ETERNAL (e-teenal). The general rendering in the A. V. of the Heb. o-lawm' ; the Gr. aldw, ahee-ohu', age, or cau!nnos, ahee-o'nee-os, per petual, and occasionally keh'dem, early, of yore. Both o-lawm' and ahee-ohn' are properly represented by "eternal," inasmuch as they usually refer to indefinite time,fiast or future.
1. O-lawm', which means to hide, strictly des ignates the occult time of the past, "time out of mind," or time immemorial (Ps. xxv :6; Jer.
vi :16).
2. Ahee-ohu' corresponds remarkably with the Hebrew in nearly all of its meanings. Its derivation is from a verb meaning to breathe, blow, and denotes that which causes life.
In the sense of unlimited duration must it always be taken, unless something appears in the subject or connection in which it occurs, to limit its sig nification ; that is, to show that it is used figura tively, and not in its proper acceptation.
When applied to God and spiritual things it indicates the endless succession of ages, which is the popular and necessary conception of the eter nal. The New Testament usage is indicated as
follows : In its adjective form it denotes forever ( John vi :51, 58 ; xiv :16; Heb. v :6; vi :2o, etc.) ; unto the ages, i. e., as long as the time shall be (Rom. i :25; ix :5 ; xi :36) ; from the ages, i. e., from eternity (Col. i :2o; Eph. iii :9) ; before time was; i. e., be fore the foundation of the world (t Cor. :7). In poetical and popular usages from the ages means from of old (Luke i :7o; Acts iii :21), from the most ancient times. Elsewhere of the future it is used in an unlimited sense, endless (2 Cor. iv :18; v ; Luke xvi :9; Heb. ix:12; xiii :2o, etc.), espe cially of the happy future of the righteous, as "life everlasting" (Matt. xix 29; xxv :46), and often of the miserable fate of the wicked FMark iii :29; Matt. xviii :8, etc.). (J. Newton Brown, Bib. Cyc.; Mc. and Str. Bib. Cyc.; Barnes, Bib. Cyc.)