In John 17:3, Jesus prayed, " - - . Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. - - ."
How do folks read this, vis-a-vis the idea of eternal life being viewed as life that continues for limitless time?
My apologies if this is discussed in another topic or forum.
There are other words in scripture that describe the future life as limitless, but this isn’t it. In those passages we read of corruption vs. incorruption and exchanging mortality for immortality.
John 17:3 is one of the passages that support the idea that aionios life is a quality, rather than a quantity of life. The Greek words for immortal and incorruptible are the ones that have specifically to do with longevity. This passage is the one place in scripture that gives a direct definition of aionios (life), and it has nothing to do with time, but rather a quality of relationship!
I agree with Melchizedek’s points. I don’t think the Greek word “aionios” (often mistranslated as “eternal” - at least the modern definition of infinite duration), is trying to define a duration, but location (with God in the eon after death). However, other passages describe the life as having no death or decay, and will be in the presence of our Sustainer, all of which adds up to life that will indeed be everlasting.
Alex,
If that is true, how does that work in the verse that speaks of “before times aionian”? (2 Tim. 1:9)
The word “aionios” was used by one ancient writer to describe a stone wall. It was used by Josephus to describe a prison term which was believed to have lasted 3 years.
From my observation of the contexts of “aionios”, both in the New Testament,the Septuagint, and ancient secular Greek literature, I am convinced that the word means “lasting”. The word is sometimes applied to that which is everlasting, such as our life in God, or even to God Himself. But that application does not imply that the word MEANS “everlasting”.
I know it’s a common idea that when the adjective “aionios” is used to describe our life in Christ, it denotes a “quality” of life. So far, I have seen no evidence that this is the case. I think “lasting” is the meaning in every case. If anyone knows a passage in which “aionios” cannot mean “lasting”, please quote it. If there are such passages, I will need to adjust my understanding.
“Before lasting times” (see my last post)?
I’m no Greek expert, but just looking at the number of ways it’s been translated, I’d say this verse is tricky.
It appears the verse is talking about the grace given to us in Christ Jesus. Isn’t it true that this has indeed been given before the time in the eon (with God) after death? 
Btw, it’s ironic how no one translates it “before times eternal” or “before times forever”!! 
John uses the phrase “aionios life” 22 of the 43 times it is used in scripture, over half. I thus find John’s definition of eternal life very compelling. It speaks of having a restored, reconciled relationship with God.
Concerning aionios, I understand it to be a broad term with various meanings and nuances that in general speaks of the age to come, but is a means of referencing a quality of something as being from God or of the spiritual time-transcending realm of God that can impact our lives in this temporal realm. It doesn’t necessarily mean endless, though it can imply such in many cases. To me it’s a broad term that we should not hang our understanding of a passage based on that one meaning. In this case thankfully, John defines what he means by eternal life, which accounts for over half the times eternal life is mentioned in scripture.
Not to be pedantic, but isn’t “lasting” a quality also? We can infer lasting as being part of the quality that aionios describes (e.g., the quality of coming from God in this case, hence “eternal” outside of a notion of fixed time, as God is not really bound by time).
Roof, the counter example for you would be, before eternal times? That doesn’t scan either, as there is nothing before (or after) eternity.
Aionios is a multifaceted word, but it does not refer to “unending”, unless circumspectly so, when used to refer to something that is clearly unending in it’s own right (God).
Aionios is used to refer to something that has a lasting quality; but from usage, clearly the lasting can be of longer or shorter duration.
when i read that verse i didn’t understand it til i realised Jesus was talking about a quality of life, not a duration. to me it sounds like He means the qualities of life that He offers. i personally get the feeling that this verse should be read in the same spirit as that verse that reads “I am come that you might have life, and that more abundantly.”
as for times before aionion, isn’t it pretty clear that this would mean “times before the age”? it could mean a number of things depending on the context…
if the life God offers trades mortality for immortality as stated above, surely that means it becomes eternal. if we are told that the last enemy to be destroyed is Death (not the wicked or even the devil), and that death and the grave will be thrown into the lake of fire, then we have our contrast. aionion punishment then becomes finite, and aionion life becomes infinite.
but as to this particular verse, i feel that Jesus is talking about the abundant life which He brings, and thus i don’t feel that the use of the word which has been rendered eternal has a durative sense. this is fine, if you consider that space appears to be eternal in distance…so it doesn’t necessarily have to mean a time frame.
just my tuppence, as a non scholar
Short answer: I’m among those Universalists who believe aionios always has a durative sense, and that zoe aionios is a spiritual blessing enjoyed by faith which pertains to a temporary duration of time (i.e., the age of the Messianic reign). I think the meaning of zoe aionios is perhaps best expressed when translated as “the life of the age,” “age-abiding life” or “eonian life.” Even when the spiritual/relational aspect of the blessing is being emphasized, I don’t think the age to which this blessing pertains is ever lost sight of by Christ or the NT authors.
