Chrissie,Thus "Age Abiding" is the same as immortality
How are they the same? Does everyone get "age-abiding" (or aionios) life? Who does get it? When do they get it?
love_magnifiedExactly. Aionios has no other meaning than "pertaining to ages." It carries no weight, or descriptive power other than that. The word we should focus on is not aionios, but L-I-F-E. And ask the question, is life tomorrow, or today. Therein lies the answer to what aionios life is.
Good questions Chrissie. Let me try to elaborate on the good response of what
Love_ said. We're talking about the word
aion and its derivative
aionios. Right on Love_!
The word
aion is defining a
quantity of time while
aionios is a
quality of or within that same time period. It's not as much dependent upon the exact time of that period, as it is a quality that exists within that time period. For example: There is 60 minutes in an hour. If we have 5 hourly meetings tomorrow does that mean we necessarily were in each of them for 60 minutes? No it doesn't. It just means we participated (for a period of time) within each of those 60 minute hourly (time frame) meetings. The same is true with an aion, which is an age/eon or a definite period or length of time (just how long we don't know, God knows). But we can
experience aionios life within that
aion time period. Aionios life is a quality of life that pertains to that age/aion. The YLT always says
age-during concerning the translation of
aionios (like Love_ mentioned "pertaining to ages"). In other words it's speaking to something that happens
during that age). What's happening is determined by an associated word (such as
life age-during,
death age-during,
punishment age-during ect). I can receive the aionian chastisements/punishments/judgments of God in
my lifetime (however long that may be) but they all take place within this aion/age (however long it may be). But I'm hoping for immortality or 'the quality of God's life/aionian' which will allow me live to the end of this aion/age.
Aidios on the other hand speaks of not ages/aions or qualities within those ages/aionios, but it
speaks of endless time foreward and backward. Included
in aidios is
all the aions/ages.
The reason Ray says God promises no one aidios life, is because
aionian life (or 'the life' of that age) is 'within' aidios life (God's eternal life). So aonian life 'during this age' is equal to the aidios or eternal life that exists with God. Aionian is a quality of time that takes place within God's quantity of time aidios/eternal.
I hope I'm doing this picture justice because I'm drawing on some faded out grey matter concerning a teaching read years ago. Not many places to discuss this kind of stuff so it's not been challenged/reinforced/meditated upon enough to explain any better. I'm also at the daughter's house this weekend and was really just going to 'look' today...not post. :roll:
One last thought.
If time is a created entity...and God lives outside that 'box' looking in (therefore seeing the "end from the beginning), then we aren't looking for a definition of eternity anyway because eternity is time without end...isn't it? What we will enter into, when we enter into
God's LIFE in the hereafter, is really
timelessness...isn't it?
Let the wheels turn. :idea: I gotta get back to family. :arrow:
Happy 'pappy day' tomorrow to all those of you who are. And I guess only those in USA?