August 25

THE ETERNAL PURPOSE / PART 6

AION

According to C. Gary Reid and Ernest L. Martin:

-"The noun “aion” means “age” or “eon” and is found 128 times in 105 passages of the New Testament. It doubly occurs in 23 of the 105 passages. In its simple form (noun only), it is found 37 times and with prepositions 68. “Aion” is translated as follows in the Authorized Version:

-Here are seven different renderings of the word “aion” as it appears in the form of a noun. On the surface, it seems that the translators were confused as to the right meaning of this important word. The word “world” in the English language is used to describe the present arrangement of human life and activity, but it certainly indicates a terminable period. It had a beginning and will have an end. Indeed “world” conveys no duration of time whatever. Yet “aion” shows “time” — though the time is always indefinite as to length. It is just like “olam” in Hebrew. The usual words in English which best approximate the original meaning of “aion” are “age” and “eon” (the latter word is derived from the Greek original itself)."

The Time Periods for Salvation, Part 1

by C. Gary Reid and Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D., 1975
Typeset and footnoted by David Sielaff, November 2004

-The following is an excerpt from: ( The Power Of Life And Death In A Greek Four Letter Word - Aion, Gary Amirault ) … "One of the major problems the King James translators have caused by their incorrect handling of this word, deals with the end of the world. It seems most Christians throughout the Christian era have been very interested in this time period. Martin Luther, in his time, was convinced he was living in "the end of the world." The King James translation contradicts itself using this phrase. Most present day Bible translations have corrected this error in many places, but not enough to clear up the confusion completely. In Hebrews 9:26 we read from the King James translation: "For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." According to this King James verse, the end of the world occurred 1900 years ago. If we are supposedly living in the end of the world, the "end of the world" has been going on for 1900 years of the 6000 year Biblical record! But this is not the end of the confusion, it gets worse. According to Ephesians 3:21(see also Isaiah 45:17), there is to be no end of the world: "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." The King James Bible tells us that the end of the world occurred 1900 years ago, yet at the same time tells us the world will never end! And we wonder why there are so many atheists out there! This problem is immediately cleared up when we discover “aion” should never have been translated world. The Greeks had a perfectly good word to describe “world”, the word “cosmos”. We use this word in the English today, but with a slightly different meaning than in the Greek of Biblical days. If the King's translators had done what most leading Bible translations today have done with the word “aion” in these cases where the KJV translated it "world," much of the confusion about the "end of the world" would disappear. The word “aion” should have been translated "age" (or something similar). Jesus would then have been living at the end of the Jewish "age." After that came a new "age," the one we are currently experiencing." ( Gary Amirault )

-When a word is translated correctly …

-IT MAKES A “WORLD” OF DIFFERENCE!-