Greek authors 1. age (Lat. aevum, which is αἰών with the Aeolic digamma), a human lifetime (in Hom., Hdt., Pind., Tragic poets), life itself (Hom. Il. 5, 685 μὲ καὶ λίποι αἰὼν etc.). 2. an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, (Plat. Tim. p. 37 d. 38 a.; Tim. Locr. p. 97 d. [quoted below]; Plut., al.). With this signification the Hebrew and Rabbinic idea of the word עוֺלָם (of which in the Sept. αἰών is the equiv.) combines in the bibl. and eccl. writ. Hence in the N. T. used 1. a. univ.: in the phrases εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, לְעוֺלָם (Gen. vi. 3), for ever, Jn. vi. 51, 58; xiv. 16; Heb. v. 6; vi. 20, etc.; and strengthened εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, Heb. i. 8 [fr. Ps. xliv. (xlv.) 7 Alex., cf. W. § 36, 2] (Tob. vi. 18; Ps. lxxxii. (lxxxiii.) 18, etc.); εἰς αἰῶνα, Jude 13; εἰς ἡμέραν αἰῶνος unto the day which is eternity (gen. of appos.), 2 Pet. iii. 18 [cf. Sir. xviii. 10 (9)]; with a negation: never, Jn. iv. 14 [Lchm. in br.]; viii. 51; x. 28; xi. 26; xiii. 8; 1 Co. viii. 13; or not for ever, not always, Jn. viii. 35; εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας unto the ages, i. e. as long as time shall be (the plur. denotes the individual ages whose sum is eternity): [Lk. i. 33]; Ro. i. 25; ix. 5; xi. 36; [xvi. 27 R G Tr WH]; 2 Co. xi. 31; Heb. xiii. 8; εἰς πάντας τ. αἰῶνας, Jude 25; εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων (in which expression the endless future is divided up into various periods, the shorter of which are comprehended in the longer [cf. W. § 36, 2; among the various phrases to express duration composed of this word with prep. or adjuncts, (which to the number of more than fifteen are to be found in the Sept., cf. Vaughan on Ro. i. 25), this combination of the double plural seems to be peculiar to the N. T.]): [Ro. xvi. 27 L T]; Gal. i. 5: [Phil. iv. 20]; 1 Tim. i. 17; [2 Tim. iv. 18; 1 Pet. iv. 11]; Rev. i. 6, 18; iv. 9 sq.; v. 13; vii. 12; x. 6; xi. 15; xv. 7; xix. 3; xx. 10; xxii. 5; εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων, Rev. xiv. 11; ὁ αἰὼν τῶν αἰώνων the (whole) age embracing the (shorter) ages, Eph. iii. 21 (cf. Mey. [or Ellic.] ad loc.); ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων from the ages down, from eternity, Col. i. 26; Eph. iii. 9; πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων before time was, before the foundation of the world, 1 Co. ii. 7; πρόθεσις τῶν αἰώνων eternal purpose, Eph iii. 11. b. in hyperbolic and popular usage: ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος (מֵעוֺלָם, Gen. vi. 4, cf. Deut. xxxii. 7) from the most ancient time down, (within the memory of man), from of old, Lk. i. 70; Acts iii. 21; xv. 18, (Tob. iv. 12 οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος; Longin. 34 τοὺς ἀπ’ αἰῶνος ῥήτορας); also ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος, Jn. ix. 32, (1 Esdr. ii. 19, 22 (23); Diod. iv. 83 of the temple of Venus τὴν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀρχὴν λαβόν, 17, 1 τοὺς ἐξ αἰῶνος βασιλεῖς, (excerpt. de legat. xl.] p. 632 τὴν ἐξ αἰῶνος παραδεδομένην ἐλευθερίαν). 2. by meton. of the container for the contained, οἱ αἰῶνες denotes the worlds, the universe, i. e. the aggregate of things contained in time, [on the plur. cf. W. 176 (166); B. 24 (21)]: Heb. i. 2; xi. 3; and (?) 1 Tim. i. 17: [Rev. xv. 3 WH txt.; cf. Ps. cxliv. (cxlv.) 13; Tob. xiii. 6, 10; Sir. xxxvi. 22; Philo de plant. Noë § 12 bis; de mundo § 7; Joseph. antt. 1, 18, 7; Clem. Rom. 1 Cor. 61, 2; 35, 3 (πατὴρ τ. α.); 55, 6 (θεὸς τ. α.): Constt. Ap. 7, 34; see Abbot in Journ. Soc. Bibl. Lit. etc. i. p. 106 n.]. So αἰών in Sap. xiii. 9; xiv. 6; xviii. 