PMW 2026-029 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
A Question Presented
A long-time reader has recently sent me a question on this site. Mr. Cardona asks:
“In Hebrews 1:2, how do you understand αιωνας, “worlds,” “ages,” “universe”? I tried looking for how you understand that word in this context, but I can’t seem to find it. And how would you translate it?”
This is an important question for helping to understand Scripture properly. It is especially helpful for understanding scriptural eschatology, which is so easily abused (and I do not just mean by the “Latter-day Saints”). The word aion, which is generally translated either by “age” or by “eternal,” is an important Greek term that is found frequently in the New Testament. I am currently writing a book on “The Two Ages of Redemptive History” in which I will be discussing this word and its Old Testament counterpart olam. This two age phenomenon provides an important Reformed theological insight into the meta-narrative of Scripture, greatly impacting eschatology.
Unfortunately, interpreters committed to the unorthodox hyper-preterist theology err by limiting the interpretive range of aion — as they often do in their attempts at understanding Greek lexicography and grammar (e.g., their well-known misunderstanding of the Greek mello). We find this problem in a new convert to hyper-preterism, who is himself providing a new form of hyper-preterism. Gary DeMar, dogmatically and erroneously asserts that “aion refers to a period of time, not the physical world.” [1]
Reformed Eschatology in the Writings of Geerhardus Vos
Ed. by Ken Gentry and Bill Boney
This is a collection of several key eschatological studies by the renowned Reformed theologian Geehardus Vos. We have modernized Vos’ grammar and syntax and updated his layout style according to modern publishing conventions (shorter sentences and paragraphs). We did this without changing any of Vos’ arguments.
For more information on this new Vos work or to order it, see:
https://www.kennethgentry.com/reformed-eschatology-in-the-writings-of-geerhardus-vos/
Temporal and Spatial
But again in the case of olam, so with aion “occasionally there occurs the meaning of world in the spatial sense” (NIDNTT 3: 829). Cullmann (1962: 45) can rightly argue, then, that aion “like the Hebrew olam, takes on at times a spatial meaning and so comes to mean ‘world’; it thus becomes a synonym of ‘world,’ ‘universe’ (kosmos).” Gaffin (2022: 246) agrees, noting that both the Hebrew and Greek words for “age” eventually “took on the sense of ‘world’ or ‘universe.’ In other words, a comprehensive time word gained an all-inclusive spatial connotation,” i.e., world-age.
Consequently, on occasion “aion approximates closely to kosmos” as when Paul’s reference to “wisdom … of this age [aion]” (1 Cor. 2:6) can almost immediately be re-phrased as “the wisdom of this world [kosmos]” (TDNT 1:203; cp. EDBT 13; BAGD 33).
Likewise, in Ephesians 2:1–2a we may observe this easy transition: “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course [aion] of this world [kosmos].” Vos (2024: 26–27) notes in this regard:
“Here the supposition is that to the kosmos (conceived as evil) an evil time or life-complexion belongs. The one affects the other and is inseparable from the other. Yet nonetheless, they are conceptually and linguistically distinguishable. On the whole we shall have to say that the world-scheme follows the time-scheme, not the reverse. And this is not without theological importance for the interpretation of the Apostle’s idea of the kosmos as evil.”
Barrett well comments here: “Of this age (aion) and of the world (kosmos) appear to be used synonymously…. This age, in contrast with the other world, are not two completely distinct dualisms.” [2]
Thine Is the Kingdom (ed. by Ken Gentry)
Contributors lay the scriptural foundation for a biblically-based, hope-filled postmillennial eschatology, while showing what it means to be postmillennial in the real world.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
The Epistle to the Hebrews
This seems clearly the case in Hebrews 1:2: God “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made [poieia] the world [tous aionas].” Here the word “world” is almost certainly the proper understanding of the plural tous aionas (as per most versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, CEB, ESV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, RSV). “The word poieia is the same as barah (Gen. 1:1), to bring into being.” [3] As Schreiner (2020: 55) points out while citing the NIV: “the phrase ‘the universe’ (tous aionas) is most often temporal, but here it designates the world God has made (cf. Wis. 13:9), and the author features the Son as the agent of creation (cf. John 1:3; 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16).” [4] Cullmann (1962: 64) highlights this verse as an example of “the spatial use of the word ain, a usage attested elsewhere.” TDNT 1:204 observes that this use of aion “must be understood spatially as ‘worlds’ or ‘spheres.’”
The same is true in Hebrews 11:3, where we read: “by faith we understand that the worlds [tous aionas] were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen [blepomena < blepo] was not made out of things which are visible.” This is a clear allusion to Genesis 1 regarding the physical creation (which is “seen,” blepo). Consequently, the writer of Hebrews “denies the eternity of matter, a common theory then and now, and places God before the visible universe.” [5] As Bruce argues: “Here, as in 1:2, the ‘worlds’ are the aiones (lit. ‘ages’); in both places the universe of space and time is meant.” [6] Ellingworth agrees regarding 11:3: “tous aiones [refers] to the visible world, and thus [is] synonymous with to blepomenon.” [7]
Thus, Greek linguists disagree with the dogmatic assertion that “aion refers to a period of time, not the physical world.” It can and does often refer to the “world” as such.
The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation
This commentary is an 1800 page, two-volume deeply exegetical, academic commentary on the Bible’s most mysterious book. It takes an orthodox preterist approach, giving serious attention to the details of John’s many visions.
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See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
Notes
- Gary DeMar, Why the End of the World In Not in Your Future (Powder Springs, Geo.: American Vision, 2008), 198.
- C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC) (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1968), 53. See also EDBT, 13.
- R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrikson, 1966), 35.
- Ladd states that “in Heb. 1:2; 11:3 aion is nearly synonymous with kosmos. However, most instances aion retains the temporal idea.” George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 26 n1. Most Hebrews commentators recognize this spatial function of ain here in Hebrews. See commentaries by Gareth Cockerill, George H. Guthrie, Paul Ellingworth, D. L. Allen, Donald Hagner, F. F. Bruce, Peter O’Brien, A. T. Robertson, W. L. Lane, Douglas Moo, P. E. Hughes, B. F. Westcott, and Simon Kistemaker, to name but a few.
- A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1930), 5: 419. See also Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews (PNTC) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 401–02.
- F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 279.
- Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGNTC) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 569.
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