valuable: A Hard Fix
A tale of two numbers
Please note concerning NT166, that there is a horrendously tragic confusion to be dispelled here. Before discussing NT166, we first need to look at the meaning of a different word - NT126. Thayer says that the English translation of NT126, the Greek adjective aidios, is "eternal" or "everlasting," as in "the eternal God." This adjective NT126, aidios, is derived from the Greek word for "ever/always." Thayer says of NT126, "Aidios covers the complete philosophic idea - without beginning and without end; [it can also mean], either without beginning or without end." (from Thayer's Greek Lexicon) So, it is well established that NT126, aidios means eternal or everlasting.
Now we will return to the subject of this comment, which is NT166 – aionios, which is a different Greek adjective from the one described above meaning “eternal.” Now, why did I begin this article on NT166, aionios, talking about the Strong's number NT126, aidios? Because in the KJV and in many English Bibles “flavored” with the KJV, the adjective NT166, aionios, has been translated into English with adjective NT126's English meaning of “eternal,” even though NT166, aionios, does not mean “eternal”!
If I am right about this, the spiritual and largely unseen consequences for this error have been catastrophic. How many more millions might have been added to the Church but for this one error? This kind of thing can happen when the Word of God is mistranslated, and this is why we are strongly warned not to add to or take away or mishandle God's Word.
Strong's number NT166, aionios, does not mean “eternal.” It means literally, "permanent/unchanging," and figuratively, "final." However, in many if not most English Bibles NT166 is almost always translated into English as "eternal/everlasting" or even as the adverb "forever," even though that is not its meaning. Also, NT166's noun form (NT165) does not mean "eternity", but means "a time, a lifetime, an age” (you can see verse references for each of these meanings in The TENT Lexicon).
You might think it's not that important, that the meanings are similar enough and probably overlap. But if so, why did early English Bible translators bend over backward when translating the Greek sentences containing NT166? Did they do it so that the false meaning would not be noticed in translation? Or did the true meaning not conform to traditional corrupted Church doctrine?
At some time before any English translations, the Roman Church in its own eyes had become the custodian of the Word of God and is known to have acted at various times in its own interests at the expense of God's original Word. It may have been only a few, but those few had the power and authority to do what they wanted for whatever reasons. That is the system of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope was seen as Christ's representative on earth. Though only human, a pope's word was Church law. His power, even his political power, was sometimes enormous.
The error under discussion must have been early, within Christianity's first thousand years and probably took at least two or three hundred years to become established. The earliest existing biblical translation from Greek into Latin - the Codex Vercellensis - is from 350CE, and even Jerome's creation of the Latin Vulgate, a contemporary living language at the time, was only begun in 382CE. My question is, did the error under discussion first appear in Latin or in early English? When this error arose in translation is beyond my knowledge or time to investigate; I can only point it out.
In the Greek Septuagint (centuries before Yeshua), Num 25:13 is correctly translated using NT166. "And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of a [NT166 - permanent/final/unchanging] priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."
This verse speaks not of Yeshua, but of a Hebrew priest named Phinehas. God declared that as long as a human Israelite priesthood functioned, it would be from the descendants of Phinehas. The family line of Phinehas was to remain a permanent priesthood, but it could not be called "eternal" or "everlasting" as it has been translated in the KJV. Only Yeshua's priesthood is eternal. Why then was it translated in English as "eternal/everlasting?" The error gets so much worse.
Translators, with an agenda or simply ignorantly, must have desperately wanted NT166 to mean "eternal." Though it might have saved them headaches, their desire or ignorant assumption misrepresents the Word of God. Both Rom 16:25 and 2Tim 1:9 are grossly contorted to change the meaning of the literal words: "final times" (NT166 + pl. of NT5550) into phrases different bibles cannot agree on, like "since the world began" (pulling the words "since the" out of a hat and distorting the other two), or "long ages past" or "through times eternal" or "from the beginning of time." It is literally "final times" in both Rom 16:25 and 2Tim 1:9, because the error is repeated in 2Tim: 1:9. Let's take a closer look at these verses.
