Important Time Related Hebrew and Greek Words
Most Christians believe in hell because they read verses in their Bibles that support the concept of everlasting punishment in a place called hell.
Does the Bible really teach everlasting punishment in hell for unbelievers? Has God truly condemned the overwhelming majority of humanity, those who die as unbelievers, to this so-called hell? If Universal Reconciliation is the truth of the Bible, and it absolutely is, then one should not find a single statement in the whole of the Bible where it says that God will punish unbelievers forever. Nowhere in the inspired Hebrew and Greek Manuscripts of the Bible does it say that God will punish unbelieving humanity, or even Satan and his fallen angels, forever.
Yes, God does chastise unrepentant unbelievers, but not forever in a place called hell or even annihilate them. This is because ultimately, in God’s time and His order extending beyond this age, all unbelievers, through the gift of God-given faith, will repent of their sin of unbelief and come to believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. They will all confess and believe the glorious biblical truth that Jesus Christ is indeed God’s only begotten Son who died for the sins of the whole world in order to save the whole world; past, present and future, without a single exception.
The doctrine of everlasting punishment in hell is founded upon a combination of mistranslations and misinterpretations of the following original Hebrew and Greek words, which first occurred when Jerome translated Scripture into the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate in the early fifth century, circa 400 AD:
- Mistranslations of the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek words hades, tartarus and gehenna, to mean hell.
- Mistranslations of the Hebrew word owlam and the Greek words aion and aionios, to mean forever or everlasting when relating to God’s judgement of unbelievers and fallen angels.
In the previous Chapter, we showed the true meanings of sheol, hades, tartarus and gehenna, which have been mistranslated to mean hell in versions of the Bible that support the doctrine of hell.
In this chapter, we will show you how the original Hebrew and Greek words owlam, aion and aionios have been mistranslated to mean ‘forever’ or ‘everlasting’ in versions of the Bible that support the doctrine of hell.
Since Traditional Christianity (those who believe in the Trinity, Hell and the Immortality of the Soul) gets the main support for its doctrine of hell from the New Testament, and this is mainly from mistranslations of the original Greek words aion and aionios, we will consider these two Greek words before the Old Testament Hebrew word owlam.
The Greek word Aion
Aion occurs 128 times in the Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament and it is used in the Bible, depending on the context, to have the following two meanings:
- A period of time that never ends, meaning forever, everlasting or eternal
OR
- A period of time that begins and ends, meaning an age or age-lasting.
The KJV translators and translators of other versions of the Bible accept that the Greek word aion means either ‘everlasting’ or ‘age’, as its context in Scripture demands. Thus, Strong’s Concordance and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon define aion to have both of the above meanings of ‘everlasting’ and ‘age’.
So, let us now prove the point that aion has these two meanings, depending on its context, by giving examples from the New King James Version.
1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal (aion), immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever (aion) and ever (aion). Amen
Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever (aion) and ever (aion)!”
In the Bible, when aion is used to describe the eternal attributes of God, then of course aion means forever, everlasting or eternal, as correctly translated in these verses. Now, let us consider a verse where its context dictates that aion can only mean an ‘age’ which begins and ends and that it cannot mean ‘everlasting’.
Matthew 24:3
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when these things will be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age (aion)?”
In this verse, Jesus’s disciples are enquiring about His Second Coming. Notice, the disciples understood that when Jesus Christ returns to earth it will mark the end of this present aion, which is correctly translated here to mean ‘age’ as dictated by its context.
The expression ‘the end of the age’ is used several times in the Bible, which clearly shows that aion in certain contexts means an age, a time-period, which begins and ends. The KJV has preferred to translate aion, in the majority of cases, to mean ‘world’ when the Bible means age or ages. ‘World’ is a bad translation of aion because the Greek word for ‘world’ is kosmos and not aion. Also, when Christ returns, it will mark the end of the age, and not the end of the world (kosmos).
There are many other places in the Bible, such as in Ephesians 1:21 and 2:7, where its context dictates that aion can only mean age or age-lasting. Most Bible versions agree that aion means age or age-lasting in at least 30% of its 128 occurrences in the New Testament.
The important thing to understand is that aion can have one of two meanings, and it is aion’s context in Scripture that dictates whether aion is translated to mean age/age-lasting or forever/everlasting/eternal.
The key question to ask is, ‘Can aion ever be translated to mean everlasting when relating to God’s future punishment of unbelievers?’ The clear biblical answer is: Absolutely not! You don’t have to be an expert in the Greek language to be one hundred percent sure of this. Aion can never mean forever, everlasting or eternal when describing God’s future judgement of unbelievers or fallen angels. Why not? Because such translations contradict the Word of God, which says that God is the Saviour of the world, and the Saviour of all men. Such mistranslations contradict many glorious scriptures including those quoted in Chapter 4, Universal Reconciliation Scriptures – The Riches of Christ.