4; the same use occurs in the Talmud, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic; cf. Bleek, Hebräerbr. ii. 1, p. 36 sqq.; Gesenius, Thesaur. ii. p. 1036; [cf. the use of οἱ αἰῶνες in the Fathers i. q. the world of mankind, e. g. Ignat. ad Eph. 19, 2]. 3. As the Jews distinguished הָעוֺלָם הַזֶּה the time before the Messiah, and הָעוֺלָם הַבָּא the time after the advent of the Messiah (cf. Riehm, Lehrb. d. Hebräerbr. p. 204 sqq.; [Schürer § 29, 9]), so most of the N. T. writers distinguish ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος this age (also simply ὁ αἰών, Mt. xiii. 22; Mk. iv. 19 G L T Tr WH; ὁ ἐνεστὼς αἰών; Gal. i. 4; ὁ νῦν αἰών, 1 Tim. vi. 17; [2 Tim. iv. 10]; Tit. ii. 12), the time before the appointed return or truly Messianic advent of Christ (i.e. the παρουσία, q. v.), the period of instability, weakness, impiety, wickedness, calamity, misery,—and αἰὼν μέλλων the future age (also ὁ αἰὼν ἐκεῖνος, Lk. xx. 35; ὁ αἰὼν ὁ ἐρχόμενος, Lk. xviii. 30; Mk. x. 30; οἱ αἰῶνες οἱ ἐπερχόμενοι, Eph. ii. 7), i. e. the age after the return of Christ in majesty, the period of the consummate establishment of the divine kingdom and all its blessings: Mt. xii. 32; Eph. i. 21; cf. Fritzsche on Rom. vol. iii. 22 sq. Hence the things of ‘this age’ are mentioned in the N. T. with censure: ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος, by meton. men controlled by the thoughts and pursuits of this present time, Ro. xii. 2, the same who are called υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰ. τούτου in Lk. xvi. 8; xx. 34; κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου conformably to the age to which this (wicked) world belongs, Eph. ii. 2 [cf. Trench § lix. sub fin.]; ἀγαπᾶν τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα, 2 Tim. iv. 10 (see ἀγαπάω); ἄρχοντες τοῦ αἰ. τούτου, 1 Co. ii. 6 (see ἄρχων); ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἱ. τούτου the devil, who rules the thoughts and deeds of the men of this age, 2 Co. iv. 4; αἱ μέριμναι τοῦ αἰῶνος the anxieties for the things of this age, Mk. iv. 19; πλούσιος ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι rich in worldly wealth, 1 Tim. vi. 17; σοφία τοῦ αἰ. τούτ. such wisdom as belongs to this age,—full of error, arrogant, hostile to the gospel, 1 Co. ii. 6; συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰ. τούτ. disputer, sophist, such as we now find him, 1 Co. i. 20; συντέλεια τοῦ αἰ. τούτ. the end, or rather consummation, of the age preceding Christ's return, with which will be connected the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, the demolition of this world and its restoration to a more excellent condition [cf. 4 Esdr. vii. 43], Mt. xiii. 39 sq. 49; xxiv. 3; xxviii. 20; it is called συντέλεια τῶν αἰώνων in Heb. ix. 26 [so Test. xii. Patr., test. Levi 10, test. Benj. 11 (cf. Vorstman p. 133)]; τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων the ends (last part) of the ages before the return of Christ, 1 Co. x. 11; δυνάμεις τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος powers which present themselves from the future or divine order of things, i.e. the Holy Spirit, Heb. vi. 5; τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐκείνου τυχεῖν tο partake of the blessings of the future age, Lk. xx. 35. Among the N. T. writers James does not use the word αἰών.
[On the word in its relation to κόσμος see Trench § lix. Its biblical sense and its relation to עוֺלָם are discussed by Stuart, Exeget. Essays on Words relating to Fut. Punishment, Andover, 1830 (and Presbyt. Publ. Committee, Phil.); Tayler Lewis in Lange’s Com. on Eccl. pp. 44-51; J. W. Hanson, Aion-Aionios, (pp. 174), Chicago, 1880. See esp.
