Forever is not Forever
Introduction
For hundreds of years now, Bible translators have unthinkingly followed the lead of Jerome's Latin Vulgate in mistranslating two words, one Hebrew and the other Greek. The Vulgate was Rome's official Bible and it held sway over everyone's thinking, even after the Reformation. Jerome translated the Hebrew 'olam and the Greek aoin incorrectly as aeternum, which everyone then correctly translated as eternal or everlasting. But while that is a correct rendering of the Latin word, the Latin word is NOT a correct rendering of the Hebrew or Greek, as this document will show. We will provide a list of verses where these words are used and the reader will be able to see that these words cannot possibly mean eternal or everlasting. Quite simply, they mean a time period whose end (or beginning) is not in sight. The fact that those time periods can end will be seen as obvious from the passages themselves.
Old Testament
The Hebrew noun 'olam comes from the verb 'alam, which means, to be hidden, hence not in view. The word occurs over 400 times in 34 OT books, showing that it is a very common word whose meaning should therefore not be in doubt. Anyone who wants to maintain that it must mean “everlasting” has to explain every one of the following occurrences of the word.
Gen 9.12, 16. How can the covenant of the rainbow be for ever if there will be a new heaven and a new earth?
Gen 13.15, 17.7-8. The same question applies to the gift by God of Canaan to Abraham's offspring.
Gen 17.13. How can circumcision be anything other than life-long?
Gen 49.24; Deut 33.15. Hills cannot be everlasting if we are getting a new earth.
Ex 12.14, 17, 24. How can the Passover ritual be everlasting if Christ has fulfilled it?
Ex 14.13. Israel did see the Egyptians again many times in subsequent history, so if this word means for ever then the Bible contains errors.
Ex 21.6; Deut 15.17. Service was clearly for life, not for ever.
Ex 27.21. Aaron and his sons did not burn incense for ever, for the tabernacle worship became obsolete with the coming of the NT.
Ex 28.43. The same applies to the priesthood of Aaron.
Lev 3.17; 16.29; Num 18.8 etc. The same applies to every statute concerning the offerings.
Num 10.8. The same applies to the blowing of trumpets.
Num25.13. Phinehas did not have an everlasting priesthood; the OT priesthood is obsolete.
Deut 23.4. The tenth generation is not for ever.
1 S 1.22. Samuel did not live in the tabernacle for ever. He died.
2 S 12.10. This threat was clearly for life, not for ever.
1 K 9.3; 2 Chr 7.16. God did not put his name on the temple for ever. He destroyed it.
Isa 32.14. How can this desolation be for ever when the next verse starts with “until the Spirit is poured upon us”?
Jer 5.15. Babylon did not exist from eternity past.
Jer 25.9. Nebuchadnezzar did not make the lands desolate for ever. They are inhabited to this day.
Jer 28.8. Prophets did not exist from eternity past.
Jer 49.33. This permanent desolation can only last until there is a new heaven and earth.
Jer 51.26. The same applies here.
Ezek 25.15. Did the Philistines' hatred exist from eternity past?
Ezek 35.5. The same question about Edom.
Amos 9.11. The same question about David's tabernacle.
Mic 7.14. The same question about God pasturing his people.
Hab 3.6. Hills are not eternal.
Mal 3.4. Were the offerings of Judah from eternity past?
Ps 49.12. The grave is not man's eternal home.
Ps 119.52. I have remembered God's rulings from eternity past?
Ps 143.3; Lam 3.6. Dead for ever?
Prov 22.28; 23.10. An eternal landmark?
1 Chr 15.2. The Levitical system was not everlasting.
2 Chr 2.3. The same applies.
New Testament
Here we actually have two related words, the noun aion with 128 occurrences and the adjective aionios, with 71 occurrences. Once again, those who wish to insist that the word means “forever” must deal with the following passages. If we read these passages as if aion means “forever” then we see the stupidity of trying to force meanings into words.
Matt 12.32; Eph 1.21. In this forever or the one to come?
Matt 13.22; Mk 4.19. The cares of this forever?
