KJV: Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
YLT: And wisdom we speak among the perfect, and wisdom not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age -- of those becoming useless,
Darby: But we speak wisdom among the perfect; but wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to nought.
ASV: We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought:
| Σοφίαν | Wisdom |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: σοφία Sense: wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters. |
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| δὲ | however |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| λαλοῦμεν | we speak |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Plural Root: ἀπολαλέω Sense: to utter a voice or emit a sound. |
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| τελείοις | mature |
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Parse: Adjective, Dative Masculine Plural Root: τέλειος Sense: brought to its end, finished. |
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| αἰῶνος | age |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: αἰών Sense: for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity. |
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| τούτου | of this |
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Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: οὗτος Sense: this. |
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| οὐδὲ | nor |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: οὐδέ Sense: but not, neither, nor, not even. |
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| τῶν | of the |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| ἀρχόντων | rulers |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ἄρχων Sense: a ruler, commander, chief, leader. |
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| καταργουμένων | are coming to naught |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: καταργέω Sense: to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative. |
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Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 2:6
Paul is not here drawing a distinction between exoteric and esoteric wisdom as the Gnostics did for their initiates, but simply to the necessary difference in teaching for babes (1 Corinthians 3:1) and adults or grown men (common use of τελειος teleios for relative perfection, for adults, as is in 1 Corinthians 14:20; Philemon 3:15; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 5:14). Some were simply old babes and unable in spite of their years to digest solid spiritual food, “the ample teaching as to the Person of Christ and the eternal purpose of God. Such ‹wisdom‘ we have in the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians especially, and in a less degree in the Epistle to the Romans. This ‹wisdom‘ is discerned in the Gospel of John, as compared with the other Evangelists” (Lightfoot). These imperfect disciples Paul wishes to develop into spiritual maturity. [source]
This age, more exactly, as in 1 Corinthians 1:20. This wisdom does not belong to the passing age of fleeting things, but to the enduring and eternal (Ellicott). Which are coming to naught (των καταργουμενων tōn katargoumenōn). See 1 Corinthians 1:28. Present passive participle genitive plural of καταργεω katargeō The gradual nullification of these “rulers” before the final and certain triumph of the power of Christ in his kingdom. [source]
See 1 Corinthians 1:28. Present passive participle genitive plural of καταργεω katargeō The gradual nullification of these “rulers” before the final and certain triumph of the power of Christ in his kingdom. [source]
Emphatic. Lest his depreciation of worldly wisdom should expose him and his companions to the charge of not preaching wisdom at all, he shows that they do preach wisdom, though not of a worldly kind, among matured Christians. [source]
American Rev., them that are full-grown. Paul's term for matured Christians. See Ephesians 4:13, where a perfect ( τέλειον ) man is contrasted with children ( νήπιοι , Ephesians 4:14). So 1 Corinthians 14:20: “In malice children, in understanding men (lit., perfect );” Philemon 3:15. “This wisdom is the Christian analogue to philosophy in the ordinary sense of the word” (Meyer), and the perfect to whom he delivered it would recognize it as such. [source]
The A.V. states a general proposition, but the Greek present participle a fact in process of accomplishment: which are coming to nought. So Rev. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 2:6
Used together only here, 1 Corinthians 12:8; Colossians 2:3. There is much difference of opinion as to the precise distinction. It is agreed on all hands that wisdom is the nobler attribute, being bound up with moral character as knowledge is not. Hence wisdom is ascribed in scripture only to God or to good men, unless it is used ironically. See 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Luke 10:21. Cicero calls wisdom “the chief of all virtues.” The earlier distinction, as Augustine, is unsatisfactory: that wisdom is concerned with eternal things, and knowledge with things of sense; for γνῶσις knowledgeis described as having for its object God (2 Corinthians 10:5); the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6); Christ Jesus (Philemon 3:8). As applied to human acquaintance with divine things, γνῶσις knowledgeis the lower, σοφία wisdomthe higher stage. Knowledge may issue in self-conceit. It is wisdom that builds up the man (1 Corinthians 8:1). As attributes of God, the distinction appears to be between general and special: the wisdom of God ruling everything in the best way for the best end; the knowledge of God, His wisdom as it contemplates the relations of things, and adopts means and methods. The wisdom forms the plan; the knowledge knows the ways of carrying it out. [source]
