skinumb

I'm hoping a Greek scholar can help me here.

In anther discussion forum it has been said that the Biblical phrase 'for ever and ever' is a gross mis-translation of the original Greek phrase eis tous aeonas ton aionon, which instead means 'to the ages of the ages'.

So we should read, for instance: "And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were. And shall be tormented day and night until the age of ages."

The fire is"eternal–aionios," not because of its endless duration, but because of its complete consumption and annihilation of the wicked. This is indicated clearly by the fact that the lake of fire, in which the wicked are thrown, is called explicitly "the second death’ (Rev 20:14; 21:8), because, it causes the final, radical, and irreversible extinction of life.

"Eternal" often refers to the permanence of the result rather than the continuation of a process.

Does this make sense?

rich

Ben C Smith

I have no specific comments on whether the fire itself has to burn eternally or whether only the results have to be eternal, but some time ago I put together a web page on the expressions of eternity found in the Hebrew scriptures and later writings. I doubt it will answer your question(s) directly, but it may help you mentally organize the evidence.

Ben.

Toto

The same topic came up in this thread.

skinumb

Thanks. I'll check them out. I did search on the phrase for earlier topics but got no hits.

Rich

skinumb

Both referrrences very helpful. Many thanks. I've concluded that, in context, it means forever as in eternity.

Rich