THE KING’S BUSINESS
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(6) The word “eternal” is ren dered indiscriminately in the Revised Version by “eternal” and “everlast ing,” so that there does not seem to have been any intention to indicate a fundamental difference between the two words. The prevailing view of the derivation is “always" existing,” though some think it may come from the Greek, “to breathe,” expressive of vital force which is regarded as endless' L The Latin eternus is con nected with the Latin detas, aevum, “age,” which answers exactly to the Greek. The Greek word “age” oc curs 108 times in the New Testa ment, and there is no real doubt that its usual meaning is “eternity.” It is used five times in connection with fu ture punishment (2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13; Rev. 14:11; 19:3; 20:10). The adjective in many passages must mean “endless,” though usage rather than derivation decides its meaning. It is found in the Greek Version of the Old Testament as the equivalent of the Hebrew olam, with the meaning of “unbounded time” or “eternity” (Gen. 21:33; Psalm 90:2). In the New Testament it occurs seventy-one times, including forty-four of “life” (e. g. John 3:36); three times of God ( e. g. Rom. 16:26); three times of the blessings of the Gospel and our future glory; and seven times of judgment and punishment. (Matt. 18:8; 25 :41, 46; Mark 3 :29; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; Jude 7.) When the word is applied to the future it is uniformly ^employed to indicate that which has no termination. A careful consideration of all the passages leads to the following conclusion : When the inspired writers sought to ex press the mighty conception of eternity, the things of which constituted the principal theme of their utterance, they used for this purpose the same two Greek terms 141 times, while other Greek words, more or less implying this conception, they scarcely use at all. Thus “immortality,” -is only used three times; ' “perpetual,” twice; “un
fading,” twice; “boundless,” once; “indis soluble,” once; and “incorruptibility,” eight times. That is, all other synonymous terms together are found not twenty times,, while it is noticeable* that such emphatic time- words (negative) as “unceasing,” “endless;” and “perpetual,” do not appear at all.— Remensnyder, Doom Eternal, p. 100. (7). Other terms to be observed are: “Immortality,” found three times in the New Testament, once of God alone (1 Tim. 6:16), and twice of that which the believer will put on at the Coming ;of Christ (1 Cor. 15:53, 54). “Incorruption” found three times (Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor, 15: 42; 2 Tim. 6:1, 10). These words clearly show that the supreme ques tion is concerned with the meaning 6f “life.” What are we to understand by this? Life in the New Testament is something far more than existence. There are two words expressive re spectively of the essential inward life and the circumstantially outward life. In the same way death never simply means non-existence, since death is never said to be the end, but judg ment. It is, therefore, important to distinguish, between ‘‘immortality,”, “eternal life,” and “eternal existence,” just as the opposites, “mortality,” “death” and “non-existence” are not synonymous terms. Everyone born into the world has an eternal exist ence, even though he is said to be spiritually'dead (Eph. 2:1). Eternal life is received by the believer as a gift from God at the time of regen eration (John 5:24). Immortality is received at- the resurrection of the just by those who are born again (1 Cor. 15:54). And' yet, though the wicked are spiritually dead, they have eternal existence, for there is no ^such thing as non-existence or ceasing *to be, if we keep strictly to the mean ing of the terms “life” and “death” in the New Testament. SCRIPTURE TEACHINGS. The truth of the New Testament in regard to future punishment may be
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