Lemma

αἰώνιος

aiōnios

Age-long, as in age-long life.

Forms

  • αἰώνιον aiōnion Accusative, the form in ζωὴν αἰώνιον, age-long life.

Passages

  • John 3:15 WEB prints “eternal life” here.
  • John 3:16 WEB prints “eternal life” here. The Greek is ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

αἰώνιος is the adjective. It is not a conjugation of αἰών. I gloss it “age-long,” and ζωὴν αἰώνιον as “age-long life.” In this Bible the linked English is “age-long,” not the whole phrase.

The adjective takes its length from the noun αἰών. Age-long life is life of the age in view, including the age to come. English “eternal” and “forever” for this word often work as hyperbole or a superlative, the same way they can for αἰών: they push past what is in sight. They do not turn the adjective into Plato’s still eternity. That history is on the αἰών page.

In the World English Bible, John 3:15 and John 3:16 say “eternal.” Those two verses are marked so that word links here. “Eternal” is not linked in other verses, because English uses it more widely than this adjective.

Strong’s

Strong’s dictionaries compiled by Open Scriptures, used under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

αἰώνιος G166

aiṓnios

perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well)

from G165 (αἰών);

KJV glosses: eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began)

Thayer’s

Joseph Henry Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889). Public-domain digital text.

αἰώνιος G166

aiṓnios

αἰώνιος,, and (in 2Th 2:16; Heb 9:12; Num 25:13; Plato, Tim., p. 38 b. (see below); Diodorus 1:1; (cf. WHs Appendix, p. 157; Winers Grammar, 69 (67); Buttmann, 26 (23))) αἰώνιος, αἰώνια, αἰώνιον (αἰών);

1. without beginning or end, that which always has been and always will be: Θεός, Rom 16:26 (ὁ μόνος αἰώνιος, 2Ma 1:25); πνεῦμα, Heb 9:14.

2. without beginning: χρόνοις αἰωνίοις, Rom 16:25; πρό χρόνων αἰωνίων, 2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2; εὐαγγέλιον, a gospel whose subject-matter is eternal, i. e., the saving purpose of God adopted from eternity, Rev 14:6.

3. without end, never to cease, everlasting: 2Co 4:18 (opposed to πρόσκαιρος); αἰώνιον αὐτόν, joined to thee forever as a sharer of the same eternal life, Philcmon 1:15; βάρος δόξης, 2Co 4:17; βασιλεία, 2Pe 1:11; δόξα, 2Ti 2:10; 1Pe 5:10; ζωή (see ζωή, 2 b.); κληρονομία, Heb 9:15; λύτρωσις, Heb 9:12; παράκλησις, 2Th 2:16; σκηναί, abodes to be occupied forever, Luk 16:9 (the habitations of the blessed in heaven are referred to, cf. Joh 14:2 (also,dabo eis tabernacula aeterna, quae praeparaveram illis, 4 Esdras (Fritzsche, 5 Esdr.) []); similarly Hades is called αἰώνιος τόπος, Tob 3:6, cf. Ecc 12:5); σωτηρία, Heb 5:9; (so Mar 16:1-20 (WH) in the (rejected) 'Shorter Conclusion'). Opposite ideas are: κόλασις, Mat 25:46; κρίμα, Heb 6:2; κρίσις, Mar 3:29 (Rec. (but L T WH Tr text ἁμαρτήματος; in Acta Thom. § 47, p. 227 Tdf., ἔσται σοι τοῦτο εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καί λύτρον αἰωνίων παραπτωμάτων, it has been plausibly conjectured we should read λύτρον, αἰώνιον (cf. Heb 9:12))); ὄλεθρος (Lachmann text ὀλέθριος, 2Th 1:9 (4Ma 10:15); πῦρ, Mat 25:41 (4Ma 12:12 αἰωνίῳ πυρί καί βασάνοις, αἱ εἰς ὅλον τόν αἰῶνα οὐκ ἀρνήσουσί σε). (Of the examples of αἰώνιος from Philo (with whom it is less common than ἀΐδιος, which see, of which there are some fifty instances) the following are noteworthy: de mut. nora. § 2; de caritate § 17; κόλασις αἰώνιος fragment in Mang. 2:667 at the end (Richter 6:229 middle); cf. de praem, et poen. § 12. Other examples are de alleg, leg. iii., § 70; de poster. Caini § 35; quod deus immut. § 30; quis rer. div. her. § 58; de congressu quaer, erud. § 19; de secular sec 38; de somn. ii. § 43; de Josepho § 24; quod omn. prob. book § 4, § 18; de ebrietate § 32; de Abrah. § 10; ζωή αἰώνιος: de secular § 15; Θεός (ὁ) αἰώνιος: de plantat. § 2, § 18 (twice), § 20 (twice);de mundo § 2. from Josephus: Antiquities 7, 14, 5; 12, 7, 3; 15, 10, 5; b. j. 1, 33, 2; 6, 2, I; κλέος αἰών Antiquities 4, 6, 5; b. j. 3, 8, 5, μνήμη αἱ.: Antiquities 1, 13, 4; 6, 14, 4; 10, 11, 7; 15, 11, 1; οἶκον μέν αἰώνιον ἔχεις (of God), Antiquities 8, 4, 2; ἐφυλάχθη ὁ Ἰωάννης δεσμοῖς αἰωνίοις, b. j. 6, 9, 4. SYNONYMS: ἀΐδιος, αἰώνιος: ἀΐδιος covers the complete philosophic idea — without beginning and without end; also either without beginning or without end; as respects the past, it is applied to what has existed time out of mind. αἰώνιος (from Plato on) gives prominence to the immeasurableness of eternity (while such words as συνεχής continuous, unintermitted, διατελής perpetual, lasting to the end, are not so applicable to an abstract term, like αἰών); αἰώνιος accordingly is especially adapted to supersensuous things, see the N. T. Cf. Tim. Locr. 96 c. Θεόν δέ τόν μέν αἰώνιον νόος ὄρη μόνος etc.; Plato, Tim. 37 d. (and Stallbaum at the passage); 38 b. c.; legg. x., p. 904 a. ἀνώλεθρον δέ ὄν γενόμενον, ἀλλ' οὐκ αἰώνιον. Cf. also Plato's διαιώνιος (Tim. 38 b.; 39 e.). Schmidt, chapter 45.