zōē aiōnios

Semantic range

1. 1zōē: life, as opposed to bios, a lifetime or livelihood
2. 2aiōnios: belonging to the age (aiōn); age-long, everlasting
3. 3the quality of life proper to God's own realm

Eternal life in the New Testament is a kind of life, not only a duration of it. John 17:3 defines it in terms of relationship — "this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Latter-day Saint usage is precise and worth learning: immortality is endless existence, given to all through the Resurrection; eternal life is the kind of life God lives, given to those who receive all the ordinances and endure. Moses 1:39 puts both in one line — "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" — and D&C 14:7 calls eternal life "the greatest of all the gifts of God."

D&C 19:6–12 warns against reading aiōnios purely as duration: "Eternal punishment is God's punishment," because Endless and Eternal are His names.

See also

• עוֹלָםʿôlām
• ἀνάστασιςanastasis
• δόξαdoxa