We now give you examples of such mistranslations found in popular versions of the Bible that support the unbiblical doctrine of hell.
Mistranslations of Aion
2 Peter 2:17 (KJV) These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever (aion).
The KJV translation of aion in this scripture to mean forever is a serious mistranslation. A correct translation of this verse is given in Young’s Literal Translation, as follows:
2 Peter 2:17 (YLT)
These are wells without water, and clouds by a tempest driven, to whom the thick gloom of the darkness to the age (aion) hath been kept.
The meaning of this verse is that all of these unbelieving false teachers, the ‘wells without water’, who walk in spiritual darkness will be kept under the thick gloom of darkness until they repent through God’s judgement in the Lake of Fire. This is when ‘the thick gloom of darkness’ will be kept over them no longer, as fully discussed in Chapter 12, The Lake of Fire Judgement Age – Part 1.
Revelation 19:2-3 (NKJV)
2 “For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever (aion) and ever (aion)!”
This is another example of a mistranslated verse in Bible versions that support the doctrine of hell. ‘Her smoke rises up forever (aion) and ever (aion)’ is a mistranslation.
The correct translation is ‘Her smoke rises up for an age of the ages’. The ‘age of the ages’ refers to the judgement, taking place in the Lake of Fire during the Great White Throne Judgement Age, of unbelievers who perpetrated and deceived many through their false religious system (the Great Harlot) and also martyred true believers, whose shed blood will be avenged by God. These unbelievers will be judged by God’s Spiritual Refining Fire so that ultimately, through the gift of God-given faith, they come to repentance from their sin of unbelief to become believers in the true Gospel, as explained in Chapter 12.
Revelation 20:10 (NKJV)
The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented (basanizo) day and night forever (aion) and ever (aion).
In this NKJV verse, both of the Greek words basanizo and aion have been mistranslated to mean ‘And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever’.
The correct translation of this verse is, ‘And they will be refined and purified day and night for an age of the ages’. We give a detailed commentary on this verse in Chapter 13, The Lake of Fire Judgement Age – Part 2.
It is a sad and shocking fact that the translators of many popular Bible versions, especially the KJV, have been greatly influenced by the Roman Catholic doctrine of hell as preached in the Latin Vulgate. Therefore, these translators have followed Jerome’s mistakes in the Latin Vulgate by also translating aion, when describing the future punishment of unbelievers and fallen angels, to mean ‘everlasting’ punishment instead of the correct translation of ‘age-to-come, age-lasting’ punishment. Hence, they bring contradictions into the Word of God, negating the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that He died for the sins of the whole world and He is indeed the Saviour of the whole world (John 4:42, 1 John 2:2, Colossians 1:15-20).
Let us now consider the translation of the Greek word aionios, which has been similarly mistranslated in support of the false doctrine of hell.
The Greek word Aionios
The Greek word aionios occurs 71 times in the New Testament. Aionios is the adjective of the noun aion, and therefore, the grammatical rule demands that aionios must also have the same two meanings as aion. Depending on its context, these are:
- A period of time that never ends, meaning forever, everlasting or eternal
OR
- A period of time that begins and ends, meaning an age or age-lasting.
The fact that one of the meanings of aionios is ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’ is not in doubt because this is how it is correctly used in Scripture for the majority of its 71 occurrences, as dictated by its context. The phrase ‘aionios life’, which is God’s promise to believers in Christ, occurs as many as fifty times in the Greek Manuscripts of the Bible. Most Bible versions correctly translate ‘aionios life’ to mean ‘everlasting life’ or ‘eternal life’.
There are only a few verses in the New Testament where aionios can only mean ‘age-lasting’ and not ‘everlasting’, as dictated by its context. Sadly, these few verses have been mistranslated to mean ‘everlasting’ in popular Bible versions like the KJV, NKJV and NIV which support the doctrine of hell. Let us now give you examples of such mistranslated verses.
Mistranslations of Aionios
Matthew 25:46
And these will go away into everlasting (aionios) punishment, but the righteous into eternal (aionios) life.
This is a mistranslated verse, which first appeared as a mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate around 400 AD in support of the Roman Catholic doctrine of hell. The KJV and other subsequent versions of the Bible that support the doctrine of hell have carried forward this mistranslated verse into their own versions.
Augustine (354-430 AD), a fifth century Roman Catholic saint, who championed the doctrine of hell, depended heavily on this single verse to argue the case for endless punishment of unbelievers in hell.
