Understanding The Two Age's
by Tom Logan
return to main indexThe bible speaks of two great ages. They are "this age" and "the age to come."
These ages correspond to the duration of this earth and the duration of the earth to come:
Mark 10:30
30 but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. (NAS)Mark 10:30
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. (KJV)Luke 18:30
30 who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life." (NAS)Luke 18:30
30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. (KJV)The combination of the two ages equals the total sum of man's existence.
Aion in the Sense of the Time of the World.
l. aion as the Time of the World; the End of the aion. In the plural the sense of aion is that of a stretch of time. In particular the word is used for the duration of the world. Thus the same term can signify both God’s eternity and the world’s duration (cf. the Parsee word zrvan). The doctrine of creation—an absolute beginning—underlay the distinction in use. aion for time of the world occurs in the NT in the expression “end of the aeon” (Mt. 13:39 etc.). The plural in Heb. 9:26 and 1 Cor. 10:11 (aeons) represents no essential change; it merely indicates that the one aeon is made up of many smaller aeons, though as yet the word is not used for a particular period.2. aion as World. From “time of the world” aion easily came to mean the “world” itself (cf. Mt. 13:22; 1 Cor. 7:33) with an equation of cosmos and aeon (1 Cor. 1:20; 2:6; 3:19). The plural can mean “worlds” along the same lines (Heb. 1:2; 11:3).
3. The Present and Future aion.
a. If aion means “duration of the world,” and the plural occurs, the idea is obvious that eternity embraces a succession or recurrence of aeons (cf. Eccl. 1:9-10—though here the aeons are periods of the world, and the biblical concept of creation, and hence of the uniqueness of this aeon, ruled out the idea of an unending series).
b. Instead of recurrence the antithesis of time and eternity combined with the thought of plural aeons to produce the belief in a new and future aeon (or cosmos or kingdom) which will succeed this one but will be completely different from it. For the present and future aeons in the NT cf. Mk. 10:30; Lk. 16:8; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:20; Gal. 1:4; 1 Tim. 6:17; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 6:5 (and with kairos instead of aion, Jn. 8:23 etc.).
c. The NT took over this concept from Jewish apocalyptic, e.g., Ethiopian Enoch. Similar ideas occur in rabbinic writings and there is hope of a future age in Vergil. In the NT, however, the new aeon is not just future. Believers are already redeemed from this aeon (Gal. 1:4) and taste the powers of the future aeon (Heb. 6:5 which Christ has initiated with his resurrection. ---Kittel, Gerhard, and Friedrich, Gerhard, Editors, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume,This Age and the Age to Come.
The Old Testament predicts the future coming of God or the Messiah; most forms of postbiblical Judaism (see esp. 2 Esdras) go
further and differentiate this age from the age to come, which is also known as the kingdom of God. This two-age schema is echoed in Matthew 12:32 and Ephesians 1:21, but the New Testament transforms the traditional pattern: with the coming of Christ, the blessings of the future are manifested among God’s people in the present age (cf. Heb. 6:5). In terms of this age as a time of sin and darkness, aion is sometimes synonymous with kosmos or “the world” (cf. Mark 4:19; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:20). During this
time, Satan appears as the “god” of this age (2 Cor. 4:4) and sin prevails (Gal. 1:4; 2 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:12). The citizens of this age are living in darkness and must rely on the devices of their own human wisdom (Luke 16:8; 1 Cor. 1:20; 2:6, 8; 3:18). But so long as Christians remain in the world, they are cheered by the spiritual presence of Jesus until the close of this age (Matt. 28:20).
Cataclysmic signs will signal the close of the present era (synteleia [tou] aionos, Matt. 24:3). According to the New Testament, the end of the age will bring the return of Christ and the judgment of the wicked (Matt. 13:39–40, 49). When the age to come arrives, the dead will rise to inherit eternal life (Luke 20:34–35). Jewish and later Christian apocalypticists loved to speculate about
the blessings of this future age, but the simple message of the Bible is that the coming age will bring a good inheritance (Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30). Paul’s advice to Christians is to invest for the age to come by practicing generosity and good deeds in this present age (1 Tim. 6:17–19). ---Gary Steven Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical TheologyIn New Testament eschatological teaching a general development in a well-defined direction is traceable. The starting-point is the historico-dramatic conception of the two successive ages. These two ages are distinguished as houtos ho aion, ho nun aion, ho enesios aion, "this age," "the present age" <Mt 12:32; 13:22; Lk 16:8; Rom 12:2; 1 Cor 1:20; 2:6,8; 3:18; 2 Cor 4:4; Gal 1:4; Eph 1:21; 2:2; 6:12; 1 Tim 6:17; 2 Tim 4:10; Tit 2:12>, and ho aion ekeinos, ho aion mellon, ho aion erchomenos, "that age," "the future age" <Mt 12:32; Lk 18:30; 20:35; Eph 2:7; Heb 6:5>.