Matt 13.39-40. The harvest is at the end of this forever?
Matt 13.49. The end of this forever?
Matt 24.3. The end of forever?
Lk 1.70. Prophets have been speaking since eternity past?
Lk 16.8; 20.34. The children of this forever?
Rom 12.2. Do not be conformed to this forever?
1 Cor 1.20; 3.18. The disputers and the wise of this forever?
1 Cor 2.8. The rulers of this forever?
2 Cor 4.4; Eph 6.12. The god of this forever?
Eph 2.7; Col 1.26. The coming eternities? The word is plural in these verses.
1 Tim 6.17. Those who are rich in this eternity?
2 Tim 1.9; Tit 1.2. Before time eternal?
2 Tim 4.10. Demas loved this present eternity.
Tit 2.12. Live soberly in this present eternity.
Heb 1.2; 11.3. He made the eternities? More plurals here.
Heb 9.26. The end of eternity?
Rev 14.11 etc. For ever and ever? That is a nonsense phrase, another way of saying, for evers and a pathetic failure to capture the meaning of the Greek, which could be rendered “age upon age”.
Conclusion
This selection proves beyond doubt that in translating these words we should not use the words “eternal, everlasting, forever”. The words refer to an age. We may not be able to see the beginning or the end of that age but we must not infer from that that we are looking at endlessness.
God is endless, but Paul uses a different word to describe God, aidios, which is the correct Greek word for eternal, without beginning or end (Rom 1.20).
Now that we have established that the words refer to an age, allow your theology to be challenged by applying this understanding to the many other passages where they occur.
If these verses give you concern that maybe the life the Lord gives us is not everlasting, realise that the endlessness of that life is established by other verses with other words, for example;
Lk 20.35-36. Those who are accounted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection of the dead...die no more...being sons of the resurrection.
Jn 11.25-26. He who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who believes in me will never die.
Rom 6.8. If we have died with Christ we will also live with him.
1 Jn 3.2 When he appears we will be like him.
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Introduction
For hundreds of years now, Bible translators have unthinkingly followed the lead of Jerome's Latin Vulgate in mistranslating two words, one Hebrew and the other Greek. The Vulgate was Rome's official Bible and it held sway over everyone's thinking, even after the Reformation. Jerome translated the Hebrew 'olam and the Greek aoin incorrectly as aeternum, which everyone then correctly translated as eternal or everlasting. But while that is a correct rendering of the Latin word, the Latin word is NOT a correct rendering of the Hebrew or Greek, as this document will show. We will provide a list of verses where these words are used and the reader will be able to see that these words cannot possibly mean eternal or everlasting. Quite simply, they mean a time period whose end (or beginning) is not in sight. The fact that those time periods can end will be seen as obvious from the passages themselves.
Old Testament
The Hebrew noun 'olam comes from the verb 'alam, which means, to be hidden, hence not in view. The word occurs over 400 times in 34 OT books, showing that it is a very common word whose meaning should therefore not be in doubt. Anyone who wants to maintain that it must mean “everlasting” has to explain every one of the following occurrences of the word.
Gen 9.12, 16. How can the covenant of the rainbow be for ever if there will be a new heaven and a new earth?
Gen 13.15, 17.7-8. The same question applies to the gift by God of Canaan to Abraham's offspring.
Gen 17.13. How can circumcision be anything other than life-long?
Gen 49.24; Deut 33.15. Hills cannot be everlasting if we are getting a new earth.
Ex 12.14, 17, 24. How can the Passover ritual be everlasting if Christ has fulfilled it?
Ex 14.13. Israel did see the Egyptians again many times in subsequent history, so if this word means for ever then the Bible contains errors.
Ex 21.6; Deut 15.17. Service was clearly for life, not for ever.
Ex 27.21. Aaron and his sons did not burn incense for ever, for the tabernacle worship became obsolete with the coming of the NT.
Ex 28.43. The same applies to the priesthood of Aaron.
Lev 3.17; 16.29; Num 18.8 etc. The same applies to every statute concerning the offerings.
