[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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