[B-Greek] More on AIONIOS
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Tue Oct 26 23:16:33 EDT 2004
Dear Chesster,
>"God is the Creator and the only One with true eternal existence,
>the word is naturally associated with God, but not so much, I think,
>as to change its face meaning."
>
>What is its face meaning? Perpetual?
Right. The Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay
Newman that accompanies the UBS text has "eternal (of quality rather
than time); unending, everlasting, for all time."
HH: Let me say that the qualification of eternal as qualitative is
due to the fact that Jesus says the believer has eternal life now (Jn
5:24), and that it consists in knowing Him and God (Jn 17:3). We see
that eternal life has a certain quality to it that can be experienced
even in this temporal existence. But we should remember that Jesus
also said:
John 11:26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do
you believe this?"
HH: If eternal life has a special quality, it is no less eternal in
duration. It starts when we believe and continues forever. So
strictly speaking I think Mr. Newman's comment should read "eternal
(of quality as well as time)."
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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