The biblical words often translated as “eternal,” “forever,” or “everlasting” do not always carry the modern English idea of unending duration. Instead, Scripture frequently uses these terms to describe the quality, significance, or age-related character of something—not necessarily its endless continuance. Understanding how the Hebrew ʿolam and the Greek aiōn/aiōnios function in their original contexts helps clarify crucial doctrines, especially those concerning covenant law and the coming judgment and rewards in the Kingdom of God on earth.
Lexicons
According to Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 7th printing, 1980, 761ff.), the word ʿolam, often translated “eternal,” is frequently used for things that come to an end, implying a qualitative rather than strictly quantitative meaning.
In Greek, ʿolam is commonly translated with aiōnios, a word associated with the “Millennial Kingdom” or “age to come”—the first stage of what Revelation 22:5 calls “the ages of the ages” of Church rulership with the Messiah. According to Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (4th ed., 1952), the noun aiōn means “age.” Thus, “this present age” (ho aiōn houtos) is often contrasted in Scripture with “the age to come” (ho aiōn mellōn).
The Covenant Law
Many laws from the Old Covenant are described as “eternal” or “forever,” yet most Christians would agree they are no longer binding for the church today.
For example:
Physical circumcision (Gen. 9:12; 17:13)
Keeping the weekly Sabbath (Exod. 31:16)
Keeping new moons (2 Chron. 2:4)
Keeping oil for lamps (Lev. 24:1–4)
Setting out the showbread (Lev. 24:8)
Owning slaves (Exod. 21:6)
Restricting the priesthood to the family of Aaron (Exod. 29:9)
Purification laws concerning touching the dead (Num. 19:14–21)
It should be unmistakably clear that many Old Covenant laws described as “forever” or “eternal” did not, in God’s ultimate plan, extend beyond the covenant to which they belonged. The Law of Moses was a temporary, national covenant given to Israel only—glorious in its time, but fulfilled in the Law of Messiah.
Time and again Jesus announces this shift with the introductory words of his new covenant:
“You have heard that it was said … but I say to you” (Matt. 5).
The writer of Hebrews understood that since the priesthood had changed, the law itself had to change (Heb. 7:12).
Circumcision and the Jewish calendar, as signs of the Abrahamic-Mosaic covenant, have reached their terminus in Messiah, who established hiw own Law ("the law of Messiah," 1Cor 9:21; Gal. 6:2). The New Covenant Law is now written on the heart and not on tablets of stone (2 Cor. 3).
The early Jewish-Christian church understood this. Acts 15 testifies that Gentiles were not to be “burdened” with circumcision in order to obey the Law of Moses. Later, Paul insists that believers are now under “the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). Christian obedience today flows not from the covenant at Sinai, but from the words spoken by Messiah beginning with his Sermon on the Mount.
Now that God has established a better covenant (Heb. 8:6), Christians should follow the risen, exalted human Messiah—“the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5)—under his new and superior law.
Life of the Age to Come
In the New Testament, “eternal life” (zōē aiōnios) is derived from the Greek translation of Daniel 12:2, where the righteous are promised “life in the age” (Heb. ḥayye ʿolam).
The same is true in Matthew 25:46, where “eternal life” means “life in the age [to come]” and “eternal punishment” refers to “punishment in the age [to come],” i.e., the judgment of the future age, cp. Revelation 20.
Similarly, the “eternal fire” that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7) is not still burning. Those cities were reduced to ashes and now serve as a type of the destruction of the wicked (cf. 2 Pet. 2:4–9).
Summary
These examples point us not merely to duration but to the character of an age and the lasting consequences of actions taken within it. Acknowledging the meaning of these words helps us interpret key passages more faithfully and understand what the biblical writers mean by the laws of God and the hope of His coming Kingdom and immortal life in the age to come.
This frees us from confusion and guards us from returning to the shadow of the Law (Heb. 10:1), to a covenant that has been made obsolete (Heb. 8). This understanding is integral to entering the coming Kingdom of God and living under the laws appointed for the church from now until “the ages of the ages.”
The Christian mission is not to resurrect the shadows or the former glory, but to walk in the light of the new covenant glory.
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