[B-Greek] AIWNOS - eternity /of old in Micah 5:2 LXX?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Aug 16 09:22:34 EDT 2006


On Aug 15, 2006, at 6:29 PM, thebodyofjesusthenazoraion at juno.com wrote:

> I cant find in the old or the New Testament that AIWNIOS is  
> consistent. Tim. 1:2... promised before AIWNIOS began, Romans  
> 6:25 ....was kept secret for AIWNIOS ( that would be forever) if  
> translated forever.
> Eva Ritsema

This question is a bit slippery.  You really need to consult the  
whole Greek text of the passages you are referring to and you need to  
consult standard lexical reference works about meanings of words like  
AIWNIOS. Participation in B-Greek does assume, as noted in  
yesterday's messages, a "working knowledge of Biblical Greek."

You refer to two specific GNT texts, whereas I find 71 instances of  
the adjective AIWNIOS in the GNT.
Moreover, your two instances seem based upon what you read in a  
translation rather than on the Greek text. I'm wondering whether  
you've really looked at the Greek text and/or at standard reference- 
works such as BDAG or L&N regarding your concern about this adjective.

BDAG offers three levels of usage of the adjective AIWNIOS/A/ON: "1.  
pertaining to a long period of time, long ago; ... 2. pertaining to a  
time without beginning or end, eternal; ... 3. pertaining to a period  
of unending duration, without end ... " Inasmuch as the adjective  
AIWNIOS derives from the noun AIWN which means, essentially, "a long  
period of time" or "an age," the range of usage that BDAG offers for  
AIWNIOS shouldn't be surprising -- the English word "everlasting" is  
just about as slippery a word, as you can ascertain from dictionary  
and thesaurus entries.

The texts to which you refer would need to be looked at closely in  
terms of their Greek text -- but it appears you've been looking only  
a translation(s).

I don't see anything corresponding to "Tim 1:2" but perhaps you mean  
TITUS 1:2
EP' ELPIDI ZWHS AIWNIOU, hHN EPHGGEILATO hO AYEUDHS QEOS PRO CRONWN  
AIWNIWN.

The first adjective, AIWNIOU, qualifies ZWHS and means "everlasting"  
or "eternal"; the second adjective AIWNIWN qualifies CRONWN and  
pretty clearly refers to the whole of temporal duration: "God is  
without falsehood (since) before everlasting ages."

I don't see anything corresponding to Rom 6:25 either, but you  
probably are referring to Rom 16:25
TWi DE DUNAMENWi hUMAS STHRIXAI KATA TO EUAGGELION MOU KAI TO KHRUGMA  
IHSOU CRISTOU, KATA APOKALUYIN MUSTHRIOU CRONOIS AIWNIOIS SISIGHMENOU.

Here AIWNIOIS is in the dative and qualifies the noun CRONOIS, but  
the phrase CRONOIS AIWNIOIS qualifies the participle SESIGHMENOU and  
the noun to which that refers MUSTHRIOU: "a secret kept silent for  
age-long times"

As for Micah 5:2, that's 5:1 in the LXX verse-numbering. The text:
hAI EXODOI AUTOU AP' ARCHS EX hHMERWN AIWNOS

Here we have the noun AIWN rather than the adjective AIWNIOS, but the  
same range is appropriate; AIWN in LXX Greek conveys the sense of  
Heb. OLAM, which really means "creation" or "world-age" as a space- 
time continuum of "creation."

Here the sense of the LXX Greek text is  a bit odd: AP' ARCHS EX  
hHMERWN AIWNOS: "from the beginning from the days of the world-age"  
and the sense must be "as old as creation itself."

There's not really anything inconsistent with the usage of the  
adjective AIWNIOS as catalogued in BDAG.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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