The End of the Age? PART II

In doing lexicography, one must note that a particular word does not refer to the same thing in every context. That should seem obvious, but for some reason, the bad habit of forcing a word to refer to the same thing as it refers to in other contexts still pervades modern biblical interpretation.

As with other words, the word αἰών functions differently in different contexts.

THE PAST AGES

In the singular, Luke uses it to refer to the holy prophets "from an age," which is to refer to past time. If this referred to a specific age, one would think it would have the definite article. Even so, there is no mention of the old covenant here. Even if one wanted to link the prophets to the old covenant, the irony is that Luke is quoting their prophecy of Christ to come. He uses the same language in Acts 3:21.

Luke also refers to God in a title he gives to Him, "known from an age," meaning, known from ancient times or from of old.


In John 9:32, the healed blind man states that "from the age, it has not been heard that one opened the eyes of one born blind." This refers to the past. "From times of old," or "from the past" would be an appropriate translation.



In the plural, the word often refers to the whole of created time. It refers to this in 1 Cor 2:7:

ἀλλὰ λαλοῦμεν θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ τὴν ἀποκεκρυμμένην, ἣν προώρισεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς δόξαν ἡμῶν,
ἣν οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἔγνωκεν·  (1 Cor. 2:7-8)

"But we speak from God a puzzling wisdom, which was hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, [a wisdom] which none of the rulers of this age have come to know."

Notice that the all encompassing use of the plural, referring to all of the ages that came after God's predetermined wisdom expressed in Christ being crucified, and the one age, which refers to Paul's present age in which the rulers who crucified Christ missed that wisdom.

In Ephesians 3:9, Paul says that this plan has been hidden from "the ages," meaning that it was not revealed to the ages in the past. This means that there are numerous ages in the past, and in Eph 3, this is likely referring to the Jewish past, i.e., in the time of the Old Testament.

In 3:11, Paul states that the purpose of the ages was this plan of God, i.e., the gospel of Christ that restores the nations to Himself and reconciles all things in heaven and earth to Himself. Again, this refers to multiple ages in the past in contrast to the present age in Paul's day in which it has now been revealed.

Colossians 1:26 also makes this clear:  τὸ μυστήριον τὸ ἀποκεκρυμμένον ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν γενεῶν- νῦν δὲ ἐφανερώθη τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ,
"The mystery which was hidden from [past] ages and from generations, but now is revealed to his saints."

Jude refers to all time as πρὸ παντὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ νῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας,
"before every age and now and into all of the ages." There is no hint of him or any other New Testament author divyying up the present world into two ages: an old covenant age and a new covenant age.


THE FUTURE

Galatians 1:5 and other texts refer to eternity in the future as εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων "into the age of the ages." This particular expression likely refers to eternity as the final age. The age that comes forth out of all ages, and is distinguished from them. However, the eternal future is also expressed as

In Ephesians 3:21, Paul states:

 αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς τοῦ αἰῶνος τῶν αἰώνων,

"To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus into all generations of the age of the ages."

In this regard, one can see that eternity, or the "age of the ages" has the church existing in multiple generations. This is one of the verses from which people get the idea of the new covenant age even though the terminology is not used here. The phrase "age of the ages" is not literally speaking of a particular age, but really of eternity to come. Forever starts now, but it does not mean that other ages do not exist in the future. It is simply a way of saying "for all ages to come, now and in the future."

This is better seen in a parallel expression found in Philippians 4:20, which gives an interesting variation of this by saying:

τῷ δὲ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ ἡμῶν ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων

"Now to our God and Father be glory into the ages of the ages."

Notice here that the terminology is all plural. It does not speak of one age among the ages, but ages among the ages. This means that Paul is not meaning to say that there is one new covenant age that comes after the old covenant age, or even previous ages, but that there are many ages that exist in the future and on into eternity. Again, there is no specific age of a new covenant versus a previous age of the old covenant. There are multiple ages in the past and multiple ages in the future. See also 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:1; 1 Pet 4:11; Rev 1:6, 18; 4:9-10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:16; "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to His Christ, and he will reign into the ages of the ages" (11:15); 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5.

