What Does 2 Corinthians 4:18 Mean?
While we do not fix our eyes on the things seen, but on the unseen; for the things seen are for a season, but the unseen are of the ages.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.THE KEY
What is visible has its season; what remains unseen belongs to the ages, so sight cannot measure what endures.
THE MEANING
Your attention stands between what is visible and what is not visible. The visible passes with its season; the unseen belongs to the ages, so appearance does not determine what lasts.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever you can see now is all that is real or lasting.
THE ROOT
αἰώνια
aiōnia
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
age, era; ages
“of the ages” in this verse is aiōnia. The word rendered “eternal” grows from αἰών (aiōn, age), carrying the sense of what belongs to the ages. Beside πρόσκαιρα (proskaira, temporary or for a season), it sets a passing season against the ages.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: age, era
αἰών
This is the age-word at the root of the verse’s description of what is unseen.
aiōnios: of an age; age-long, belonging to the age or ages
αἰώνιος
This adjective from the same word family gives the unseen its age-spanning horizon.
πρόσκαιρα
proskaira
GROWS FROM
καιρός
kairos
season, fitting or appointed time
“for a season” in this verse is proskaira. The word rendered “temporal” is πρόσκαιρα (proskaira, temporary), formed around καιρός (kairos, season or appointed time). Its root makes the passing quality of the seen explicit: it occupies a season.
ALSO GROWS
kairos: season; fitting or appointed time
καιρός
This is the time-word within πρόσκαιρα, showing that the visible has a bounded season.
proskairos: temporary; lasting for a season
πρόσκαιρος
This related adjective carries the same seasonal limit as the word translated “temporal.”
σκοπούντων
skopountōn
GROWS FROM
σκοπ-
skop-
to observe, consider, direct one’s attention
“do not fix our eyes on” in this verse is skopountōn. The verb translated “look” is σκοπέω (skopeō, observe or consider), a deliberate regard rather than a passing glance. The verse concerns what attention takes as its object, then names which object endures.
ALSO GROWS
skopos: target, mark
σκοπός
This related noun’s sense of a target illuminates the directed attention in “look.”
episkopeō: watch over, inspect
ἐπισκοπέω
This related verb retains the sense of attending to or observing something.
THE PATTERN
Immediate visibility is a poor measure of what lasts.
The grass dries, the flower withers, but the word of our God stands for the ages.But if we hope for what we do not see, then we wait for it by bearing up under it.For we walk by trust, not by sight.THE THREAD
Now trust is the footing beneath things hoped for, the proof of things unseen.Both verses use βλέπω (blepō, see) for what is seen and what is not seen, with the latter formed by negating the same seeing-word. Hebrews describes trust as substance and evidence in that field, showing that unseen does not mean unreal.
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