The phrase in the KJV of Rom 16:25 is - "...the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began" (KJV), should be accurately corrected to "...the mystery, having been kept quiet before final times…," which is made clear by translating with The TENT Lexicon. And in the KJV, 2Tim: 1:9 - "... given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (KJV), should be corrected to "...being given to us in Anointed Yeshua before final times." We have been in the last/final times for almost two thousand years, because in 1 Peter 1:20, Peter describes his own day as "the last times." But if "final times" and the last two thousand years are basically the same thing, does it make a difference?
It makes a huge difference because it allows the KJV to entirely miss the point in both verses. The point? The "final times" (the last two thousand years) require our understanding the mystery in Rom16:25 of the “one new man” (from Rom11:25; Eph2:11-15; 3:3, 4, 6, 9; Col1:26, 27) and also, in 2Tim1:9, our knowing of the ever present help of God. Most believers today know the importance of the ever present help of God, but how many know the mystery of the “one new man?"
An antichrist spirit and an anti-Semitic spirit walk hand in hand. If we do not realize Israel's importance to God in "final times" we will succumb to the doctrine of demons that is called replacement theology. We are grafted into Israel's olive tree (Rom11:17, 18); Israel is not grafted into our Christmas tree. Of course the Adversary wants this truth obliterated along with YHWH’s ancient people with whom YHWH made an eternal and unconditional covenant. This is an example of the errors resulting from the faulty translation of only one Greek word translated "eternal/everlasting" when it really means "permanent/unchanging/final." But even that is not the worst of it.
Concerning NT166, Hogg and Vine say: "Aionios is also used ...of the judgment of God, from which there is no appeal, Heb 6:2, and of the fire, which is one of its instruments, Matt 18:8; 25:41; Jude 7, and which is elsewhere said to be 'unquenchable,' Mark 9:43. The use of aionios here shows that the punishment referred to in 2 Thess 1:9, is not temporary, but final, and, accordingly, the phraseology shows that its purpose is not remedial but retributive." [From "Notes on Thessalonians," by Hogg and Vine, pp 232-233, quoted in Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, c. 1985, Thomas Nelson Pub.]
Aionios, NT166 - "permanent/unchanging/final," refers to the status or condition that is final, permanent, unchanging and unchangeable. When the final condition is destruction, aionios cannot mean "everlasting." Something that has perished or been destroyed cannot continue to be destroyed, but the action is final and irreversible. To say that something is “continually destroyed” is to use an oxymoron and to utterly destroy the meaning of the word “destroy.”
The evidence here against "eternal torture" is not a case of wishful thinking, but concerns an early agenda-driven mistranslation nurtured by anti-Semitism and also by pagan Greek philosophy, which believed in the innate immortality of the “soul”. When Church theologians steeped in Greek philosophy became influential, then the idea of “eternal torture” for an undying soul was set in stone by centuries of authoritarian Church power and tradition.
YHWH taught the Hebrews, the original custodians of Scripture, no such teaching as "eternal torment" for any human being. Throughout the Hebrew Scripture, destruction/perishing, is the promised final end of the wicked, not unending torture. Final destruction is good and bad enough; unending torture is a blasphemous doctrine of demons that drags through mud the merciful reputation of God.
Such a corrupted view of God rightly holds no attraction for thinking nonbelievers, and coupled with the now obsolete translation of Greek Hades (NT86) as "hell" instead of its literal meaning of "the grave/death", the error has been disastrously magnified. Today's common English language idea of "hell" is largely equivalent to the "lake of fire” - NT1067- "Gehenna", and its fire is forever, not the things that go into it, except perhaps for the eternal spirit beings described in Mt 25:41 and Rev 20:10.
Christian evangelism based on traditional Church error has been hobbled by these mistranslations for well over a thousand years. These errors even escaped through the hands of the reformers and Puritans and into Strong's Concordance until the present day. With such prestigious backing for these errors, bringing them to light elicits indignation in those scholars who "trust" the KJV along with the twisted traditional Church doctrine of everlasting torment for unbelievers. A predictable backlash has come upon scholars of integrity who have not been afraid to speak out. But my hope is that the consistent and contextual TENT translation possible today will encourage the faith of those who can reason rightly, as God intended.
