Matthew 25:46

46 . The same Greek word ( aiônios ) is translated everlasting (punishment) and (life) eternal; also in each case the adjective in the Greek text follows the noun—the place of emphasis. The adjective aiônios (eternal) = of or belonging to (1) an aiôn or period, ( a ) past, ( b ) present, ( c ) future, or (2) to a succession of aiôns or periods. It does not, therefore, in itself=“unending.” But life eternal, which is “to know the true God and Jesus Christ” ( John 17:3 ), can only be conceived of as unending and infinite; cp. “Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die” ( Habakkuk 1:12 ). punishment ] (Greek, kolasis ), not “vengeance,” but punishment that checks or reforms.

Matthew 25:46 . κόλασιν , here and in 1 John 4:18 ( ὁ φόβος κόλασιν ἔχει ), from κολάζω = mutilation or pruning, hence suggestive of corrective rather than of vindictive punishment as its tropical meaning. The use of this term in this place is one of the exegetical grounds rested on by those who advocate the “larger hope”. Another is the strict meaning of αἰώνιος : agelong, not everlasting. From the combination results the phrase: agelong, pruning, or discipline, leaving room for the hope of ultimate salvation. But the doctrine of the future states must ultimately rest on deeper considerations than those supplied by verbal interpretation. Weiss (Mt.-Evang.) and Wendt ( L. J. ) regard Matthew 25:46 as an interpolation by the evangelist. The doctrine of this passage is that love is the essence of true religion and the ultimate test of character for all men Christian or non-Christian. All who truly love are implicit Christians. For such everywhere the kingdom is prepared. They are its true citizens and God is their Father. In calling those who love the Father’s blessed ones Jesus made an important contribution to the doctrine of the Fatherhood, defining by discriminating use the title “Father”.

46. And these shall go away—these "cursed" ones. Sentence, it should seem, was first pronounced—in the hearing of the wicked—upon the righteous, who thereupon sit as assessors in the judgment upon the wicked (1Co 6:2); but sentence is first executed, it should seem, upon the wicked, in the sight of the righteous—whose glory will thus not be beheld by the wicked, while their descent into "their own place" will be witnessed by the righteous, as Bengel notes. into everlasting punishment—or, as in Mt 25:41, "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Compare Mt 13:42; 2Th 1:9, &c. This is said to be "prepared for the devil and his angels," because they were "first in transgression." But both have one doom, because one unholy character. but the righteous into life eternal—that is, "life everlasting." The word in both clauses, being in the original the same, should have been the same in the translation also. Thus the decisions of this awful day will be final, irreversible, unending.

(46) Everlasting punishment . . . life eternal. —The two adjectives represent one and the same Greek word, αι ̓ ω ́ νιος , and we ought therefore to have the same word in both clauses in the English. Of the two words, “eternal” is philologically preferable, as being traceably connected with the Greek, the Latin ætemus being derived from ætas, and that from ævum, which, in its turn, is but another form of the Greek ἀιὼν ( æon ) . The bearing of the passage on the nature and duration of future punishment is too important to be passed over; and though the question is too wide to be determined by a single text, all that the text contributes to its solution should be fully and fairly weighed.

On the one hand, then, it is urged that as we hold the “eternal life” to have no end, so we must hold also the endlessness of the “eternal fire.” On the other hand, it must be admitted (1) that the Greek word which is rendered “eternal,” does not in itself involve endlessness, but rather duration, whether through an age or a succession of ages; and that it is therefore applied in the New Testament to periods of time that have had both beginning and ending ( Romans 16:25 , where the Greek is “from æonian times,” our version giving “since the world began”—comp. 2Timothy 1:9 ; Titus 1:2 ), and in the Greek version of the Old Testament to institutions and ordinances that were confessedly to wax old and vanish away ( Genesis 17:8 ; Leviticus 3:17 ); and (2) that in the language of a Greek Father (Gregory of Nyssa, who held the doctrine of the restitution of all things) it is even connected with the word “interval,” as expressing the duration of the penal discipline which was, he believed, to come to an end after an æonian intervening period.

Matthew 25:46 . Ἀπελεύσονται , shall depart ) The place of judgment is distinct from the places into which the two classes will severally depart.— κόλασις , punishment [1105]) There is a difference between τιμωρία , vengeance , and κόλασις , punishment ; for punishment is inflicted for the sake of him who suffers: vengeance for the satisfaction of him who inflicts it; see Arist. Rhet. i. 10, n. 31.[1106]— αἰώνιον , eternal ) Eternal [1107] signifies that which reaches and passes the limits of earthly time : cf. Gnomon on Romans 16:25 .— οἱ δὲ , κ . τ . λ ., but the , etc.) Christ the King shall first address the righteous, in the hearing of the unrighteous; but the unrighteous shall first depart, in the sight of the righteous; see ch. Matthew 13:49-50 . Thus the damned will see nothing of eternal life, though the righteous will see the vengeance inflicted on the damned.— ΔΊΚΑΙΟΙ , righteous ) declared to be so by this very judgment. [1105] “Of fire, see Matthew 25:41 . Righteous King, grant that I may hereafter find myself standing on the right hand.”—B. G. V. [1106] In the Oxford edition of 1833, I. 10, § 17.—I.

B. [1107] The Bible has no metaphysical distinctions, therefore it has no one word to express eternity; this it expresses by long periods joined with one another indefinitely. Αἰῶνες = עו̇לָמִים, æva: very long periods, which, multiplied indefinitely, give the only notion we can form of eternity. Ὡρα (Th. ὃρος , terminus), a definite space of time: καιρὸς , the time, the fit time: χρόνος , time, in its actuality, marking succession: αἰὼν , an indefinite course of time, without the notion of an end. See Tittm. Syn. Gr. Test. Ἀπʼ αἰώνων = from all eternity, a parte ante. Εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας = to all eternity, for ages, for ever, a parte post. As these phrases are applied to the eternity of God Himself, and as, moreover, αἰώνιος is applied to ζωὴ , which none deny to mean everlasting life, no objections (such as have been lately raised), from the meaning of αἰὼν , will hold good against the everlasting duration of punishment.—ED.

Matthew 25:46 . Comp. Daniel 12:2 . The absolute idea of eternity , in regard to the punishment of hell (comp. Matthew 25:41 ), is not to be got rid of either by a popular toning down of the force of αἰώνιος (Paulus), or by appealing (de Wette, Schleiermacher, Oetinger) to the figurative character of the term fire and the supposed incompatibility between the idea of eternity and such a thing as evil and its punishment, any more than by the theory that the whole representation is intended simply by way of warning (according to which view it is not meant thereby to throw light upon the eternal nature of things, but only to portray the κρίσις , i.e . the cessation of the conflict between good and evil by the extinction of the latter); but is to be regarded as exegetically established in the present passage (comp. Matthew 3:12 , Matthew 18:8 ) by the opposed ζωὴν αἰώνιον , which denotes the everlasting Messianic life (Kaeuffer, as above, p. 21); comp. also Weizel in the Stud. u. Krit . 1836, p. 605 ff.; Schmid in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol . 1870, p. 136 ff. οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι ] “hoc ipso judicio declarati,” Bengel. Comp. Romans 5:19 . REMARK. Because the judgment is a judgment of Christians (see on Matthew 25:31 ), faith is presupposed though not formally mentioned . The truth is, the Judge regulates His decision according to the way in which faith has been evidenced by love ( 1 Corinthians 13:1 ff.; John 13:35 ), without which as its necessary fruit faith does not save ( Galatians 5:6 )