There is only space for a brief explanation. The original word is the adjective _aiônos_ (aionios) (Eng. aeonian), coming from the noun _aiôn_ (aion) (Eng. aeon), an age, an epoch, a long period of time. This noun cannot mean eternity for it is repeatedly used by St. Paul in the plural "aeons" and "aeons of aeons." As we speak of great periods of time, "the Ice Age," "the Stone Age," etc., so the Bible speaks of "this age" (aeon), "the coming age" (aeon), and "the end of the age," etc. These aeons or ages are thought of in Scripture as vast periods past, present and future in which the Divine purpose is working itself out, _e. g._, God's purpose is the purpose of the ages (aeons) (Eph. iii. 11). Christ's name is above every name not only in this age (aeon) but in that which is to come (Eph. i. 21). "That in the ages (aeons) to come He might shew," etc. From this noun, then, conies the adjective _aiônios_ (aionios)--aeonian which may be defined "age long" or "belonging to the ages," etc. Any Greek scholar will assert unhesitatingly that of itself it does not mean endless or everlasting. Sometimes, as when applied to God, it may be thus translated but only because the meaning is inherent in the noun to which it is applied. The word _aiônios_ of itself would not positively prove the endlessness of God. This adjective when applied to any thing or any state of being cannot of itself be used to prove its endlessness. It is worth notice too that in the Septuagint Greek Bible, the version usually quoted in the Gospels and Epistles, this word _aiônios_ is frequently applied to things that have ended, _e. g._, the gift of the land of Canaan, the priesthood of Aaron, the kingdom of David, the temple at Jerusalem, the daily offerings, etc. When the noun always means a finite period and the adjective is applied both to that which is ended and to that which is endless it would surely be poor scholarship if the Revisers allowed the word "everlasting" to remain as its translation, or if students of theology should argue from it the endlessness of anything. To which we may add that there are Greek adjectives and phrases which _do definitely mean_ "endless" and which are never used in the Bible of men's fate in the Hereafter. Be it observed that all this does not prove that the punishment of the future ages _may not_ be everlasting. It only proves that Scripture nowhere asserts unmistakably that _it must be so_. It simply asserts that it is aeonian.