Historic mistranslations
Traditional translations are no longer the last word. Is it right to consider any English NT translation infallible any more than it is right to consider the Pope infallible? Today's Bible study tools can bring truth to light if they are used honestly and without compromise. Below is a sample, using just NT166, of what they can teach us (translations based on The TENT Lexicon):
In MT 25:46, a wrong translation of NT166 + NT2851 as "everlasting punishment" has contributed to, if not spawned, the horror. The KJV has it, "...these shall go away into everlasting punishment." It literally in Greek is: "...these will go away into final cutting-off/destruction." "Cutting-off" (NT2851) is a translation of a Greek Hebraism for death or destruction. The following KJV verses which contain NT166 translated wrongly as "everlasting/eternal" have also been used to support the false teaching of eternal torture:
Mk 3:29 - "...but is in danger of eternal damnation," [corrected translation: "...instead, is deserving of final condemnation,"]
2Thes 1:9 - "...who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord," [corrected translation: "who will pay justice at a final destroying from the Lord's presence..."]
Heb 6:1-2 - "(...not laying again the foundation of)...eternal judgment". [corrected translation: "...of final judging/condemning"]
Jude 7 - "(as Sodom and Gomorrah)...suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" [corrected translation: "...having justice by final fire."]
A few places in the NT seem at first to offer support for unbelievers' eternal torment in "hell", but only because of translation mischief. In Yeshua's story in Lk 16:23-25, about Lazarus and the Rich Man, Yeshua says, according to the King James version, "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,..." "Hell" here is Hades: death/the grave, and is probably the "place" for the wicked after death, the place opposite the Hebraic "Abraham's bosom/embrace." "Torments" here is NT931 - literally, "causes-of-pain/distress", and is used in the NT for scenarios of extreme exertion, such as hard rowing or childbirth.
If Lazarus was in "hell" and having a conversation with Abraham then this cannot be the lake of fire. Though he complains that he is pained/distressed in "this blazing heat", that is not enough to consider it the same as the lake of fire. This story is only meant to illustrate its reason for existing: to make the point that Moses and the prophets give sufficient warning about what happens after death. No other teaching can be founded on such a figurative illustration alone. Remember, this hot and dreadful place the old KJV here calls "hell" will also eventually be destroyed in the lake of fire! (Rev. 20:14) They are not the same.
Two other passages usually used to teach ongoing torments in the lake of fire are Rev. 14:10-11, and Rev. 20:9-11. In the first, Rev. 14:10, an angel warns of the consequences of taking the mark of the beast. God's wrath falls on those taking the mark. In a TENT translation, anyone taking the mark will be "pained/distressed" by "fire and sulfur", and in 14:11 the "smoke from their testing/pain ascends into the ages of the ages." It does not say they will be tested/pained/distressed for eternity. It says the "smoke" will go up for a long time. Some radioactive half-lives are in the millions - even billions of years. Could this "smoke" be radiation? Will there be a nuclear war? Does over-exposure to 4G phone radiation correlate with brain cancer in children? 5G is more powerful.
And what judgment from God on earth does not happen in His presence and the presence of his angels (Rev14:10)? They will witness the testing, pain and distress that will not allow sleep - immense suffering, but this is not the lake of fire. This is the wrath of God on earth for those serving the antichrist, the "uncontrollable creature-like thing," seemingly around the same time as the harvest from the earth (Rev14:15).
In the second passage (Rev. 20:9) cited above, at the end of the Millennium when the Adversary has been released once more, his followers surround the ones seen as pure and the beloved city. Then fire descends from God out of the "spiritual realm" and consumes them. In vs. 10 prior to the Great White Throne Judgment, the Accuser is thrown into the lake of fire, in which the "uncontrollable creature-like thing" and false-prophet had been thrown at the beginning of the Millennium.
