#905 Has God Given Us Eternal Life?
September 15, 2024Hello Dr. Craig,
In chapter 2 of your book, On Guard, you say "Biblical Christianity therefore provides the two conditions necessary for a meaningful, valuable, and purposeful life: God and immortality."
I am in full agreement, however; the Universalists have spoken at length on words used within the Bible that are translated, forever and ever, everlasting, eternal life, etc. Those words are aion, aionios, and aidios in Greek.
The difficulty I have is when I search for particular phrases pertaining to these words in the Bible, the search results are littered mostly with Universalist perspectives. Example phrases would be, eis ton aiona, "into the age," or eis toùs aionas ton aiṓnōn, "unto the age of ages." Of course, the fear is that if it is only into the age, ages end, therefore there must be a vanishing point for us after the completion of the age, and no matter how many trillions of years we live, it'd all eventually mean nothing, because we would remember nothing in non-being.
I know that based on your book, your position is that we are infinite and eternal with God, and as you wrote, "Because of this, we can live consistently and happily within the framework of our worldview. Thus, biblical Christianity succeeds precisely where atheism breaks down," and quite frankly I've comforted myself saying, Dr. Craig is smarter than me, so just trust him in the matter.
Still, I want to bury this fear completely. Aside from Paul talking about how we are imperishable, incorruptible, and immortal, do we KNOW that the Bible refers to eternity in important places like John 3:16 using the word aion, and words based on aion? In addition, why do the Biblical writers refer to eternality with the word aionios, instead of the word that firmly means eternity aidios? Universalists will say only Plato refers to eternity with aionios, and that it is otherwise referred to as Aidios.
And lastly, is there an evolution of the Christian belief of eternality that is influenced by other cultures? In the book, the Oxford Companion to the Bible, page 16. it says,
"In the postexilic period, and particularly in the Hellenistic period following the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Jewish thought concerning death and afterlife underwent a major change, owing to the widespread influence of the Platonic idea of the immortality of the soul."
So, could you also comment on that, and perhaps say why this isn't a problem for Christians, or was there something else going on here involving what may only seem like an evolution of doctrine?
Thank you Dr. Craig, and thank you for all your hard work in philosophy. I've been listening and reading your books for a long time, and you've truly changed how I think, and strengthened my faith intellectually while I've pursued God personally. I am so grateful.
Michael
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
I honestly don’t think you need to be all in a stew about this, Michael. Consulting a Greek-English lexicon for the New Testament will show that all the terms you mention, including aidios, have a range of meanings. An aiōn can designate an age, a period of time, eternity (especially forever and ever), or a metaphysical principle. Something that is aiōnios can be beginningless, everlasting, or without beginning and end. The meaning in any specific case will be determined by the context.
As you mention, the use of closely related words to describe our resurrection bodies like “imperishable,” “incorruptible,” and “immortal” imply that everlasting duration is intended--similarly, the contrast in II Corinthians 4.18 between the things that are “transient” as opposed to the things that are eternal. Notice that aiōnios is used to describe not only the eternal life which God has given us in Christ, but also the destruction of the wicked, as in “eternal destruction” (II Thessalonians 1.9) in contrast to the “eternal comfort” (II Thessalonians 2.16) promised us in Christ. Just as Paul didn’t think that the destruction of the wicked would be only temporary, neither did he think that our life in Christ would come to an end. (That wouldn’t be much of a comfort, as you know!)
Decisive is that aiōnios is used to describe, not just our eternal life, but God himself, who cannot come to an end. For example, Romans 16.26 refers to the “eternal God”; Hebrews 9.15 to the “eternal Spirit”; and I Timothy 6.16 to his “eternal dominion.” One of my favorite verses is I John 5.20, which refers to Jesus Christ as “the true God and eternal life.” John assures us that “God gave us eternal life and this life is in his Son” (I John 5.11; cf. 1.2; 2.25; 3.15; 5.13).
You wonder why “the Biblical writers refer to eternality with the word aionios, instead of the word that firmly means eternity aidios.” But as I noted, aidios does not have the “firm meaning” eternal, as you’ve been told. It, too, has a range of meanings. For example, in Jude 6 we read that “the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in desmois aidiois (lasting chains) in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day.” Obviously, the meaning of aidios here is not eternal. So there would be no advantage to the New Testament authors in using this word instead of aiōnios. In either case, it will be the context that will determine the meaning.
The quotation you cite regarding Hellenistic Judaism concerns the way in which Judaism during the intertestamental period came to believe in the immortality of the soul after death, whereas in the Old Testament there is scant attestation to this belief. The belief in the soul’s survival after death, coupled with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, in so-called Second Temple Judaism is further evidence that Jews of Jesus’ day believed in eternal life.
The evolution of Jewish beliefs about the afterlife is not problematic for someone who believes in progressive revelation by God. Just think of the doctrine of the Trinity or the union of Jews and Gentiles into one people before God, for example. God reveals his truth to his people over time, not all at once.
- William Lane Craig