Long answer (which I’ve divided up into 7 points, and is mostly derived from a paper I started on a while back but never got around to completing!):
Entering/inheriting the “kingdom of God” (or “kingdom of heaven”) and entering/inheriting zoe aionios were understood by Christ to be equivalent blessings, and were spoken of interchangeably by him (Mt 19:16-17, 23-24; 25:34, 46; Mk 9:45-47; 10:17-31; Lk 18:18-30; Jn 3:3, 5, 15). But what is the “kingdom of God?” The expression “kingdom of God” (or “kingdom of heaven”) is derived from the book of Daniel. In Dan 2:44, we read, “And in the days of those kings * the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever olam]…” That this kingdom refers to the kingdom which the Messiah would receive from God is evident from Dan 7:13-14. The Messianic kingdom is called “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven” because (in accordance with Daniel’s prophecy) it is a kingdom set up by “the God of heaven.” It is also referred to as the kingdom of Christ, or the kingdom of God’s Son (Eph 5:5; Col 1:13). The apostle Peter referred to the Messianic kingdom as “the aionios kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 1:11). (For my understanding of Daniel 12:2 - a verse which I think is pretty essential to our understanding of “eternal life” - check out Daniel 12:2).
I think a better translation of the expression zoe aionios would be “age-abiding life,” “eonian life” or “the life of the age.” The “age” (or “eon”) to which this “life” pertains is that which Christ, Paul and the author of Hebrews referred to as the “age to come” (Mt 12:32; Mk 10:29-31; Lk 18:29-30; Eph 1:21; Heb 6:5) - i.e., the age which was to follow the one in which these men were living. This age refers to the period of time during which the Messiah would reign (Mk 10:29-31; Lk 18:29-30; Mt 19:28-30; Lk 22:29-30; Eph 1:20-21). The expression “en tē palingenesia” (found in Mt 19:28 and rendered “in the regeneration” in the NKJV) is understood by the translators of the Holman Christian Standard Bible to refer to the age of the Messianic reign. Similarly, the NET Bible reads, “In the age when all things are renewed,” and says in a footnote, “The Greek term translated the age when all things are renewed (παλιγγενεσία, palingenesia) is understood as a reference to the Messianic age, the time when all things are renewed and restored.”
Zoe aionios or the “life of the age” should, I think, be understood as belonging to the same duration of time as the Messianic reign. As the blessing which pertains to the age of the Messianic reign, the “life of the age” is available to, and can be enjoyed by, people on earth for as long as the Messianic reign continues. But in 1 Cor 15:24-28 (cf. Ps. 110:1) it is revealed by the apostle Paul that Christ’s reign is not of endless duration. Rather, Christ is said to reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” The word “until” indicates that the placing of Christ’s enemies under his feet is the goal of his reign; when this goal is reached, there will no longer be any need for Christ to continue reigning. After Christ has subjected all people to himself he will then deliver the kingdom back to the one from whom he originally received it (1 Cor 15:24; cf. Dan 7:13-14). Paul calls the time when Christ delivers the kingdom back to God “the end” - i.e., the consummation of the Messianic reign, when Christ fully accomplishes the redemptive purpose for which God gave him “all authority in heaven and on earth.”
It may be objected that, in Lk 1:32-33, the angel Gabriel declared to Mary, “And the Lord God will give him [Jesus] the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But we cannot understand this to mean that Christ will never cease to reign or that he will never deliver the kingdom to God, for that would contradict Paul’s words in 1 Cor 15:24-28. What then did Gabriel mean? To say that a kingdom was going to “end” probably would’ve been understood by Mary to mean it was going to be “destroyed” or “left to another people,” for that is what was implied when a king’s reign was said to “end.” As prophesied in Dan 2:44, the Messianic kingdom was going to “break into pieces” the kingdoms of this world and “bring them to an end” (here, a kingdom’s being brought to an end implied its being destroyed by another kingdom). Thus, the idea that Gabriel was conveying to Mary was simply that the Messianic kingdom would not be destroyed by another kingdom or left to another people; in this sense it would “have no end.” Christ’s reign is instead going to continue “to all generations” (Ps. 89:4) until he has subjected all people to himself, and then he is going to freely deliver the kingdom back to God so that God may be “all in all.”