These three, the unholy trinity of spirit beings, will spend eternity without any instantly destroyed human bodies they may have once possessed, but no less in anguish and in distress day and night forever in the lake of fire. Non-physical beings cannot be physically pained or destroyed, but, like YHWH who has spiritual emotion and mind, they can suffer like YHWH.
Then comes the Last Judgment. The dead mortals are judged and all those not in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire, where they are utterly destroyed. Mt 10:28 says, "...fear Him who is able to destroy both self-life and body in Gehenna/(the-) place-of-destruction." Then death and the grave (NT86) are thrown into the lake of fire, and a new heaven and earth come.
None of the passages above describe humans tormented forever within the lake of fire, or tortures in "hell" for mortals. All that can accurately be gleaned from Scripture is the final judgment of destruction for those not written in the Lamb's book of life, and, we can at most possibly assume, the eternal anguish of the unholy trinity and their fallen angels. For human haters of God a final destroying is described in the Greek New Testament, just as also the Old Testament teaches.
The place of destruction
The Valley of Hinnom was ancient Jerusalem's trash-burning area and sometime idolatrous place of child sacrifice by burning, and became the symbol Yeshua used for final destruction in the lake of fire.
The Confusion from Hell:
The King James English word "hell" comes from Old High German and Old Norse, and on through Old English. Semantically connected to words akin to "conceal", it meant the realm of the dead and was fairly equivalent to the Greek term Hades (NT86) "the abode of the dead" and the Hebrew sheol (OT7585) "the grave/death."
Unfortunately, these original biblical meanings are not today's commonly understood English meaning of the word "hell". This creates enormous misunderstanding when reading modern English translations which continue to use the word "hell" to translate the Greek Hades and/or the Hebrew sheol.
The terms sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek (grave/realm of the dead) were often translated "hell" by the first English translators. "The grave/realm of the dead" is what the English word "hell" then meant. But over the centuries the meaning of "hell" in English gradually became confused with the "lake of fire", perhaps due to the lengthy influence of church frescoes and altarpieces showing demons tormenting the unbelieving dead in a dark place of fire.
This great confusion came about in part from the mixing together of the suffering-in-heat imagery from Yeshua's parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man with the vision of the lake of fire as the "second death" in the NT book of The Revelation. From the end of the 9th century onwards (due to the Byzantine Church's final capitulation to the cult of icons in 843 CE., and also from a lack of personal Bibles) most Christians could only depend on what they saw painted on the wall behind the altar and heard from an often Bible-illiterate priesthood.
Over time the English word "hell", which originally meant "the grave/death" from sheol/Hades, came to be incorrectly associated with torment in the lake of fire. In reality there may or may not be any linguistic connection between what some English translations call "hell" and the "lake of fire", depending on the underlying Greek of the verse in question. The English word "hell" in the KJV is a totally mixed-up translation of two different things.
To study this problem one needs some Bible study tools, not just a few English NT translations. The English word "hell" is used in the KJV Bible 23 times. It is used to translate NT1067 -Gehenna (burning place of destruction) - 12 times, but is also used indiscriminately to translate Hades (the grave/death) 10 times; and it is used once to translate Tartaros, the deepest place of Hades. Hades (NT86), the Greek word for "the grave/abode of the dead", occurs eleven times in the KJV but is translated only once as "the grave/death", all the other times it is translated as "hell".
The KJV translation has had an immeasurable and lasting influence on the English language, much of it good, but the Adversary has taken advantage of its imperfections. Wherever the KJV is idolized it continues to effectively destroy a consistent meaning for the English word "hell". So if the 21st century common English idea of "hell" (eternal torment by fire and demons) is naturally but mistakenly assumed to be the meaning wherever the KJV and others use it, then "hell" should never again be used in English Bible translation. Confusion is from hell.
The concept of final fiery destruction spoken of by Yeshua used only the imagery of the Hinnom Valley outside Jerusalem, NT1067, "Gehenna" in Greek, a place of continuous burnings where thrown-out stuff was disposed of. Thayer traces the word like this:
"...Chaldean gªhinaam, the valley of the son of lamentation, or of the sons of lamentation, or the valley of lamentation,... which was so called from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery arms of Moloch, an idol having the head of a bull. After these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10), the Jews so abhorred the place that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. And since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called geenna tou puros (this common explanation of the descriptive genitive tou puros is found in Rabbi David Kimchi (circa A.D. 1200) on Ps 27:13."
To insist that belief in eternal fiery torment after the last judgment is necessary for one to escape being labeled a heretic is not supported by Scripture. What is now meant as opposed to what was originally meant by the English word "hell" when used to translate Greek Hades should be the first consideration. In every English bible occurrence one must uncover whether the English "hell" now wrongly hides the original Old Norse and the earliest English translators' accurate meaning of "the grave/realm of the dead", or whether it mirrors the meaning of "lake of fire".
The KJV mistakenly has it both ways. So believing in "hell" might mean believing in the second death in the lake of fire, or it might not, depending on the source and the reader's/hearer's correct or incorrect semantic understandings. If you always read the (KJV and others') English "hell" as the lake of fire, you'd best get your terminology straight: it might mean “hell” only half the time. Note where the various Greek terms occur and where they do not, and what teachings you can base on them, before you sin and slander someone for not "believing in hell." The Church seriously needs to be re-educated about this hoary error. It won't be easy.
This problem seems largely unrecognized by Bible readers, just like the Adversary wants it. Many modern versions quietly attempt to correct the situation but do so inconsistently. Because "hell" in current English conjures imagery from popular books and art from the Middle Ages, of demons torturing eternal captives in a dark and fiery realm that is labeled "hell", I think that the word is currently unable to convey its original intended meaning. The use of "hell" must be avoided in order to convey the correct meaning, for which another word or words would be much more accurate.
To continue to use the word "hell" helps no one and is a minefield of great semantic confusion. I have chosen, accurately I believe, to translate the Greek Hades (NT86) as "(the)grave [fig.: death]". And where it occurs, the English for NT1067, as literally "Hinnom Gorge" (which Yeshua used to symbolize the Book of Revelation's "lake of fire"), and which can be given the figurative meaning of "place of destruction." Hinnom Gorge was clearly a place of burning and destruction. Yeshua uses it to describe a timeless reality, to forever remind us of the justice and mercy of God.
The place of destruction
The Valley of Hinnom was ancient Jerusalem's trash-burning area and sometime idolatrous place of child sacrifice by burning, and became the symbol Yeshua used for final destruction in the lake of fire.
The Confusion from Hell:
The King James English word "hell" comes from Old High German and Old Norse, and on through Old English. Semantically connected to words akin to "conceal", it meant the realm of the dead and was fairly equivalent to the Greek term Hades (NT86) "the abode of the dead" and the Hebrew sheol (OT7585) "the grave/death."
Unfortunately, these original biblical meanings are not today's commonly understood English meaning of the word "hell". This creates enormous misunderstanding when reading modern English translations which continue to use the word "hell" to translate the Greek Hades and/or the Hebrew sheol.
The terms sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek (grave/realm of the dead) were often translated "hell" by the first English translators. "The grave/realm of the dead" is what the English word "hell" then meant. But over the centuries the meaning of "hell" in English gradually became confused with the "lake of fire", perhaps due to the lengthy influence of church frescoes and altarpieces showing demons tormenting the unbelieving dead in a dark place of fire.
This great confusion came about in part from the mixing together of the suffering-in-heat imagery from Yeshua's parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man with the vision of the lake of fire as the "second death" in the NT book of The Revelation. From the end of the 9th century onwards (due to the Byzantine Church's final capitulation to the cult of icons in 843 CE., and also from a lack of personal Bibles) most Christians could only depend on what they saw painted on the wall behind the altar and heard from an often Bible-illiterate priesthood.
