📖 Biblical Definition
The divine attribute that God has neither beginning nor end nor succession of moments. He is the eternal I AM (Ex 3:14), the One who is and was and is to come (Rev 1:8). Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. The divine eternality is not merely long-lasting time but qualitatively distinct from time itself: God is not bound by past, present, and future as creatures are. Augustine's formulation: tota simul — all-at-once. The classical theistic doctrine holds God's eternality as an essential attribute, against process-theology and open-theism revisions that tie God to the temporal-future flow. The doctrine grounds the reliability of God's promises: the One who has never changed cannot fail what He has covenanted. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Heb 13:8).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
God's existence without beginning or end.
expand to see more
The attribute of God by which He exists without beginning, without end, and without succession; the eternal now in which all moments are present to Him at once.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 90:2 — "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
Revelation 1:8 — "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord."
Isaiah 57:15 — "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Reduced to merely 'a long time' — God lasting forever instead of God transcending time.
expand to see more
Modern theology reduces God's eternality to "lasting forever" — God as a creature with a longer battery. Scripture's richer claim is that God transcends time itself; He is the I AM, holding all moments at once. The corruption makes God smaller — older than the universe but still inside its river — and so makes His promises feel only as durable as time.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew olam — eternity, age.
expand to see more
['Hebrew', 'H5769', 'olam', 'eternity, age']
['Greek', 'G166', 'aiōnios', 'eternal, of the age']
Usage
"God's eternality grounds His promises."
"He inhabits eternity — that is why His word does not fail."