Same phrase in Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 2:8. Not a book, but Paul‘s message as here set forth. The preaching (το κηρυγμα to kērugma). The proclamation, the heralding. Of Jesus Christ Objective genitive, “about Jesus Christ.” Revelation (αποκαλυπσιν apokalupsin). “Unveiling.” Of the mystery Once unknown, but now revealed. Kept in silence (σεσιγημενου sesigēmenou). Perfect passive participle of σιγαω sigaō to be silent, state of silence. Through times eternal Associative instrumental case, “along with times eternal” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 527). See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10. [source]
Objective genitive, “about Jesus Christ.” Revelation (αποκαλυπσιν apokalupsin). “Unveiling.” Of the mystery Once unknown, but now revealed. Kept in silence (σεσιγημενου sesigēmenou). Perfect passive participle of σιγαω sigaō to be silent, state of silence. Through times eternal Associative instrumental case, “along with times eternal” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 527). See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10. [source]
Dative of the articular participle of δυναμαι dunamai See similar idiom in Ephesians 3:20. To stablish (στηριχαι stērixai). First aorist active infinitive of στηριζω stērizō to make stable. According to my gospel Same phrase in Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 2:8. Not a book, but Paul‘s message as here set forth. The preaching (το κηρυγμα to kērugma). The proclamation, the heralding. Of Jesus Christ Objective genitive, “about Jesus Christ.” Revelation (αποκαλυπσιν apokalupsin). “Unveiling.” Of the mystery Once unknown, but now revealed. Kept in silence (σεσιγημενου sesigēmenou). Perfect passive participle of σιγαω sigaō to be silent, state of silence. Through times eternal Associative instrumental case, “along with times eternal” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 527). See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10. [source]
Once unknown, but now revealed. Kept in silence (σεσιγημενου sesigēmenou). Perfect passive participle of σιγαω sigaō to be silent, state of silence. Through times eternal Associative instrumental case, “along with times eternal” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 527). See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10. [source]
Associative instrumental case, “along with times eternal” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 527). See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10. [source]
From νη notand ἔπος aword. Strictly, non-speakers. Compare the Latin infans. Strongly contrasted with perfect; see on 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
Lit., perfect. See on 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
See on 1 Corinthians 3:1, and see on 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
The perfect, the full-grown (τελος telos end), the mature. See note on 1 Corinthians 2:6. οταν ελτηι Hotan elthēi is second aorist subjunctive with οταν hotan temporal clause for indefinite future time. [source]
Note the absence of Πνευμα to en autōi It is not the mere self-consciousness of God, but the personal Holy Spirit in his relation to God the Father. Paul‘s analogy between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God does not hold clear through and he guards it at this vital point as he does elsewhere as in Romans 8:26 and in the full Trinitarian benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:13. Pneuma in itself merely means breath or wind as in John 3:8. To know accurately Paul‘s use of the word in every instance calls for an adequate knowledge of his theology, and psychology. But the point here is plain. God‘s Holy Spirit is amply qualified to make the revelation claimed here in 1 Corinthians 2:6-10. [source]
Probably a reference to the wisdom of this age in 1 Corinthians 2:6. See also Romans 8:4, Romans 8:6, Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 11:4 (τε πνευμα ετερον the pneuma heteron). [source]
As he has already shown (1 Corinthians 2:6-13). Thus with the mind Hence Paul and all πνευματικοι pneumatikoi men are superior to those who try to shake their faith in Christ, the mystery of God. Paul can say, “I know him whom I have believed.” “I believe; therefore I have spoken.” [source]
