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Eternal

3 connections across theological concepts

Connections

EternalHeaven
Theological

Eternal life (zoe aionios) is the life of the age to come, centered on the heavenly realm. Heaven is where eternal life dwells — the two are theologically conjoined across traditions.

EternalHeaven
Cross Tradition

Jannah is abadi (eternal), svarga endures for an age, and the Kingdom of Heaven is aiōnios — eternity and the celestial realm intertwine

EternalJudgment
Cross Tradition

Divine judgment in Abrahamic traditions establishes the moral foundation of the eternal order. All traditions assert that temporal actions have eternal consequences — judgment is the cosmic accounting that makes eternity meaningful.

Etymology

Proto-Indo-European*h₂eyw- (vital force, age)(PIE)

An age, a vital force, lifetime

Root of Latin 'aevum' (age), Greek 'aiōn' (age/eon), English 'ever.' Eternity as unending vital force

Hebrew (Tanakh)עוֹלָם (olam)(Hebrew)

Perpetuity, forever, hidden time

Can mean both 'forever' and 'the world/age.' 'The eternal God is your refuge' (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Greek (New Testament)αἰώνιος (aiōnios)(Greek)

Of the age, pertaining to an age, eternal

From aiōn (age/eon). 'This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God' (John 17:3)

Arabic (Quran)أَبَدِيّ (abadi) / صَمَد (samad)(Arabic)

The Everlasting, the Eternal

As-Samad (The Eternal, Self-Sufficient) is in Quran 112:2. Jannah is described as eternal — 'khalidina fiha abada'

Sanskrit (Vedas)शाश्वत (shashvata) / सनातन (sanatana)(Sanskrit)

Eternal, without beginning or end

Sanatana Dharma — the 'eternal way.' Krishna: 'The soul is never born and never dies; it is eternal' (Bhagavad Gita 2:20)

Greek Roots

αἰώνιοςaionios

eternal, everlasting, age-long

αἱωνιοςaionios (verb form)

age-lasting, eternal, perpetual