Even when some interpret the new heaven and earth as the new covenant (which, in context, it is not), there is still no terminology of a single age that describes it, but rather, in Revelation 22:5, it uses the terminology of "ages into the ages."

Again, this is an idiom which means "eternity" or "forever." My simple point is that there is no language concerning an age assigned to the new covenant in the New Testament. Hebrews 1:8 has both in the singular: "from the age of the age," and 2 Peter 3:18 uses the phrase "into a day of an age," showing that the terminology is varied and interchangeable.


PRESENT WORLD VERSUS WORLD TO COME

The word often refers, not to an old covenant age, but to the present world. In other words, all of the ages of the world are summed up in one age versus all of the future ages of the new world to come in the eschaton are summed up into one age. This is actually "the age to come," not a new covenant age that some attempt to define it as.

In Matthew 13:22, Jesus speaks of the gospel being choked in a person so that it does not bear fruit due to the concerns of "the age." It is clear that the "concerns of the age" refer to things like riches, not the old covenant. Mark also includes "the desire for other things" (4:19) as that which chokes the fruitfulness of the gospel in a person.

In Matthew 13:39, Jesus uses the term "age" to describe the consummation when the angels gather up His visible church, the wheat and the weeds that were sown by Him and the devil. Matthew throughout his work is addressing the church. This scene describes the visible church that has both real disciples of Christ who were planted by Him and false believers planted by the devil. The age cannot refer to the old covenant age, as Christ makes clear that the good seed he plants in the field, which is the world, are the children "of the kingdom" (v. 38), and the angels are collecting the false believers, who are the children of the devil, "out of the kingdom." The kingdom, in this world, is the church in Matthew's Gospel. The local church is the microcosmic deposit of the kingdom to come. The pool of water from the larger ocean. So the "end/consummation of the age" does not refer to something that happens in A.D. 70.

In v. 49, Christ gives a parable of the kingdom, which is represented by a net that catches both good and bad fish. At the "end of the age" the good and bad fish, which are disciples of Christ versus false believers, will be separated, and the wicked will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

In Matthew 28:20, Jesus sends out His disciples into the world to make disciples of all nations. In their doing so, He states that He will be with them even until the end of the age. If the end of the age is only a few years from when Matthew writes his work, or even 43 or 44 years from the time Jesus says it, the age doesn't last very long, nor can Christians be confident that Christ will be with them to accomplish this task of discipling the world beyond that point, as He doesn't say "forever," but "until the end of the age."

Paul refers to the debater of "this age" in 1 Corinthians 1:20. Although Paul speaks of Jews and Greeks here, not only does he not mention anything about the old covenant, when speaking about wisdom and debating, he seems to be talking about the Greeks/Gentiles. "This age," then, is not referring to the old covenant, but the present time, the time of fallen human men, etc.

In 2:6, he contrasts the wisdom that is found, not in this age, nor the rulers of this age who are still passing away, but a wisdom that stems from God who predetermined these things from before the ages (2:7).

In Galatians 1:4, Paul states that Christ came to rescue us "from this present evil age." Even though one might want to say that Galatians is about contrasting the old covenant versus the new, he might want to take precaution in interpreting this verse in that light, since Paul would be referring to the old covenant as both the covenant that is present and evil. Paul does not consider the old covenant evil. In fact, the old covenant is never referred to in that way. It is something that is good and needs to be read correctly. It itself is never referred to as evil. Instead, Paul likely uses this present age to refer to the fallen and cursed world from which Christ rescues us.

Hebrews 6:5 states that believers who have fallen away had "tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come."



THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PEOPLE

In Luke 16:8, Jesus distinguishes between the "sons of this age" and "the sons of light." "Age" seems to be used here, not to refer to the old covenant, but to people who do not belong to God. "Age," then, seems to mean "world" or "wicked world" in contrast to the sons of the light/righteousness.

Luke 20:34-35 indicate that the two ages are the present system of things in this world versus the eschatological world to come.

καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου γαμοῦσιν καὶ γαμίσκονται, οἱ δὲ καταξιωθέντες τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐκείνου τυχεῖν καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίζονται· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀποθανεῖν ἔτι δύνανται, ἰσάγγελοι γάρ εἰσιν καὶ υἱοί εἰσιν θεοῦ τῆς ἀναστάσεως υἱοὶ ὄντες.

"And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. For they no longer die, since they are like angels and they are sons of God, being sons of resurrection."

Here, the Sadduccess are questioning Christ about the resurrection. They pose the problem that if everyone is returned to his or her own body in which they were made one flesh with another person, it would lead to an immoral incestuous situation where the woman was one flesh with all seven brothers she married. Jesus counters this by saying that there is no marriage in the age to come, and parallels the age to come with the physical resurrection of the body from the dead. Jesus speaks of the transformed nature of the body that Paul later speaks of as the mortal body taking upon itself immortality. He describes it here as being like angels in terms of not being able to die or marry. This obviously does not refer to the new covenant age or something that starts in A.D. 70, as this would mean that Christians today cannot die and do not marry. It also refers to the age as something that one must obtain through worthiness, which is language of entering the eschaton. There is nothing here that speaks of the new covenant as "that age" in contrast to "this age." Notice also, it is the sons of "this age" who marry, but the sons of "that age" do not marry nor are given in marriage. If "this age" refers to the old covenant age, and "that age" refers to the new covenant age, then no one who claims to be a Christian should be getting married. Otherwise, he is a son of "this age," i.e., the old covenant age, and is apparently rejecting the new covenant. Of course, this is nonsense, and the word here has to do with the present time of this world's system versus the eschatological world to come.


THE ONLY VERSE WHERE AGE CAN BE MADE TO REFER TO THE OLD COVENANT PROBABLY DOESN'T

In 2 Corinthians 4:4, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. Because Paul discusses the old and new covenant in Chapter 3, many people make the argument that "this age" refers to the old covenant age. There are numerous problems with this.

1. Paul elsewhere has used the word to refer to this present age of the world in contrast to the eschatological age. "This age," then, refers to the time in which the world has not been judged, the wicked still rule, and Satan still causes people to not believe the gospel. The question would be whether Paul is using it differently here from both his writings and from anyone else in the NT.

2. To say that one can connect the age to the old covenant because they both appear in the same passage is to commit an associative fallacy. One could make the same argument that the age is associated with the new covenant since that is in the passage too. The question is whether the context limits the age to the time of the old covenant, and this necessary link is nowhere made by Paul in the passage.

3. Paul actually isn't discussing the old and new covenant as his main subject. That is just something he brings up as an example of the false apostles plaguing the Corinthian church. His main concern is to defend his apostleship and his message against the "super-apostles" and their message (Chapter 11). They are of the devil and so is their message. Satan, then, in this world, is in league with the false teachers.

Whereas one can still interpret this as all referring directly to Judaizers in the first century, as that seems to be the reference, one would be hard-pressed to exegete the idea that "the god of this age" refers exclusively to the old covenant age, rather than Paul applying ideas to the Jewish teachers that can be applied to any false teachers who are not necessarily pushing the old covenant. In other words, the situation for saying this does not limit it to those who push the old covenant. The context does not exclude other false beliefs in other time periods. Hence, "the god of this age" is not necessarily tied to an old covenant age. I realize that many Preterists think that Satan is tied to that age because of their reading of other texts, but this too is problematic and not something I can address briefly in this post.

What this means is that when one sees the word "age," it does not refer to either the old or new covenant age. In fact, it isn't linked to either the old or new covenant at all. It is mostly linked to time in the past, present, or future in contrast to one another. When Paul, therefore, tells the Corinthians that it is upon them that the "end of the ages" has come, one must note that "ages" is plural. It does not refer to one age in the past that is somehow assigned to the old covenant. Instead, the idea that the goal, fulfillment, endpoint, pinnacle of (not "end" as "the termination of") the ages has come so that they are to live in the lessons of the people of God in the past and do the good they failed to do, i.e., be faithfully obedient to God.

The two age idea is simply not supported by the New Testament.