The self-consciousness of man that resides in the man or woman (generic term for mankind, το πνευμα του τεου anthrōpos). The Spirit of God (το εν αυτωι to pneuma tou theou). Note the absence of Πνευμα to en autōi It is not the mere self-consciousness of God, but the personal Holy Spirit in his relation to God the Father. Paul‘s analogy between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God does not hold clear through and he guards it at this vital point as he does elsewhere as in Romans 8:26 and in the full Trinitarian benediction in 1 Corinthians 2:6-10. Pneuma in itself merely means breath or wind as in John 3:8. To know accurately Paul‘s use of the word in every instance calls for an adequate knowledge of his theology, and psychology. But the point here is plain. God‘s Holy Spirit is amply qualified to make the revelation claimed here in 2 Corinthians 13:13. [source]
Second aorist active indicative of λαμβανω lambanō and so a definite event, though the constative aorist may include various stages. Not the spirit of the world (ου το πνευμα του κοσμου ou to pneuma tou kosmou). Probably a reference to the wisdom of this age in 1 Corinthians 2:6. See also Romans 8:4, Romans 8:6, Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 11:4 (τε πνευμα ετερον the pneuma heteron). But the spirit which is of God Rather, “from God” Second perfect subjunctive with ινα hina to express purpose. Here is a distinct claim of the Holy Spirit for understanding (Illumination) the Revelation received. It is not a senseless rhapsody or secret mystery, but God expects us to understand “the things that are freely given us by God” (τα υπο του τεου χαριστεντα ημιν ta hupo tou theou charisthenta hēmin). First aorist passive neuter plural articular participle of χαριζομαι charizomai to bestow. God gave the revelation through the Holy Spirit and he gives us the illumination of the Holy Spirit to understand the mind of the Spirit. The tragic failures of men to understand clearly God‘s revealed will is but a commentary on the weakness and limitation of the human intellect even when enlightened by the Holy Spirit. [source]
This use of ος hos (relative who) is almost consecutive (result). The πνευματικος pneumatikos man is superior to others who attempt even to instruct God himself. See note on Acts 9:22 and note on Acts 16:10 for συνβιβαζω sunbibazō to make go together. But we have the mind of Christ (ημεις δε νουν Χριστου εχομεν hēmeis de noun Christou echomen). As he has already shown (1 Corinthians 2:6-13). Thus with the mind (νους nous Cf. Philemon 2:5; Romans 8:9, Romans 8:27). Hence Paul and all πνευματικοι pneumatikoi men are superior to those who try to shake their faith in Christ, the mystery of God. Paul can say, “I know him whom I have believed.” “I believe; therefore I have spoken.” [source]
Perfect passive participle of εντυποω entupoō late verb, to imprint a figure Used by Aristeas (67) of the “inlaid” work on the table sent by Ptolemy Philadelphus to Jerusalem. Λιτοις Lithois in locative case. Came with glory (εγενητη εν δοχηι egenēthē en doxēi). In glory. As it did, condition of first class, assumed as true. See Exodus 34:29, Exodus 34:35. Look steadfastly Late verb from ατενης atenēs (stretched, intent, τεινω teinō and α a intensive) as in Luke 4:20; Acts 3:4. Was passing away (καταργουμενην katargoumenēn). Late verb, to render of no effect, and present passive participle here as in 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
Late verb from ατενης atenēs (stretched, intent, τεινω teinō and α a intensive) as in Luke 4:20; Acts 3:4. Was passing away (καταργουμενην katargoumenēn). Late verb, to render of no effect, and present passive participle here as in 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
Late verb, to render of no effect, and present passive participle here as in 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
Lit. out of the world, the present (world which is ) evil. For αἰών ageor period, see John 1:9, and additional note on 2 Thessalonians 1:9. Here it has an ethical sense, the course and current of this world's affairs as corrupted by sin. Comp. 2 Corinthians 4:4. Ἑνεστῶτος , present, as contrasted with the world to come. Elsewhere we have ὁ νῦν αἰών thenow world (1 Timothy 6:17); ὁ αἰὼν τοῦκοσμοῦ theperiod of this world (Ephesians 2:2); ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος thisworld or age (Romans 7:2). Ἑνεστῶτος , not impending, as some expositors, - the period of wickedness and suffering preceding the parousia (2 Thessalonians 2:3), which would imply a limitation of Christ's atoning work to that period. Comp. 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:1; 1 Corinthians 7:26. The sense of present as related to future is clear in Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 3:22; Hebrews 9:9. For the evil character of the present world as conceived by Paul, see Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2. [source]
Perfect passive participle of προκυροω prokuroō in Byzantine writers and earliest use here. Nowhere else in N.T. The point is in προ pro and υπο του τεου hupo tou theou (by God) and in μετα meta (after) as Burton shows. Four hundred and thirty years after (μετα τετρακοσια και τριακοντα ετη meta tetrakosia kai triakonta etē). Literally, “after four hundred and thirty years.” This is the date in Exodus 12:40 for the sojourn in Egypt (cf. Genesis 15:13). But the lxx adds words to include the time of the patriarchs in Canaan in this number of years which would cut the time in Egypt in two. Cf. Acts 7:6. It is immaterial to Paul‘s argument which chronology is adopted except that “the longer the covenant had been in force the more impressive is his statement” (Burton). Doth not disannul Late verb ακυροω akuroō in N.T. only here and Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13 (from α a privative and κυρος kuros authority). On καταργησαι katargēsai see 1 Corinthians 1:28; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:26. [source]