If (as Paul seemed to believe) the age of the Messianic reign is of limited duration (having both a commencement and a conclusion), and the “life of the age” is inseparable from the age of the Messianic reign, then this blessing necessarily pertains to a limited duration of time. As wonderful a blessing as the life of the age is, it does not have any reference to the time following the Messianic reign, and thus does not pertain to anyone’s final destiny. When all of Christ’s enemies are put under his feet and the Messianic reign comes to an end, the “life of the age” will be replaced by an even greater blessing. And since the last enemy is death, it follows that the “life of the age” will be replaced by a greater blessing when death is abolished and all who die in Adam are made alive in Christ and bear his heavenly image (1 Cor 15:22; 42-57; Acts 24:15). The immortal and heavenly existence which is to follow the instantaneous “change” which all people will undergo at the “last trumpet” is, in fact, the blessing by which the “life of the age” will be succeeded. Ironically, it is this blessing which follows the age of the Messianic reign that may more appropriately be referred to as “eternal life!”
Christ seemed to differentiate zoe aionios from the blessing of being raised up by him on the “last day” (Jn 6:40). In contrast to the “life of the age” (which can only be enjoyed by believers), being raised up by Christ on the last day is a blessing that embraces all people, whether they were a believer or not: “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). That all people were ultimately given to Christ by God is evident from the following verses: Jn 3:35; 13:3; Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22. Christ is also called “the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15), the inheritor of “all things” (Heb 1:2 cf. Ps 2:8), and “Lord” (i.e., having absolute ownership rights) of all people, both dead and living (Acts 10:36; Rom 14:9; 1 Cor. 11:3).
The “life of the age” (the spiritual blessing/salvation available to people during the age of the Messianic reign) is conditioned on faith in Christ (Jn 3:14-16; 5:24; 6:40, 47), and according to Heb 11:1, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith can only be exercised - and is thus only conditional to our salvation - while the things that are “hoped for” (i.e., our being made fit for heaven in the resurrection - Acts 24:15; Rom. 8:20-25; 1 Pet 1:3-4; 1 Jn. 3:2-3) have not yet been realized. But when Christ returns on the “last day” to raise the dead and take us to heaven (Acts 1:11; Jn 14:1-3; 1 Thess 4:13-18) the faith by which we presently “walk” will be replaced by sight (2 Cor 5:6-8). While during this present state of existence salvation is by faith, salvation will no longer depend on faith when it has been replaced by sight. That is, when we have been saved by Jesus from everything from which we need to be saved, the faith by which believers are presently being saved from their sins will no longer be necessary or possible. While at present “we see in a mirror dimly” and “know in part,” Paul tells us that we will one day see “face to face” and “shall know fully,” even as we “have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12).*
Davo said:
As I have pointed out on numerous occasions… Jesus himself defines <αἰώνιον> aiōnion exactly in like qualitative manner indisputably right here…
Jn 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7746#p116854
My reply:
Then you have been wrong on numerous occaions. Their is no definition of aionion there. Also the word refers to duration, quantity of time,
not a quality of something, as is evident from the Scriptures, e.g.:
2 Cor.4:17 For the momentary lightness of our affliction is producing for us a transcendently transcendent eonian(aionion) burden of glory,
18 at our not noting what is being observed, but what is not being observed, for what is being observed is temporary[for a season], yet
what is not being observed is eonian(aionion)."
2 Cor.5:1 For we are aware that, if our terrestrial tabernacle house should be demolished, we have a building of God, a house not made by hands,
eonian(aionion), in the heavens.
And now you’re even cut n’ pasting yourself from over HERE — good going 
And hey… that link above to my post — excellent material I highly recommend it… thanks for posting it 
Davo said:
As I have pointed out on numerous occasions… Jesus himself defines <αἰώνιον> aiōnion exactly in like qualitative manner indisputably right here…
Jn 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
My reply:
Perhaps you meant to opine that you imagine that Jn.17:3 defines the phrase “aionion life”, since there is obviously no definition of the single word aionion in that verse. But that Jn.17:3 is not - the - biblical definition of the phrase is evident when plugging it into other passages where the same phrase occurs, where your alleged definition just looks silly:
Mt.25:46 And they will go away into aionion punishment, but the righteous into (that they may know God and Jesus)."
Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up and knelt before Him. “Good Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit (that I may know God and Jesus)?”
Lk.10:25 One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit (that i may know God and Jesus)?”
Mk.10:29 “Truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions — and to receive (that they may know God and Jesus) in the age to come.
Lk.18:18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit (that i may know God and Jesus)?”
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ in service of the faith of God’s elect and of their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of (that we may know God and Jesus), which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Titus 3:6 This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of (that we may know God and Jesus).
(This post was part 2 in this series re Jn.17:3 - not - defining aionios life. To be continued with parts 3, 4, 5, etc. See my previous post for part 1).