Kittel's Unabridged Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT)

Page 198-199

B. aivw/n in the Sense of Prolonged Time or Eternity.

1. The Formulae “from eternity” and “to eternity”.

a. The concepts of time and eternity merge in the formulae in which aivw/n is linked with a preposition to indicate an indefinite past or future, e.g., ap aiwnoj (Luke 1:70; Acts 3:21; 15:18) and ek tou aiwvnoj (John 9:32) in the sense of “from the ancient past” or “from eternity,” or eij aiwna  (Jd. 13) and eij tonv aiwna  (27 times, esp. common in John e.g., 4:14) in the sense of “for ever” or “to all eternity.”  Only in the light of the context can it be said whether aiwn  means “eternity” in the strict sense or simply “remote” or “extended” or “uninterrupted time.”  Thus in Luke 1:70 and Acts 3:21 oi agioi ap aiwnoj  pro,fhtai means “the holy prophets of old time”.  The meaning is particularly weak when we have an aiwn formula in a negative statement.  Thus John 9:32: ek tou aiwnoj ouk hkousfh, simply means that “it has never been heard,” and ou (mh) … eij tonv aiwna merely signifies “never” (cf. John 13:8; 1 Cor. 8:13).  The full significance of “eternity” is perhaps to be found in passages like Luke 1:55; John 6:51; 12:34; 14:16; 2 Cor. 9:9 (Y111,9); Heb. 5:6; 7:17, 21 etc.; 1 Peter 1:25; 1 John 2:17; Jd. 13, if the question can ever be answered with any certainty.

My Commentary: A close reading reveals the following: With all his might he is trying to maintain adherence to the standard “Christian” understanding but his verses don’t stand up. For example, in the following 5 verses (Matt. 5:21, Matt. 5:33, Acts 15:21, 2 Pet. 3:5, Jude 1:4) are 3 different Greek words that mean “of old” but notice that none of them appear in Luke 1:70. So while one could translate “holy prophets from of old—” a more accurate (but slightly wooden) translation would be “from the age”. This is a far cry from “an indefinite past” as the author states.

His statement “Only in the light of the context can it be said whether aivw/n means ’eternity’” means that since he considers this word to have two current exactly opposite meanings that only from a contextual position can it be determined which one is to be used. I disagree since a number of instances can be shown where this method would fail.

After admitting that in the negative “The meaning is particularly weak” he closes with the full admission of what he does not want to say, that is, “The full significance of ‘eternity’ is perhaps to be found, if the question can ever be answered with any certainty.” That is very clear to me: The meaning “perhaps or perhaps not” might be found but we don’t think we will really ever know for sure when it should mean “eternity/forever” and when it should not!

Choice 1.

The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible

Time

Page 645

b. In the LXX Greek

…

The work aiwn originally means “vital force”, “life”, then “age”, “lifetime”.  It is, however, also used generally of a (limited or unlimited) “long space of time”.  In many cases it should then be translated by “eternity”.  To be sure, naturally, one cannot assume a philosophical concept of eternity here either. The LXX goes even beyond the foundation laid by the Hebrew OT in doubling the plural formation.

c. In NT Greek

…

The use of the word aiwn in the NT is determined very much by the OT and the LXX.  Aiwn means “long, distant, uninterrupted time”, in the past (Luke 1:70) as well as in the future (John 4:14).  The adjective aiwnioj, “eternal”, especially, serves for the actual statements of eternity (II Cor. 4:18; Heb. 9:12, 15), but nowhere is a clear distinction made between limited and unlimited duration of time.  The idea of duration of time is fundamentally inherent in aiwn, as it is not in slw[, “most distant time”.  The intensifying plural occurs frequently in the NT, especially in the doxologies (Rom 1:25; 9:5; Heb 13:8), but it adds no new meaning.

Choice 2.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible:

Eternity: The Bible hardly speaks of eternity in a philosophical sense of infinite duration without beginning or end. The Hebrew word olam, which is used alone (Ps. 61:8) or with various prepositions (Ge. 3:22; 13:15, etc.) in contexts where it is traditionally translated "forever," means, in itself, no more than "for an indefinitely long period." Thus, me-olam does not mean "from eternity," but "of old" (Ge 6:4, etc.). In the N.T., aion is used as the equivalent of olam.

Choice 3

Hasting's Dictionary of the New Testament (vol. I, p. 542, art. Christ and the Gospels):

Eternity. There is no word either in the O.T. Hebrew or in the N.T. Greek to express the abstract idea of eternity. (vol. III, p. 369): Eternal, everlasting-nonetheless "eternal" is misleading, inasmuch as it has come in the English to connote the idea of "endlessly existing," and thus to be practically a synonym for "everlasting." But this is not an adequate rendering of aionios which varies in meaning with the variations of the noun aion from which it comes. (p. 370): The chronois aioniois moreover, are not to be thought of as stretching backward everlastingly, as it is proved by the pro chronon aionion of 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2.