Forever & LORD God
The Plural-Singular Words
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How I use Scripture: unless quoted directly with quotation marks (““) the chapter and verse references are where you can find the verses in the Bible. I encourage you to read them, how else will you know if I’m quoting correctly? My job is to bring alive the treasures of scripture, from the new and the old, to help you study and seek God for yourself.
This is the duty of the Scribe (writer) / Teacher (explainer) Matthew 13:52
I have added parentheses to the KJV verses to emphasize the points being made, and unless otherwise noted, all scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV) which exists in the Public Domain.
II Peter 3:18
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen”
The English Word “Forever” is Inadequate
"αỉωνος" is the simple singular form of “forever”
The Greek singular word, “forever,” "αỉωνος" is pronounced "eye-own-awhs.” Its meaning is more expansive than the English word could ever contemplate. Eleven pages are devoted to explaining this word, its uses, and its meanings, in Kittle's 10-volume Greek Dictionary.
Tip: The Kittle’s is arranged alphabetically; You must know the singular word form to look it up.
Nature of This Word Study
Here is an attempt to condense the Kittle’s to a concise study with my own comparison to the word “God”. Eternity is both God and Forever and both words have the same conceptual reasoning for translation.
Time and Eternity Merging Into One
The formula of speech regarding the plural Greek word “αỉωνο,” pronounced “eye-own-oh” indicates the concepts of time and eternity will merge, moving toward a final convergence, when time is no more. The word “αỉωνο,” is defined by its context as to whether it means “eternity” in the strict sense of the word, or “uninterrupted eternity.” When used with prepositional phrases this word can indicate the indefinite past or indefinite future. It is determined that the full significance of eternity cannot be defined with any certainty, therefore this word has many uses regarding the eternity of God and the plan for humans.
Plural Versus Singular
The plural form of the singular word "αỉωνος" is “αỉων,” pronounced “eye-own” The plural “αỉων” is favored to convey the stricter concept of eternity in religious usage. The meaning of it is traced back to the Hebrew usage and it is not clear if the Septuagint (LXX) translators coined a new usage. The Septuagint was written by 72 Hebrew Priests in high Greek (which is not the same as Koine or common man’s Greek) for Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus at his request, in the third century BC, before Jesus was born. Three hundred years before Christ, Jewish priests still served God, they had not yet become the slayers that Malachi prophesied them to be in the time Jesus would appear suddenly in the Temple.
Plural Yet Singular
The combination “plural-singular” Greek phrase interpreted as “forever” is “αỉων αỉωνος.” This combo is found in the Greek hermetic writings also, which are the Greek revelatory writings about their mythical gods, the biblical fallen angels, the “Men of Renown.” The combined “plural-singular” is extremely rare and can best be understood as “God of Eternity,” the plural God Elohim with one-eternity future. Hebrew words suffixed with “im” are plural. God is plural with one eternal future. Because the Law uses the plural singular forms, it is clear that Moses and the Children of Israel understood God was more than one personality, but one entity. Thus in English, we refer to the Godhead, the Trinity, Father, Son, Spirit. Mind, Body, Spirit. We can understand that we are made in his image. Three in one.
Let’s See the Plural-Singular Concept in Scripture
Elohim is the Hebrew plural word for God, used before God revealed himself in person to Moses. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew him only as Elohim, El Elyon (God Most High), and El Shaddai (God Almighty), the plural-singular God. In Genesis, God speaks as one individual voice, but Moses wrote with the plural word Elohim.
Tip: There is NOTHING in Scripture that states God’s names (eight versions of Jehovah or יְהוָה) or his titles cannot be uttered. This is a rabbinical deception of Satan intended to hinder your prayers. The word יְהוָה is Lord, pronounced YeHoVah, translated to English as Jehovah. The Jews do not pronounce the word but may write G_d because they are judicially blind as Jesus said they would remain until they accept him as Messiah.
I’ve used a couple of images to display the analysis of the words “Lord” and “God” to avoid lengthy text.
Zoom in if you are reading in the iPad App, or on the web, the images are vectors. They don’t zoom on android.
Using Deuteronomy 6:4
Hebrew without cantillation marks: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד English Word for Word: “Hear Israel Yehovah Elohim Yehovah One”
The Hebrew construction proves a singular word, וְר֣וּחַ Yehovah, as a title with the plural word Elohim, for God, thus referring to the three-person Godhead as one Lord. Throughout the bible, וְר֣וּחַ is often translated to English, simply as “God.”
>The Apostolic Bible Polyglot (ABP), used with written permission by the publisher and translator Charles Vanderpool. This bible is the original Greek text, maintained by the Greek Orthodox Church, said to have been used by the Apostles, and translated into English. The numbers are from Vanderpool’s extensive Greek Lexicon with full conjugation of all tenses, not the basic Strongs:
>The Greek Septuagint (LXX): ἄκουε Ισραηλ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν - same as the Apostolic Bible Polyglot.
KJV English Translation:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!", Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV
As you can see the Hebrew plural-singluar concept of God is like the Greek plural-singular concept of Forever. The “plural-singular” word form is “Lord Elohim” or “Jehovah Elohim”, LORD God in English. Plural God, but One Lord.
Moses knew
Moses knew what he was writing. All the rabbinical and Islamic refutations that God is not three persons cannot stand up to the Hebrew word construction found in the Law.