Augustine argued that since Jesus used the same word aionios to describe both the duration of the future punishment of unbelievers and the future life of the righteous, then it necessarily follows that the future punishment of unbelievers will be everlasting just like the future life of the righteous.
The problem Augustine had was that he strongly believed in the pagan doctrine of hell and he totally ignored, or was ignorant of, the fact that aion and its adjective aionios have two meanings in the Bible of age and everlasting depending on their context.
Now, let us understand the correct translation of Matthew 25:46 and the true meaning of what Jesus Christ is saying in this verse.
As we have demonstrated, to translate aionios punishment to mean everlasting or eternal punishment is a mistranslation because it brings contradiction into the Word of God. In addition to this, it should be noted that the Greek word for punishment used in Matthew 25:46 is kolasis, and the meaning of kolasis is ‘corrective punishment’ as confirmed by Strong’s Concordance number G2851. So, the true meaning of Matthew 25:46 as dictated by the context is:
Matthew 25:46
And these will go away into age-lasting (aionios) corrective punishment (kolasis), but the righteous into eternal (aionios) life.
This is the true meaning of this scripture as originally inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it does not introduce any contradictions whatsoever into the Word of God.
Let us consider another example of a mistranslation of aionios.
Apostle Paul was a firm believer in Universal Reconciliation, and he makes many clear universalist statements throughout his writings. However, there is one statement in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 that has been mistranslated to mean ‘everlasting’ destruction, so let us consider this verse in detail.
2 Thessalonians 1:9
These shall be punished with everlasting (aionios) destruction (olethros) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.
In this verse, taken from the NKJV, aionios destruction is incorrectly translated to mean everlasting destruction. An accurate translation is age-to-come destruction, meaning the destruction of the physical life when they die in the flesh.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 is clearly speaking of God’s judgement against unbelieving humanity living on earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, as the preceding two verses confirm: “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels, He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
Yes, at the return of Jesus Christ when He appears in the sky marking the beginning of the next Age, the Millennial Age, most of unbelieving humanity alive at that time will be destroyed in their flesh, i.e., they will die a fleshly death, during the one-year period of the Great Tribulation. Thus, they will undergo an age-to-come destruction and not an eternal destruction, as mistranslated in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 above. However, the time will come, in the future, for all unbelievers to be resurrected at the Second Resurrection to undergo God’s refining, yet merciful, judgement in the Lake of Fire. Please refer to Chapter 10 for details of what takes place at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and to Chapter 12 for details on God’s refining judgement of unbelieving humanity in the Lake of Fire, during the Great White Throne Judgement Age.
It is because of the mistranslation of the Greek words aion and aionios that we end up with the unbiblical false teachings of:
- Everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46)
- Eternal judgement (Hebrews 6:2)
- Eternal damnation (Mark 3:29)
- Everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41)
- Everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
All such unbiblical teachings are very serious mistranslations denying the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that He is indeed the Saviour of the whole world.
The KJV translates aionios to always mean ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’ and it ignores the second meaning of ‘age or age-lasting’. This is why Strong’s Concordance only gives the first meaning of aionios, ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’. This is also true for the Hebrew word owlam, which we shall soon discuss.
It is important to bear in mind that although Strong’s Concordance is a useful tool, which helps us to understand the meanings of original Hebrew and Greek words found in the Manuscripts, its scope is somewhat limited. This is because the purpose of Strong’s Concordance is to give the meanings of Hebrew and Greek words as understood by the King James Version translators. So, where the KJV translators have translated or interpreted any Hebrew or Greek word incorrectly, then Strong’s Concordance will also give this same incorrect meaning. This is particularly true for the Greek words aion, aionios and the Hebrew word owlam, the meanings of which are the subject of this chapter. Ultimately, we rely on God’s Word itself to understand the true meaning of any word used in the Bible, and not on man’s Concordances or Lexicons. In writing God’s Plan for All, our guiding principle has always been that the Bible is the Word of God and that it does not and cannot contradict itself.
As commented previously, Traditional Christianity gets its main support for its doctrine of hell from the New Testament, and there is very little in the Old Testament that can be mistranslated in support of the doctrine of hell. However, in order to make this study complete, we will now consider the Old Testament Hebrew word owlam.
The Hebrew word Owlam
There are 439 occurrences of owlam (pronounced olam) in the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word owlam is the direct equivalent of the Greek words aion and aionios as confirmed by the Septuagint (the Greek Translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scripture, translated by Jews between 300-250 BC). So, just like the Greek words aion and aionios, the Hebrew word owlam is used in the Bible to have the following two distinct meanings depending on its context in Scripture:
A period of time that never ends, meaning forever, everlasting or eternal
OR
A period of time that begins and ends, meaning an age or age-lasting.
