why no bible (as far i know ) translate luke 18:30 by " in the coming ETERNITY" , why do they give an argument for universalist, (if it’s “the coming age” it is logical that it is life age-lasting (or pertaining to an age, or age-during )and not eternal life in the same verse).
why?
thank you for you help
if i understand you correctly, it’s odd that this verse talks about the coming “age” and also “eternal life” at the same time? presumably using the same Greek words for both…
that is a very good question!
Most English bibles don’t translate “eon” as eternity anyway.
They do translate phrases and terms built from “eon”, in ways that imply never-ending continuation, because the translators think the contexts require it. (Usually theological contexts, not the immediate or local thematic or narrative contexts, although sometimes those, too.)
18:30b reads (transliterated into English, per the Concordant Literal version) that those who follow Christ:
“may be getting back manyfold”
“in this the season,” {en t(i)ô kair(i)ô tout(i)ô}
“and in the coming the eon,” {kai en t(i)ô aiôni t(i)ô erchomen(i)ô}
“life eonian.” {zôên aiônion}
So the grammar is a bit squirrely by English or even Greek standards anyway (and probably represents an Aramaic form of emphasis). But the phrase “in the coming the eon” isn’t “into the eon” or “for the eons” or one of the phrases that could indicate indeterminate ongoing sequence: it’s emphatically about a coming age as the topic of a declaration, even if the age itself continues forever.
It’s also possible that the sentence could mean that in the coming age of the millennial reign, those who follow Christ now (in this season or era or age) will be given the resurrection life typical of the age to come after that, while everyone else gets normal (but still very much improved) life. So three ages would be in view, with loyal followers of this age getting to have in the next age the kind of life meant for everyone in the age after that.
I only really noticed this verse today & it’s been puzzling me greatly 
(Lk 18:30b). Lexham Press. Holmes, M. W."]ἐν [in]
τῷ [the]
αἰῶνι [eon]
τῷ [the]
ἐρχομένῳ erchomai]
ζωὴν [life]
αἰώνιον [eonian]
. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc. Thomas, R. L."]erchomai a prim. vb.; to come, go:—arrival(1), arrived(1), brought(1), came(225), come(222), comes(64), coming(87), entered(2), expected(3), fall(2), falls(1), give(1), go(1), going(2), grown(1), lighting(1), next(1), turned(1), went(18).
Alex,
What particularly do you find puzzling?
Sonia
Some people, including myself, think aionios means “in the eon/age to come”. That could make the end of the verse something like:
ἐν [in]
τῷ [the]
αἰῶνι [eon]
ἐρχομένῳ [to come]
ζωὴν [life]
αἰώνιον [in the eon to come]
i.e. an odd (unnecessary?) repetition
Having said that, I’m now suspicious that a τῷ [the] has been dropped to allow ἐρχομένῳ to be translated [to come], so maybe that implies it should be translated as one of the other options (e.g. “coming”) so it becomes:
ἐν [in]
τῷ [the]
αἰῶνι [eon]
τῷ [the]
ἐρχομένῳ [coming] [and?]
ζωὴν [life]
αἰώνιον [in the eon to come]
Here is the way, I would translate it.
The Greek word “ερχομενω” is a participle, and in my opinion ought to be translated as “coming”.
Thanks, that works well.
The Concordant version translates Luke 18:29-30:
29 Now He said to them, “Verily, I am saying to you that there is no one who leaves house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children on account of the kingdom of God,
30 who may not by all means be getting back manyfold in this era, and in the coming eon, life eonian.”
I agree with the notion of “age-lasting” or “pertaining to an/the age” or “age-during” – I note these are as typically expressed in ‘Young’s Literal Translation’ when it comes to rendering what is usually translated as “eternal”.
For mine, I understand eternal in qualitative terms expressing the idea of fullness or TOTALITY. IOW… “eternal life” speaks more to the quality and fullness of life IN THIS LIFE that is manifest by the reality of Christ; and thus we imbibe as the experiential consequence of knowing God through Christ, as per the following:
Jn 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Jn 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
IF by “eternal life” Jesus meant LONGEVITY or ENDLESSNESS of life Jesus would have used a word like ἀκατάλυτος akatalutos as used in…
Heb 7:16 “who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.”
So it is then that the “pertaining to an age” spoke of the THEN soon coming AGE they were about to attain in terms of covenant renewal, NOT an esoteric or ethereal “heaven” after death, rather it was the fullness of the new covenant AGE begun in Christ, i.e., “if any man be in Christ he is a new creation” – thus the new creation of Revelation is none other than the new covenant wrought in Christ.
Further to this I like for example N.T. Wright’s understanding and rendition of “eternal life”…
There is no-one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or fields, for my sake and the gospel’s, who will not receive a hundred times over, now in the present age: houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and fields — with persecutions; and, in the coming age, the life of the new world.
N.T. Wright: Jesus and the Victory of God p. 402
In the NT the “present age” was the then Mosaic “world” or era of law-righteousness, with “the coming age” wherein dwelt “the life of the new world” being the new covenant age — the age from Christ’s cross forward. The real inter-testamental age then was the 40yr overlapping period Ad30-70; an age emulating Israel’s exodus out of Egypt [bondage] where after the pattern those of old, that is, those of faith, would come into the fullness of Israel’s redemption.
IOW, they grasped “the life of the new world” IN THIS LIFE which was none other than the “eternal life” as again defined above, that is, as a PRESENT reality… “life to the full” aka PEACE as per Jn 14:27.
Thanks Davo for bringing another angle to it. I also hadn’t noticed Heb 7:16, probably because it’s hidden behind “indestructible” in NIV, etc. 