αἰών, -ῶνος, ὁ,
[in LXX chiefly for עַד,עוֹלָם;]
1. in cl., like Lat. aevum (LS, MM, VGT, s.v.), a space of time, as, a lifetime, generation, period of history, an indefinitely long period; in NT of an indefinitely long period, an age, eternity, usually c. prep. (MM, VGT);
(a) of the past: ἀπ’ αἰ. (cf. Heb. מֵעוֹלָם), Lk 1:70;
(b) of the future: εἰς τ. αἰ. (cf. לְעוֹלָם), forever, Mt 21:19; id., c. neg., never, Jo 4:14; more strongly, εἰς τὸν αἰ. τοῦ αἰ., He 1:8(LXX); εἰς τοὺς αἰ., Mt 6:13; εἰς τοὺς αἰ. τῶν αἰ. (cf. Is 45:17, עַד־עוֹלְמֵי עַד), Ro 16:27, LT; cf. also Eph 3:21, II Pe 3:18, Ju 25, Re 14:11.
2. οἱ αἰ., the worlds, the universe, "the sum of the periods of time, including all that is manifested in them": He 1:211:3 (cf. I Ti 1:17, where τῶν αἰ. are prob. "the ages or world-periods which when summed up make eternity".
3. the present age (Heb. הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה): ὁ αἰ., Mt 13:22; ὁ αἰ. οὗτος, Mt 12:32; ὁ νῦν αἰ., I Ti 6:17; ὁ ἐνεστὼς αἰ., Ga 1:4; similarly, of the time after Christ's second coming (הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא), ὁ αἰ. ἐκεῖνος, Lk 20:35; ὁ αἰ. μέλλων, Mt 12:32; ὁ αἰ. ὁ ἐρχόμενος, Mk 10:30.
SYN.: κόσμος, the ordered universe, the scheme of material things; οἰκουμένη, the inhabited earth; in contrast with both of which αἰ. is the world under aspects of time (cf. Westc. on He 1:2; Tr., Syn., §lix; Thayer, s.v., αἰ.; Cremer, 74, 620; MM, VGT).