The fact that one of the meanings of owlam is ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’ is not in dispute because many scriptures confirm this, for example:
Genesis 21:33
Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting (owlam) God.
Psalm 118:29
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever (owlam).
In the Bible, when owlam, like aion and aionios, is used to describe the eternal attributes of God, then of course owlam means forever, everlasting or eternal, as correctly translated in these verses.
Now, let us give some examples to show you that owlam, depending on its context, can also mean age or age-lasting even though most Bible versions always translate it to mean ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’.
Genesis 17:13
He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting (owlam) covenant.
We can be sure that in this verse owlam actually means an ‘age-lasting’ covenant, even though it is translated in the NKJV version above, and other versions of the Bible, to mean ‘everlasting’ covenant. This is because the New Testament, in Galatians 5:6, confirms that the covenant of circumcision given to Israel was never intended to be an ‘everlasting’ covenant but an ‘age-lasting’ covenant.
Again, in Isaiah 24:5, the Mosaic Covenant given to Israel has been translated to mean an ‘everlasting’ covenant. However, we know from the New Testament, in Hebrews 8:13, that the Old Covenant of the Law under Moses has now been superseded by the New Covenant of Grace under Jesus Christ. So, the Bible itself confirms that owlam, depending on its context, does not always mean ‘everlasting’, but it can also mean ‘age or age-lasting’.
The scripture Jonah 1:17 clearly tells us that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for only three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
However, according to most Bible versions, in their translation of the scripture Jonah 2:6, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish ‘forever’, thus contradicting Jonah 1:17 above. Three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish may have seemed like ‘forever’ to Jonah, but the point we are making is that owlam in the Bible does not always literally mean forever.
There are other places in the Old Testament where it can be clearly seen that owlam does not mean ‘forever, everlasting or eternal’ and that it can only mean ‘age or age-lasting’, which can vary from a very short period of time of only a few days, as in the case of Jonah, up to a very long period of time of thousands of years.
To translate owlam to mean an ‘everlasting’ covenant when referring to the Mosaic Covenant or to say that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish forever, are not serious mistranslations because they can be understood as mere ‘figures of speech’ rather than being taken literally. However, it becomes an extremely serious mistranslation to translate owlam to mean ‘everlasting’ punishment when the Bible means ‘age-to-come, age-lasting’ punishment, as in the case of Daniel 12:2 below.
Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting (owlam) life, Some to shame and everlasting (owlam) contempt.
Versions of the Bible like the NKJV quoted above, which support the doctrine of hell, translate owlam in this verse to mean ‘everlasting life’, and also ‘everlasting contempt’. As in the case of Matthew 25:46, which we have already discussed in this chapter, this verse is similarly mistranslated.
The correct meaning of this verse, which does not contradict the biblical truth of Universal Reconciliation through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, is:
Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to age-to-come everlasting (owlam) life, Some to shame and age-to-come age-lasting (owlam) contempt.
Of course, age-to-come life is the glorious everlasting life in Christ, which all true believers will receive when they rise from the dead in resurrection. However, age-to-come contempt is age-lasting, which all unbelievers will receive when they rise from the dead in resurrection. This is when they will be condemned to the Lake of Fire during the Great White Throne Judgement Age, and they will become ashamed of their sin of unbelief, repent and believe the true Gospel through God’s refining corrective judgement, as we explain in detail in Chapter 12.
Apart from Daniel 12:2, there is very little in the Old Testament which can be misunderstood or mistranslated in support of the doctrine of hell.
Conclusion
Translators of the Bible have a clear choice to make when translating any of the above-mentioned, time-related, words owlam, aion and aionios when related to God’s future judgement of unbelievers and fallen angels. This choice is whether to translate these words to mean ‘everlasting’ in support of the pagan unbiblical doctrine of hell, thus bringing contradictions into the Word of God, or to translate them to mean ‘age-lasting’ in support of God’s future corrective age-to-come judgement of unbelievers and fallen angels, which is in line with the Word of God.
We are saying loud and clear, by the authority of the Bible, that any translation of these words to mean ‘everlasting’ when relating to God’s future judgement of unbelievers and fallen angels is a mistranslation. Such mistranslations contradict the Word of God and negate the Gospel of Jesus Christ that He is indeed the Saviour of the whole world.
We now need to repudiate the claim from hell-believing ‘Christians’ that most of the biblical teachings about hell come from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself, which we will do in the next chapter.