Holam, the Hebrew word which corresponds to the Greek aion, is applied according to Gesenius to things which endure for a long time, for an indefinite period. It is applied to the Jewish priesthood, to the Mosaic ordinances, to the possession of the land of Canaan, to the hills and mountains, to the earth, to the time of service to be rendered by a slave, and to some other things of a like nature. Stuart, p. 72.
Cruden, in his Unabridged Concordance, under the word eternal, says:--
“The words, eternal, everlasting, and forever, are sometimes taken for a long time, and are not always to be understood strictly. Thus, ‘Thou shalt be our guide from this time forth even forever,’[forever,’] that is, during our whole life. And in many other places of Scripture, and in particular when the word forever is applied to the Jewish rites and privileges, it commonly signifies no more than during the standing of that commonwealth, until the coming of the Messiah.”
Dr. Clarke places in our hands a key to the interpretation of the words, “forever” and “forever and ever,” which is adapted to every instance of their use. According to his rule they are to be taken to mean as long as a thing, considering the surrounding circumstances, can exist. And he illustrates this in his closing remarks on 2 Kings 5, where, speaking of the curse of the leprosy pronounced upon Gehazi forever, he says:--
“Some have thought, because of the prophet’s curse, ‘The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and to thy seed forever,’ that there are persons still alive who are this man’s descendants, and afflicted with this horrible disease. Mr. Maundrell, when he was in Judea, made diligent inquiry concerning this, but could not ascertain the truth of the supposition. To me it appears absurd; the denunciation took place in the posterity of Gehazi till it should become extinct; and under the influence of this disorder, this must soon have taken place. The forever implies as long as any of his posterity should remain. This is the import of the word, leolam. It takes in the whole extent or duration of the thing to which it is applied. The forever of Gehazi was till his posterity became extinct.”
The word aionios is derived from aion, and its general meaning may be determined from the definitions given above to the latter word.
That these words are frequently applied to the existence of divine beings, and the future happiness of the saints, is true; and that in these cases they denote eternal duration is equally evident; yet, according to the definition of the words and the rule laid down by Dr. Clarke, that eternal duration could not be made out by the use of these words alone. They denote duration or continuance of time, the length of that duration being determined by the nature of the objects to which they are applied. When applied to things which we know from other declarations of the Scriptures are to have no end, they signify an eternity of being; but when applied to things which are to end, they are correspondingly limited in their meaning. That the existence of God and the future happiness of the righteous are to be absolutely eternal, we are abundantly assured by scriptures which make no use of the words in question. When applied to these they therefore signify a period of duration which is never to end. Just as plainly are we assured that the existence of the wicked is at last to cease in the second death; and when applied to this, the words aion and aionios must be limited accordingly in their signification. Overlooking this plain principle of interpretation, Prof. Stuart, p. 89, comes to this erroneous conclusion respecting these words, because they are applied alike to the sufferings of the lost and the happiness of the saved, that “we must either admit the endless misery of hell, or give up the endless happiness of Heaven.” We are under no such necessity. The words, aion and aionios, according to Dr. Clarke, cover the whole of the existence of the two classes in their respective spheres, and that only. The one is, after a season of suffering and anguish, to come to an end; the other is to go on in bliss to all eternity.
So when it is said that the beast and the false prophet, and they who worship the beast and his image, are to be tormented day and night forever and ever, we must understand this expression to cover only the duration of their future existence beyond the grave. If we are anywhere given to understand by other scriptures and by other terms which are more rigid in their meaning, that this is to be eternal, the terms must here be so understood; if not, we have no warrant for so defining them here.
That the forever and ever, eis tous aionas ton aionon, of the suffering of the wicked, denotes a period of long duration, there is no question; and it may be much longer than any have been disposed to conceive who deny its eternity; yet it is to come to an end, not by their restoration to God’s favor, but by the extinction of that life which has in it no immortality, and because they have refused to accept of the life freely offered to them, which is to continue through ages without end.
We have now examined all the more prominent passages which are urged in favor of the eternal suffering of the lost. Though others may by some be brought forward to prove this doctrine, we may safely take the position that if it is not proved by those we have examined, it cannot be proved by any in all the Bible; for these use the strongest terms and are most explicit in their nature. And of these how many are there? Five in all. Those who have never before examined this subject, will perhaps be surprised to learn how small is the number of such texts. And should they take into the account every text which is thought to have even the slightest semblance of proving the immortality of the lost, it would not be calculated to abate that surprise to any great degree.