Over time the English word "hell", which originally meant "the grave/death" from sheol/Hades, came to be incorrectly associated with torment in the lake of fire. In reality there may or may not be any linguistic connection between what some English translations call "hell" and the "lake of fire", depending on the underlying Greek of the verse in question. The English word "hell" in the KJV is a totally mixed-up translation of two different things.
To study this problem one needs some Bible study tools, not just a few English NT translations. The English word "hell" is used in the KJV Bible 23 times. It is used to translate NT1067 -Gehenna (burning place of destruction) - 12 times, but is also used indiscriminately to translate Hades (the grave/death) 10 times; and it is used once to translate Tartaros, the deepest place of Hades. Hades (NT86), the Greek word for "the grave/abode of the dead", occurs eleven times in the KJV but is translated only once as "the grave/death", all the other times it is translated as "hell".
The KJV translation has had an immeasurable and lasting influence on the English language, much of it good, but the Adversary has taken advantage of its imperfections. Wherever the KJV is idolized it continues to effectively destroy a consistent meaning for the English word "hell". So if the 21st century common English idea of "hell" (eternal torment by fire and demons) is naturally but mistakenly assumed to be the meaning wherever the KJV and others use it, then "hell" should never again be used in English Bible translation. Confusion is from hell.
The concept of final fiery destruction spoken of by Yeshua used only the imagery of the Hinnom Valley outside Jerusalem, NT1067, "Gehenna" in Greek, a place of continuous burnings where thrown-out stuff was disposed of. Thayer traces the word like this:
"...Chaldean gªhinaam, the valley of the son of lamentation, or of the sons of lamentation, or the valley of lamentation,... which was so called from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery arms of Moloch, an idol having the head of a bull. After these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10), the Jews so abhorred the place that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. And since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called geenna tou puros (this common explanation of the descriptive genitive tou puros is found in Rabbi David Kimchi (circa A.D. 1200) on Ps 27:13."
To insist that belief in eternal fiery torment after the last judgment is necessary for one to escape being labeled a heretic is not supported by Scripture. What is now meant as opposed to what was originally meant by the English word "hell" when used to translate Greek Hades should be the first consideration. In every English bible occurrence one must uncover whether the English "hell" now wrongly hides the original Old Norse and the earliest English translators' accurate meaning of "the grave/realm of the dead", or whether it mirrors the meaning of "lake of fire".
The KJV mistakenly has it both ways. So believing in "hell" might mean believing in the second death in the lake of fire, or it might not, depending on the source and the reader's/hearer's correct or incorrect semantic understandings. If you always read the (KJV and others') English "hell" as the lake of fire, you'd best get your terminology straight: it might mean “hell” only half the time. Note where the various Greek terms occur and where they do not, and what teachings you can base on them, before you sin and slander someone for not "believing in hell." The Church seriously needs to be re-educated about this hoary error. It won't be easy.
This problem seems largely unrecognized by Bible readers, just like the Adversary wants it. Many modern versions quietly attempt to correct the situation but do so inconsistently. Because "hell" in current English conjures imagery from popular books and art from the Middle Ages, of demons torturing eternal captives in a dark and fiery realm that is labeled "hell", I think that the word is currently unable to convey its original intended meaning. The use of "hell" must be avoided in order to convey the correct meaning, for which another word or words would be much more accurate.
To continue to use the word "hell" helps no one and is a minefield of great semantic confusion. I have chosen, accurately I believe, to translate the Greek Hades (NT86) as "(the)grave [fig.: death]". And where it occurs, the English for NT1067, as literally "Hinnom Gorge" (which Yeshua used to symbolize the Book of Revelation's "lake of fire"), and which can be given the figurative meaning of "place of destruction." Hinnom Gorge was clearly a place of burning and destruction. Yeshua uses it to describe a timeless reality, to forever remind us of the justice and mercy of God.
Note: to help destroy the concept of eternal torment for mortals who reject God, here is a link to a more in-depth explanatory article. You might want to recommend it to "hell traditionalists" you know. It focuses on history and even more NT evidence, and enables them to understand the truth without their having to first learn all about the experimental N2LR method of translating large texts.