God’s name “El Olam” is translated as “The Everlasting God” or “God Everlasting”. The word everlasting indicates a “forever” without beginning and without end, a timeless existence. Where chronology ceases, and existence encompasses eternity past and stretches into eternity future without end. A double-Mobius infinite existence, a science fiction writer might say. In Christ, this is what we look forward to. All the knowledge of all things and all events are contained in Him from the beginning, by the Holy Spirit, the Tree of Life.
Intermission Break for a Gospel Message
He came down from heaven to the prison to forgive, as the life of Joseph depicted, as Solomon demanded (1 Ki 8:27), as Agur prophesied (Prov 30:4), as Jesus reminded Nicodemus (John 3:4-16, Ps 68:18, Gen 28:12, John 1:51). At the Cross, he was made a curse (Deut. 21:22). He watered the cursed earth (Is 24:6, Zech 5:3) with his sinless blood, dying as the prophesied Seed of the virgin woman (the hired maiden, Gen. 3:15, Gen. 30:18, Is. 7:14). The Seed shedding its hull, the tent/tabernacle of his body, as the seed dies in the earth, to rise again (John 12:24), victorious (Gen 3:15), to new life, an eternal life prolonged (Is. 53); the Cross is the dead almond or olive fruit tree of Israel, having seed within itself (Gen. 1:11-12), the resurrected Jesus is the firstfruits that grew from that seed (Lev. 2:12). The Cross is man’s Tree of Life, and because the Tree of Life is not the accursed Tree of Knowledge Salvation cannot be understood by the mind in the flesh, but only by Faith in the heart of those drawn to the Son by the Father (John 6:44).
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar (The Cross) to make an atonement for your souls: for it is The Blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11
Now, let’s go back to the word study:
God Revealed His Title, “Lord,” in Hebrew “Jehovah”, to Moses
Throughout the Bible, God has chosen to reveal himself little by little to the reader. In Genesis God was God Almighty (El Shaddai). In Exodus, God told Moses to call him “Lord”. Moses was to have a personal relationship with God, which was more than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew.
“2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: 3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. 4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan (long before the British or the Romans named it Palestine), the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers (they were Syrian Gentiles before the Law, as well as sojourners with God in Canaan.)”
Exodus 6:2-4 KJV
The Plural-Singular Word Forever
The name “αỉων αỉωνος” is referred to in II Chronicles 6:2, although the English translation refers to God’s dwelling place forever. The plural-singular usage is seen in some of the Apocryphal writings such as Tobias and the historical Maccabees.
There are variations of this word forever throughout the Bible, and some use it to refer to an “eternal king.” The English translations rely on the simple form of the word to indicate eternity, or forever. Our human understanding is limited by this temporal plain in that we are limited to the chronological time of creation. God’s eternal being stretches from before creation to beyond creation and in our struggle to grasp these concepts, the phrase “I am the alpha and omega” is used. From eternity to eternity, without beginning, without end, unending time.
Related to the Redemption of Man
God’s perspective is that the creation and salvation of man are encapsulated in a certain isolated segment of time from creation to the conclusion, but all within his eternity and plan for man to achieve his purpose of redemption and defeat of the Evil. “του αỉωνος,” the simple singular is used in the expression “the end of the aeon” or “end of the age”.
The age of man, in our current state, is limited; there will be an end to this age. Pastors refer to it as the end of the Church Age, I like to call it the end of the Wheat Harvest because the Holy Spirit came to earth as the administrator of the Church on the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Pentecost. The age of man as we know it is singular and will end as we know it. I will write an article about the revelation that God has given me about the millennial kingdom of 1,000 years at a later date. The harvest of man is much greater in God’s plan than in man’s current interpretation of it in the book of Revelation.
The Plural Forever
The plural form of the word forever is “αỉων” which can be used to mean “world” in the sense of “time or course of the world,” and is used in this context in Mark 4:19 and Matthew 13:22 in the phrase, “the cares of this world.” Which probably could be better translated as “the cares you have at this time in God’s redemption timeline.” I can see the difficulty translating from Hebrew or Greek to other languages because the depth of meaning of this word is hard to convey without paragraphs of English words. But God is the supervisor of the translations. The diligent are accurate, the rest try men’s hearts.
Paul’s epistles, Hebrews, Luke, and Mark use phrases such as “now in this time…and in the coming age” to get the meaning across. In Luke 20:34, “του αỉωνος,” is used with those who are accounted worthy to take part in the coming aeon and the resurrection, or Rapture we wait for today.
Conclusion
I hope this short study enlarges your understanding of God and His eternity. He stands outside our chronological timeline, so he can step in at any point, and he can prophesy the end from the beginning. Free will alters the details and timeline of the basic plan. Similarly, when those chosen for a task do not accept the work, the plan modifies until the next in line is chosen, born, and accepts the task. The choices of man impact God’s time to completion.
In this age, as the head of the Order, He is selecting his servants for the Order of Melchizedek, who will minister in the millennial kingdom. Satan is out there killing off children via abortion, the same as he killed the children in Jesus’ day, to stop God’s forward momentum.
Whether translated as “forever” or used in the two-fold meaning that is simultaneously plural and singular, the Greek word “αỉωνος” is complex. In the sense of what the Jews would have understood from the Hebrew usage, which is the purest form, about God’s eternity, they would have known that God was both plural (Father, Son, and Spirit) and eternal, just as the Prophet Agur demanded to know the name of the Son of God (Proverbs 30:4). And as we have no excuse, they had no excuse not to understand, and the veil of blindness was on them because of unbelief, from the day of Moses until today.
I hope this enhances your understanding. God bless your walk and help you. If you are not yet saved, please review the links at the top of this website for more information about Salvation and the Holy Spirit Baptism.
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