6. The Eternity of God. (Aeternitas Dei)
The word eternity is used in Scripture in a double sense.
In a weakened sense it stands for a long duration, not foreseeable to man, like the time of the Old Testament. According to Ex. 12:24 the children of Israel were to keep Passover עַד־עֹולָֽם [HEBREW], and Gen. 17:3 calls circumcision בְּרִ֣ית עֹולָ֔ם [HEBREW, see Gen. 9:16]. Circumcision and Passover, however, were to last only until the time of the New
1383) Formula of Concord. M. 624, 65 [Trigl. 937, 65 🔗]<w:t xml:space="preserve">1384) St. L. I, 313.
1385) Loci, L. De Nat. Dei, § 189.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1386) L. c.
548 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Doctrine of God. [English ed. pgs. 446-447]
Testament. Circumcision was to be replaced by baptism and the Passover by the Lord's Supper.1387) In a weakened sense the word eternity stands furthermore for a duration, which is indeed without the border of the end, but not without the border of the beginning. Men and angels, as creatures of God, have a beginning. But not only the pious, but also the evil men remain in eternity by God's power.1388 ) The same is true of the good and evil angels.1389)
In the proper or strict sense eternity denotes the unlimited duration without beginning and without end and therefore also without succession.1390) In this sense eternity belongs only to God and therefore serves to describe the divine majesty, as Gen. 21:33: אֵ֥ל עֹולָֽם [HEBREW]; Is. 40:28: אֱלֹהֵ֨י עֹולָ֤ם [HEBREW] Rom. 16:26: δ αιώνιος ϑεός I Tim. 1:17: ό βασιλεύς τών αιώνων. God is without beginning (Ps. 90:2: "before the mountains were, and the earth," etc.) and without end (Ps. 102:27: "heaven and earth will pass away, but you remain"). God's majesty over time or timelessness or abiding presence is expressed Ps. 90:4: "A thousand years are before you as the day that passed yesterday." God created time, but does not thereby become temporal, but accompanies time without being enclosed by time; just as God also created space or place and is present in all places, but does not thereby become spatial, but remains exalted above space.
Scripture also uses the eternity of God a. as a warning. There is an "eternal destruction (δλεΰρόν αιώνιον) from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thess. 1:9).1391) b. For comfort,
1387) Col. 2:11, 12; Matt. 28:19 — Matt. 26:26-28 (the blood of the New Testament, τής καινής διαϋ'ήκης).
1388) Matt. 25:46: ζωή αιώνιος and κόλασις αιώνιος.
1389) The good angels belong to the eternal heavenly family, Hebr. 12:22-24; Eph. 1:21. — The eternal fire, into which on the Last Day the wicked go, is primo loco there for the wicked angels, το πυρ τό αιώνιον, τό ήτοιμαομένον τφ διαβόλω και τοΐς άγγέλοις αντον.
1390) This is the so-called absolute eternity, Baier II, 27: Aeternitas Dei, absolute sic dicta, significat existentiam seu durationem Dei permanentem sine principio et fine omnique successione aut vicissitudine. [Google]
1391) Gerhard, Loci, L. De Nat. Dei, § 149: O anima ad aeternitatem condita, exue amorem terrenorum et transitoriorum ac coelestia utpote.
549 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Doctrine of God. [English ed. pgs. 447]
1 Thess. 4:17: "We will be with the Lord always" (πάντοτε). 2 Cor. 5:1: "We have a building, built by God, a house not made with hands, which is eternal, in heaven" (αΙώνιον εν τοΐς ονρανοϊς).1392)