(b) They do, however, express the longest possible duration of which the subject to which they are attributed is capable; so that, if the soul is immortal, its punishment must be without end.
Gen. 49:26—“the everlasting hills”; 17:8, 13—“I will give unto thee ... all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ... my covenant [of circumcision] shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant”; Ex. 21:6—“he [the slave] shall serve him [his master] for ever”; 2 Chron. 6:2—“But I have built thee an house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in for ever”—of the temple at Jerusalem; Jude 6, 7—“angels ... he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah ... are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire”—here in Jude 6, bonds which endure only to the judgment day are called ἀϊδίοις (the same word which is used in Rom. 1:20—“his everlasting power and divinity”), and fire which lasts only till Sodom and Gomorrah are consumed is called αἰωνίον. Shedd, Dogm. Theology, 2:687—“To hold land forever is to hold it as long as grass grows and water runs, i. e., as long as this world or æon endures.”
In all the passages cited above, the condition denoted by αἰώνιος lasts as long as the object endures of which it is predicated. But we have seen (pages [982-998]) that physical death is not the end of man's existence, and that the soul, made in the image of God, is immortal. A punishment, therefore, that lasts as long as the soul, must be an everlasting punishment. Another interpretation of the passages in Jude is, however, entirely possible. It is maintained by many that the “everlasting bonds” of the fallen angels do not cease at the judgment, and that Sodom and Gomorrah suffer “the punishment [pg 1045]of eternal fire” in the sense that their condemnation at the judgment will be a continuation of that begun in the time of Lot (see Mat. 10:15—“It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city”).
(c) If, when used to describe the future punishment of the wicked, they do not declare the endlessness of that punishment, there are no words in the Greek language which could express that meaning.
C. F. Wright, Relation of Death to Probation: “The Bible writers speak of eternity in terms of time, and make the impression more vivid by reduplicating the longest time-words they had [e. g., εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων = ‘unto the ages of the ages’]. Plato contrasts χρόνος and αἰών, as we do time and eternity, and Aristotle says that eternity [αἰών] belongs to God.... The Scriptures have taught the doctrine of eternal punishment as clearly as their general style allows.” The destiny of lost men is bound up with the destiny of evil angels in Mat. 25:41—“Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” If the latter are hopelessly lost, then the former are hopelessly lost also.
(d) In the great majority of Scripture passages where they occur, they have unmistakably the signification “everlasting.” They are used to express the eternal duration of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Rom. 16:26; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 9:14; Rev. 1:18); the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit with all true believers (John 14:17); and the endlessness of the future happiness of the saints (Mat. 19:29; John 6:54, 58; 2 Cor. 9:9).
Rom. 16:26—“the commandment of the eternal God”; 1 Tim. 1:17—“Now unto the King eternal, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever”; Heb. 9:14—“the eternal Spirit”; Rev. 1:17, 18—“I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore”; John 14:16, 17—“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth”; Mat. 19:29—“every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters ... for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life”; John 6:54, 58—“He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.... he that eateth this bread shall live for ever”; 2 Cor. 9:9—“His righteousness abideth for ever”; cf. Dan. 7:18—“But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”
Everlasting punishment is sometimes said to be the punishment which takes place in, and belongs to, an αἰών, with no reference to duration. But President Woolsey declares, on the other hand, that “αἰώνιος cannot denote ‘pertaining to an αἰών, or world period.’ ”The punishment of the wicked cannot cease, any more than Christ can cease to live, or the Holy Spirit to abide with believers; for all these are described in the same terms; “αἰώνιος is used in the N. T. 66 times,—51 times of the happiness of the righteous, 2 times of the duration of God and his glory, 6 times where there is no doubt as to its meaning ‘eternal,’ 7 times of the punishment of the wicked; αἰών is used 95 times,—55 times of unlimited duration, 31 times of duration that has limits, 9 times to denote the duration of future punishment.” See Joseph Angus, in Expositor, Oct. 1887:274-286.
(e) The fact that the same word is used in Mat. 25:46 to describe both the sufferings of the wicked and the happiness of the righteous shows that the misery of the lost is eternal, in the same sense as the life of God or the blessedness of the saved.
Mat. 25:46—“And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” On this passage see Meyer: “The absolute idea of eternity, in respect to the punishments of hell, is not to be set aside, either by an appeal to the popular use of αἰώνιος, or by an appeal to the figurative term ‘fire’; to the incompatibility of the idea of the eternal with that of moral evil and its punishment, or to the warning design of the representation; but it stands fast exegetically, by means of the contrasted ζωὴν αἰώνιον, which signifies the endless Messianic life.”