Late verb ακυροω akuroō in N.T. only here and Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13 (from α a privative and κυρος kuros authority). On καταργησαι katargēsai see 1 Corinthians 1:28; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:26. [source]
See on 1 Corinthians 2:6; see on 1 Corinthians 3:1. As to the connection, Ephesians 4:13states the ultimate goal of christian training; Ephesians 4:14that which is pursued with a view to the attainment of that goal. Ephesians 4:14is subordinate to Ephesians 4:13, as is shown by the retention of the same figure, and is remotely dependent on Ephesians 4:11, Ephesians 4:12. The remote end, Ephesians 4:13, is placed before the more immediate one, as in Ephesians 4:12. See note. [source]
Rev., full grown. See on 1 Corinthians 2:6. [source]
See on 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7; see on 1 Corinthians 1:28. [source]
Compare 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:7, and see note. There may be in this word a hint of its use in the ancient mysteries to designate the fully instructed as distinguished from the novices. Peter uses the technical word ἐπόπται eye-witnesseswhich designated one admitted to the highest grade in the Eleusinian mysteries, of those who beheld Christ's glory in His transfiguration, 2 Peter 1:16. From this point of view Bishop Lightfoot appropriately says: “The language of the heathen mysteries is transferred by Paul to the christian dispensation, that he may the more effectively contrast the things signified. The true Gospel also has its mysteries, its hierophants, its initiation; but these are open to all alike. In Christ every believer is τέλειος fullyinitiated, for he has been admitted as ἐπόπτης eye-witnessof its most profound, most awful secrets.” [source]
For glory see on 1 Thessalonians 2:12. Ἱσχὺς powernot often in Paul. It is indwelling power put forth or embodied, either aggressively or as an obstacle to resistance: physical power organized or working under individual direction. An army and a fortress are both ἰσχυρὸς. The power inhering in the magistrate, which is put forth in laws or judicial decisions, is ἰσχὺς , and makes the edicts ἰσχυρὰ validand hard to resist. Δύναμις is the indwelling power which comes to manifestation in ἰσχὺς The precise phrase used here does not appear elsewhere in N.T. In lxx, Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 2:21. The power ( δύναμις ) and glory of God are associated in Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 19:1. Comp. κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ strengthof his glory, Colossians 1:11. Additional Note on ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον eternaldestruction, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Ἁιών transliterated eon is a period of time of longer or shorter duration, having a beginning and an end, and complete in itself. Aristotle ( περὶ οὐρανοῦ , i. 9,15) says: “The period which includes the whole time of each one's life is called the eon of each one.” Hence it often means the life of a man, as in Homer, where one's life ( αἰών ) is said to leave him or to consume away (Il. v. 685; Od. v. 160). It is not, however, limited to human life; it signifies any period in the course of events, as the period or age before Christ; the period of the millennium; the mytho-logical period before the beginnings of history. The word has not “a stationary and mechanical value” (De Quincey). It does not mean a period of a fixed length for all cases. There are as many eons as entities, the respective durations of which are fixed by the normal conditions of the several entities. There is one eon of a human life, another of the life of a nation, another of a crow's life, another of an oak's life. The length of the eon depends on the subject to which it is attached. It is sometimes translated world; world representing a period or a series of periods of time. See Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:40, Matthew 13:49; Luke 1:70; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6; Ephesians 1:21. Similarly οἱ αἰῶνες theworlds, the universe, the aggregate of the ages or periods, and their contents which are included in the duration of the world. 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 11:3. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The word always carries the notion of time, and not of eternity. It always means a period of time. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the plural, or for such qualifying expressions as this age, or the age to come. It does not mean something endless or everlasting. To deduce that meaning from its relation to ἀεί is absurd; for, apart from the fact that the meaning of a word is not definitely fixed by its derivation, ἀεί does not signify endless duration. When the writer of the Pastoral Epistles quotes the saying that the Cretans are always ( ἀεί ) liars (Titus 1:12), he surely does not mean that the Cretans will go on lying to all eternity. See also Acts 7:51; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 6:10; Hebrews 3:10; 1 Peter 3:15. Ἁεί means habitually or continually within the limit of the subject's life. In our colloquial dialect everlastingly is used in the same way. “The boy is everlastingly tormenting me to buy him a drum.”-DIVIDER- In the New Testament the history of the world is conceived as developed through a succession of eons. A series of such eons precedes the introduction of a new series inaugurated by the Christian dispensation, and the end of the world and the second coming of Christ are to mark the beginning of another series. See Ephesians 3:11. Paul contemplates eons before and after the Christian era. Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 3:9, Ephesians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 10:11; comp. Hebrews 9:26. He includes the series of eons in one great eon, ὁ αἰὼν τῶν αἰώνων theeon of the eons (Ephesians 3:21); and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the throne of God as enduring unto the eon of the eons (Hebrews 1:8). The plural is also used, eons of the eons, signifying all the successive periods which make up the sum total of the ages collectively. Romans 16:27; Galatians 1:5; Philemon 4:20, etc. This plural phrase is applied by Paul to God only. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The adjective αἰώνιος in like manner carries the idea of time. Neither the noun nor the adjective, in themselves, carry the sense of endless or everlasting. They may acquire that sense by their connotation, as, on the other hand, ἀΐ̀διος , which means everlasting, has its meaning limited to a given point of time in Judges 1:6. Ἁιώνιος means enduring through or pertaining to a period of time. Both the noun and the adjective are applied to limited periods. Thus the phrase εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα , habitually rendered forever, is often used of duration which is limited in the very nature of the case. See, for a few out of many instances, lxx, Exodus 21:6; Exodus 29:9; Exodus 32:13; Joshua 14:9; 1 Samuel 8:13; Leviticus 25:46; Deuteronomy 15:17; 1 Chronicles 28:4. See also Matthew 21:19; John 13:8; 1 Corinthians 8:13. The same is true of αἰώνιος . Out of 150 instances in lxx, four-fifths imply limited duration. For a few instances see Genesis 48:4; Numbers 10:8; Numbers 15:15; Proverbs 22:28; Jonah 2:6; Habakkuk 3:6; Isaiah 61:8. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Words which are habitually applied to things temporal or material can not carry in themselves the sense of endlessness. Even when applied to God, we are not forced to render αἰώνιος everlastingOf course the life of God is endless; but the question is whether, in describing God as αἰώνιος , it was intended to describe the duration of his being, or whether some different and larger idea was not contemplated. That God lives longer than men, and lives on everlastingly, and has lived everlastingly, are, no doubt, great and significant facts; yet they are not the dominant or the most impressive facts in God's relations to time. God's eternity does not stand merely or chiefly for a scale of length. It is not primarily a mathematical but a moral fact. The relations of God to time include and imply far more than the bare fact of endless continuance. They carry with them the fact that God transcends time; works on different principles and on a vaster scale than the wisdom of time provides; oversteps the conditions and the motives of time; marshals the successive eons from a point outside of time, on lines which run out into his own measureless cycles, and for sublime moral ends which the creature of threescore and ten years cannot grasp and does not even suspect. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- There is a word for everlasting if that idea is demanded. That αἰώνιος occurs rarely in the New Testament and in lxx does not prove that its place was taken by αἰώνιος . It rather goes to show that less importance was attached to the bare idea of everlastingness than later theological thought has given it. Paul uses the word once, in Romans 1:20, where he speaks of “the everlasting power and divinity of God.” In Romans 16:26he speaks of the eternal God ( τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ ); but that he does not mean the everlasting God is perfectly clear from the context. He has said that “the mystery” has been kept in silence in times eternal ( χρόνοις αἰωνίοις ), by which he does not mean everlasting times, but the successive eons which elapsed before Christ was proclaimed. God therefore is described as the God of the eons, the God who pervaded and controlled those periods before the incarnation. To the same effect is the title ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν αἰώνων theKing of the eons, applied to God in 1 Timothy 1:17; Revelation 15:3; comp. 2Timothy href="/desk/?q=2ti+1:9&sr=1">2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2), cannot mean before everlasting times. To say that God bestowed grace on men, or promised them eternal life before endless times, would be absurd. The meaning is of old, as Luke 1:70. The grace and the promise were given in time, but far back in the ages, before the times of reckoning the eons. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Ζωὴ αἰώνιος eternallife, which occurs 42 times in N.T., but not in lxx, is not endless life, but life pertaining to a certain age or eon, or continuing during that eon. I repeat, life may be endless. The life in union with Christ is endless, but the fact is not expressed by αἰώνιος . Κόλασις αἰώνιος , rendered everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), is the punishment peculiar to an eon other than that in which Christ is speaking. In some cases ζωὴ αἰώνιος does not refer specifically to the life beyond time, but rather to the eon or dispensation of Messiah which succeeds the legal dispensation. See Matthew 19:16; John 5:39. John says that ζωὴ αἰώνιος is the present possession of those who believe on the Son of God, John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:47, John 6:64. The Father's commandment is ζωὴ αἰώσιος , John 12:50; to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is ζωὴ αἰώνιος , John 17:3. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Bishop Westcott very justly says, commenting upon the terms used by John to describe life under different aspects: “In considering these phrases it is necessary to premise that in spiritual things we must guard against all conclusions which rest upon the notions of succession and duration. 'Eternal life' is that which St. Paul speaks of as ἡ ὄντως ζωὴ thelife which is life indeed, and ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ θεοῦ thelife of God. It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure. We have indeed no powers to grasp the idea except through forms and images of sense. These must be used, but we must not transfer them as realities to another order.”-DIVIDER- Thus, while αἰώνιος carries the idea of time, though not of endlessness, there belongs to it also, more or less, a sense of quality. Its character is ethical rather than mathematical. The deepest significance of the life beyond time lies, not in endlessness, but in the moral quality of the eon into which the life passes. It is comparatively unimportant whether or not the rich fool, when his soul was required of him (Luke 12:20), entered upon a state that was endless. The principal, the tremendous fact, as Christ unmistakably puts it, was that, in the new eon, the motives, the aims, the conditions, the successes and awards of time counted for nothing. In time, his barns and their contents were everything; the soul was nothing. In the new life the soul was first and everything, and the barns and storehouses nothing. The bliss of the sanctified does not consist primarily in its endlessness, but in the nobler moral conditions of the new eon, - the years of the holy and eternal God. Duration is a secondary idea. When it enters it enters as an accompaniment and outgrowth of moral conditions. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In the present passage it is urged that ὄλεθρον destructionpoints to an unchangeable, irremediable, and endless condition. If this be true, if ὄλεθρος isextinction, then the passage teaches the annihilation of the wicked, in which case the adjective αἰώνιος is superfluous, since extinction is final, and excludes the idea of duration. But ὄλεθρος does not always mean destruction or extinction. Take the kindred verb ἀπόλλυμι todestroy, put an end to, or in the middle voice, to be lost, to perish. Peter says, “the world being deluged with water, perished ” ( ἀπολοῦνται 2 Peter 3:6); but the world did not become extinct, it was renewed. In Hebrews 1:11, Hebrews 1:12quoted from Isaiah href="/desk/?q=isa+51:6&sr=1">Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1. Similarly, “the Son of man came to save that which was lost ” ( ἀπολωλός ), Luke 19:10. Jesus charged his apostles to go to the lost ( ἀπολωλότα ) sheep of the house of Israel, Matthew 10:6, comp. Matthew 15:24. “He that shall lose ( ἀπολέσῃ ) his life for my sake shall find it,” Matthew 16:25. Comp. Luke 15:6, Luke 15:9, Luke 15:32. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In this passage the word destruction is qualified. It is “destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, “ at his second coming, in the new eon. In other words, it is the severance, at a given point of time, of those who obey not the gospel from the presence and the glory of Christ. Ἁιώνιος may therefore describe this severance as continuing during the millennial eon between Christ's coming and the final judgment; as being for the wicked prolonged throughout that eon and characteristic of it, or it may describe the severance as characterizing or enduring through a period or eon succeeding the final judgment, the extent of which period is not defined. In neither case is αἰώνιος to be interpreted as everlasting or endless.sa180 [source]
This rendering is clumsy. Rend. solid food is for full-grown men. For τελείων full-grownsee on 1 Corinthians 2:6. Often by Paul, as here, in contrast with νήπιοι immatureChristians. See 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 4:4. Paul has the verb νηπιάζειν tobe a child in 1 Corinthians 14:20. [source]