Elementary Teaching about the Christ

“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:1-3)

Of all of the mistranslations of Scripture into English Satan’s crown jewel in my opinion is the translation of the Greek words "krimatos aioniou" as “eternal judgment”. However there are a few Bible translations whom Satan has not been able to influence. Here are two of the three I am familiar with…

“…of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on also of hands, of rising again also of the dead, and of judgment age-during” (Young’s Literal Translation), and

“…of the teaching of baptizings, besides the imposition of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and of judgment eonian.” (Concordant Literal Translation)

What the writer of Hebrews is talking about is moving on from basic teaching that all Christians should be aware of to the maturity of knowing all of what God has planned for mankind. These elementary teachings are…

1. Jesus is the Messiah
2. Works cannot save us
3. Our faith is to be in God alone
4. Baptism and laying on of hands has no power to save or cleanse
5. The dead will be resurrected
6. The judgment that follows will determine our role in the following ages.

Christianity for the most part has been arguing about these elementary teachings for about 1800 years and rarely moves on to MATURITY. Maturity for me is a peaceful realization that at the close of the ages ALL creation will be reconciled to God and all will joyfully give Him the glory He is due. Paul summarizes this as follows:

“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

Read this Scripture over and over until the “ALL in ALL” meaning sinks in…then you will be as close to MATURITY as you can get in this age it seems to me.

Grab yourself your favorite beverage, for this may take a little longer than usual. As promised yesterday, I want to tell you what I consider to be the most egregious of the “secretly introduced destructive heresies” which was introduced and remains in Church doctrine. I will use two different translations of Matthew 25:46 to help reveal this “heresy”...

“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:45-46 NASB)

“And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during” (Matthew 25:46 YLT)

So which is it - “eternal” punishment and life as the NASB has it, or “age-during” punishment and life as the YLT has it?

Once again I went to the concordance and the oldest original Greek manuscripts. I found that the Greek word translated “eternal” and “age-during” is “aionion” with the Strong’s Concordance number 166. So I used a research tool and called up all 71 verses in Scripture where “aionion” is used to find its meaning by it use. And I found that almost every time either “eternal” or “age-during” would fit and make sense, except for three times, one of which I will quote in this post…

“In hope of eternal (G166) life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world (G166) began” (Titus 1:2 KJV)

G166 refers to the Strong’s number and is the Greek word “aionian”.  Notice that the same Greek word is translated IN THAT SAME VERSE both “eternal” and “world” in that English translation. But if the word really meant eternal why not translate it “eternal” in both places? Pretty obvious, because it would not make sense!

When God used the word it must have meant the same thing in both places because he is not a God of confusion. So I concluded that “aionion” must mean “age-during” as the YLT (and other translations) indicate, because it makes sense in all 166 places it is used. So the YLT is correct in my opinion and the verse correctly reads…

“Upon hope of life age-during, which God, who doth not lie, did promise before times of ages” (Titus 1:2 YLT)

Then I realized the word “aionion” is an adjective. An adjective describes its noun. And an adjective can never be greater than the noun it describes. (My High School English teacher Mary Jo Gurley would be so proud of me). So I looked up the noun and found it to be the Greek word “aion”, Strong Concordance number of 165. It is used 128 times in the NT. Again looking at all of those verses the only English translation that fits in all places is...drum roll...AGE.

So despite the fact that most English versions of the Bible translate“aion” and “aionion” use eternal or everlasting, they are wrong, and Young's Literal Translation – YLT is correct. It means AGE…IT HAS A BEGINNING AND AN END!

In my opinion, mistranslating the noun “aion” and its adjective “aionion” is the most egregious example of false teachers “secretly introducing destructive heresies”, which has the effect of “denying the Master who bought them”, or at least what he came to do...save sinners, not eternally condemn and punish them. Those mistranslated verses are used (out of context) to back up the horrible heretical doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell...THE MOST EGREGIOUS “secretly introduced heresy” of all, that of course is only my opinion.

God indeed chastens both believers and unbelievers during this AGE in which we live. Good Fathers do that. And He will chasten (punish) unbelievers during the next two ages spoken about in the Scripture. But not forever, just for the AGE it refers to. And even then NOT in the torture chamber of Greek Mythology and Christian false doctrine. What Father would do that?

So back to Matthew 25 above. What age is Jesus referring to and to whom is Jesus speaking? Well this post is too long as it is so just read Revelation 20 in Young's Literal Translation...Jesus is speaking to Israel, and the age lasts 1000 years...followed by the age of the New Heaven and New Earth. And then read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 where Paul “completes” the Word of God by assuring mankind that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ ALL shall be made alive…and God will be ALL in ALL”.

So now, as Paul Harvey used to say, you have the REST of the Story!