than not to give prompt assistance, for no blame follows in the former case, but in the latter there is dissatisfaction from the weaker class, and a deep hatred and everlasting punishment (kolasis aiónios) from such as are more powerful” (Fragmenta, T…

[davo]

Can you provide a single example in all of ancient Greek where you think context makes it clear that aionios means “eternal”?

Even this guy you specifically quote understands “eternal” isn’t hamstrung to literalism — it can be qualitative or as noted here qualifying…

Don Preston on 2 Thes 1:9

"The word “eternal” is what Ramsay termed a ‘qualifier’ which serves as a directive to understand the model in a special way (…). The qualifier is not simply a literal description of the noun but a reminder that it is being used in a non-literal sense (cf. such expressions as “heavenly Father”, “infinite love”).
(“The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology”, NIDNTT, Vol.3, p.99, ed. Colin Brown).