[B-Greek] AIWNIOS: It semantic range in New Testament Usage
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Fri Aug 26 17:51:46 EDT 2005
On Aug 26, 2005, at 5:34 PM, gabe coia wrote:
> B-Greekers,
>
> William Barclay, in his New Testament Words, writes:
> "...aionios...is the word of the eternal order as contrasted with
> the order of this world; it is the word of deity as contrasted with
> humanity; essentially it is the word which can be properly applied
> to no one other than God."
>
> Is the meaning suggested by Barclay actually part of the semantic
> range of AIONIOS as it is used in the New Testament? I have
> reviewed the TDNT, BDAG, TGL and the FGL and haven't found any
> vindication for Barclay's claim. Is the word ever used to
> predicate divinity?
I would hope that we could keep the discussion focused strictly on
the question raised in the subject-header rather than upon the
validity of Barclay's statement.
I will note that in my quick survey of GNT usage of the adjective
AIWNIOS i found one instance of its being used adjectivally with a
form of QEOS; more than anything else it is used with ZWH, and not
just by the author of GJn; it is also used with hAMARTHMA (sin),
KOLASIS (punishment), and I think I saw it once with PNEUMATOS in a
genitive formation.
My understanding of the entries in BDAG indicate that while AIWNIOS
is quite commonly used as "pertaining to a period of time without
beginnng or end," or "pertaining to a period of unending duration,
without end," it is also used as "pertaining to a long period of
time, long ago."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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