What Does Matthew 25:46 Mean in the King James?
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Greek word underlies both “everlasting punishment” and “life eternal,” placing the two opposed outcomes within one shared age-horizon.
THE MEANING
The verse places you before two opposed outcomes: going away into punishment and entering the life of the age. It names the punishment plainly, while the same age-word describes both outcomes.
THE ROOT
αἰώνιος
aiōnios
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
Age; ages; an era or span of time.
“everlasting / eternal” in this verse is aiōnios. Both phrases use the same adjective, αἰώνιον (aiōnion, “of the age”): κόλασιν αἰώνιον (kolasin aiōnion, “punishment of the age”) and ζωὴν αἰώνιον (zōēn aiōnion, “life of the age”). That repeated word holds the starkly opposed outcomes within one shared age-horizon.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: Age; era.
αἰών
This noun is the seed behind the adjective, making the age-language within both English renderings visible.
aiōnios: Of the age; age-long.
αἰώνιος
This adjective describes both punishment and life in the verse; the Greek repetition makes their parallel structure clear.
δίκαιοι
dikaioi
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Rightness and justice; what is due or aligned with what is right.
The word translated “righteous” places a person in the sphere of rightness and justice. Its family includes δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, “righteousness” or “alignment”), so “the righteous” carries the sense of alignment with what is right.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: Justice; what is right.
δίκη
This related noun shows the justice and rightness carried within the description of the righteous.
dikaiosynē: Righteousness; alignment.
δικαιοσύνη
This related form connects the person called righteous with a state of alignment with what is right.
dikaioō: Justify; declare or set right.
δικαιόω
This verb shows that the same word-family can describe the recognition or establishment of what is right.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places age-marked life alongside contrasting judgment, giving both outcomes a shared horizon.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.THE THREAD
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John uses the same Greek adjective, αἰώνιος (aiōnios, “of the age”), for the life offered there that Matthew uses for both punishment and life. The shared word brings Matthew’s parallel structure into focus while preserving the sharp contrast between its outcomes.
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