Num 10.8. The same applies to the blowing of trumpets.
Num25.13. Phinehas did not have an everlasting priesthood; the OT priesthood is obsolete.
Deut 23.4. The tenth generation is not for ever.
1 S 1.22. Samuel did not live in the tabernacle for ever. He died.
2 S 12.10. This threat was clearly for life, not for ever.
1 K 9.3; 2 Chr 7.16. God did not put his name on the temple for ever. He destroyed it.
Isa 32.14. How can this desolation be for ever when the next verse starts with “until the Spirit is poured upon us”?
Jer 5.15. Babylon did not exist from eternity past.
Jer 25.9. Nebuchadnezzar did not make the lands desolate for ever. They are inhabited to this day.
Jer 28.8. Prophets did not exist from eternity past.
Jer 49.33. This permanent desolation can only last until there is a new heaven and earth.
Jer 51.26. The same applies here.
Ezek 25.15. Did the Philistines' hatred exist from eternity past?
Ezek 35.5. The same question about Edom.
Amos 9.11. The same question about David's tabernacle.
Mic 7.14. The same question about God pasturing his people.
Hab 3.6. Hills are not eternal.
Mal 3.4. Were the offerings of Judah from eternity past?
Ps 49.12. The grave is not man's eternal home.
Ps 119.52. I have remembered God's rulings from eternity past?
Ps 143.3; Lam 3.6. Dead for ever?
Prov 22.28; 23.10. An eternal landmark?
1 Chr 15.2. The Levitical system was not everlasting.
2 Chr 2.3. The same applies.
New Testament
Here we actually have two related words, the noun aion with 128 occurrences and the adjective aionios, with 71 occurrences. Once again, those who wish to insist that the word means “forever” must deal with the following passages. If we read these passages as if aion means “forever” then we see the stupidity of trying to force meanings into words.
Matt 12.32; Eph 1.21. In this forever or the one to come?
Matt 13.22; Mk 4.19. The cares of this forever?
Matt 13.39-40. The harvest is at the end of this forever?
Matt 13.49. The end of this forever?
Matt 24.3. The end of forever?
Lk 1.70. Prophets have been speaking since eternity past?
Lk 16.8; 20.34. The children of this forever?
Rom 12.2. Do not be conformed to this forever?
1 Cor 1.20; 3.18. The disputers and the wise of this forever?
1 Cor 2.8. The rulers of this forever?
2 Cor 4.4; Eph 6.12. The god of this forever?
Eph 2.7; Col 1.26. The coming eternities? The word is plural in these verses.
1 Tim 6.17. Those who are rich in this eternity?
2 Tim 1.9; Tit 1.2. Before time eternal?
2 Tim 4.10. Demas loved this present eternity.
Tit 2.12. Live soberly in this present eternity.
Heb 1.2; 11.3. He made the eternities? More plurals here.
Heb 9.26. The end of eternity?
Rev 14.11 etc. For ever and ever? That is a nonsense phrase, another way of saying, for evers and a pathetic failure to capture the meaning of the Greek, which could be rendered “age upon age”.
Conclusion
This selection proves beyond doubt that in translating these words we should not use the words “eternal, everlasting, forever”. The words refer to an age. We may not be able to see the beginning or the end of that age but we must not infer from that that we are looking at endlessness.
God is endless, but Paul uses a different word to describe God, aidios, which is the correct Greek word for eternal, without beginning or end (Rom 1.20).
Now that we have established that the words refer to an age, allow your theology to be challenged by applying this understanding to the many other passages where they occur.
If these verses give you concern that maybe the life the Lord gives us is not everlasting, realise that the endlessness of that life is established by other verses with other words, for example;
Lk 20.35-36. Those who are accounted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection of the dead...die no more...being sons of the resurrection.
Jn 11.25-26. He who believes in me will live even if he dies and everyone who believes in me will never die.
Rom 6.8. If we have died with Christ we will also live with him.
1 Jn 3.2 When he appears we will be like him.
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