Thus, to each age belongs its own characteristic order of things, and so the distinction passes over into that of two "worlds" in the sense of two systems (in Hebrew and Aramaic the same word `olam, `olam, does service for both, in Greek aion usually renders the meaning "age," occasionally "world" <Heb 1:2; 11:3>, kosmos meaning "world"; the latter, however, is never used of the future
world). Compare Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I, 132-46. Broadly speaking, the development of New Testament eschatology consists in this, that the two ages are increasingly recognized as answering to two spheres of being which coexist from of old, so that the coming of the new age assumes the character of a revelation and extension of the supernal order of things, rather than that of its first
entrance into existence. Inasmuch as the coming world stood for the perfect and eternal, and in the realm of heaven such a perfect, eternal order of things already existed, the reflection inevitably arose that these two were in some sense identical. ---(from International Standard Bible Encylopaedia, Electronic DatabaseIn the Old Testament the believer looked forward to the future reign of Messiah. For the Jews there were but two ages, the present age and the "age to come" which was Messiah's reign on earth. The prophets had much to say about Messiah's future reign the order of the Age to Come will involve a new heaven and a new earth, and will be so different from the present order that we can speak of it as beyond history. ---Moody handbook theology
If the language of the Lord's Prayer and that of various Jewish prayers is similar, the meaning must be determined from Jesus' overall message. Jesus and the early Christians believed in two ages, the Present Evil Age and the Coming Good Age. The Age to Come would be brought by a decisive intervention of God at the end of history. This shift of the ages would be accompanied by the
resurrection from the dead and the last judgment. Before either of these events, there would be a time of great suffering or tribulation. One name given to the Age to Come was the Kingdom of God. It was a ideal state of affairs when Satan would be defeated, sin would be conquered, and death would be no more. Jesus believed that in His ministry, the activity of God that was to bring about the
shift of the ages was already taking place. Within this world of thought, the Lord's Prayer must be understood.
NEW AGE A time when God acts decisively in judgment and salvation. The term new age does not occur in Scripture. Parallel expressions, such as the age to come, the close of the age, are common. Many biblical writers conceived of history in two periods, the present and a future time when God's salvation and judgment would be manifest. The age to come is associated with the experience of eternal life (Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30), the resurrection of the dead (Luke 20:35) and the immeasurable riches of God's gracious kindness (Eph. 2:7). The close of the age is associated with final judgment and reward (Matt. 13:39, 40, 49) and with the
coming of Christ (Matt. 24:3). The preceding references point to a new age in God's future. ---Holman's bible dictionaryThe NT picks out one of the times appointed by God as decisive. The first note of Jesus’ preaching was ‘The time is fulfilled’ (Mk. 1:15). The life and work of Jesus mark the crisis of God’s purposes (Eph. 1:10). This is the great opportunity (2 Cor. 6:2) which Christians must fully seize (Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5). Within the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry there is a further narrowing of attention to the time of his death and resurrection (cf. Mt. 26:18; Jn. 7:6).
It is the fact that this decisive time is in the past which makes the difference between the Jewish and Christian hopes for the future: the Jew looks for the decisive intervention of God in the future; the Christian can have an even keener expectation of the consummation of all things because he knows that the decisive moment is past ‘once for all’. The last times are with us already (Acts
2:17; Heb. 1:2; 1 Jn. 2:18; 1 Pet. 1:20).
The NT makes a striking modification of the contemporary Jewish division of time into the present age and the age to come. There is still a point of transition in the future between ‘this time’ and ‘the world to come’ (Mk. 10:30; Eph. 1:21; Tit. 2:12-13), but there is an anticipation of the consummation, because in Jesus God’s purpose has been decisively fulfilled. The gift of the Spirit is the mark of this anticipation, this tasting of the powers of the world to come (Eph. 1:14; Heb. 6:4-6; cf. Rom. 8:18-23; Gal. 1:4). Hence John consistently stresses that we now have eternal life, zoµeµ aioµnios (e.g. Jn. 3:36). It is not simply that aioµnios has qualitative overtones; rather John is urging the fact that Christians now have the life into which they will fully enter by resurrection (Jn. 11:23-25). This ‘overlapping’ of the two ages is possibly what Paul has in mind in 1 Cor. 10:11. ---The New bible dictionaryIn the oldest manuscripts the Greek is. “At the last part of these days.” The Rabbins divided the whole of time into “this age,” or “world,” and “the age to come” (Heb 2:5; 6:5). The days of Messiah were the transition period or “last part of these days” (in contrast to “in times past”), the close of the existing dispensation, and beginning of the final dispensation of which Christ’s second coming shall be the crowning consummation. ---Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, A.R.; and Brown, David, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Many modern interpreters believe that eschatology, the doctrine of the endtimes, is the center of the apostle Paul’s thought, beginning with his presupposition of the two-age structure. According to early Judaism, time is divided into two consecutive periods: this age and the age to come. The former is characterized by sin and suffering, due to Adam’s fall. The latter will be implemented when the Messiah comes and, with him, righteousness and peace. In effect, the age to come is synonymous with the kingdom of God. But according to early Christianity, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ marked a paradigmatic shift resulting in the overlapping of the two ages. The age to come of the kingdom of God was inaugurated within this present age. In other words, the two ages are now coterminous, and the Christian lives in the intersection of the two. This idea is commonly referred to as the “already/not yet” eschatological tension. That is, the age to come has already dawned because of the first coming of Christ but it is not yet complete; completion awaits the second coming of Christ. ---Elwell, Walter A., Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology