Age

Age in Scripture carries several distinct meanings. In its most straightforward sense it denotes the duration of a person's life: Jacob describes his 130 years as few and evil compared to the lifespans of his fathers (Genesis 47:9, 28), and John 9:21 uses the cognate phrase to note that the healed blind man was of age and could speak for himself. In wisdom literature, old age is treated as a mark of honor — the glory of young men is their strength; and the beauty of old men is the gray head (Proverbs 20:29) — and the instruction to rise before the elderly is embedded in the Holiness Code (Leviticus 19:32).

The term also carries a cosmological dimension. Paul refers to the mystery hidden from ages and from generations (Colossians 1:26) and to the ages to come in which God will display the exceeding riches of his grace (Ephesians 2:7). The Greek aion (age, world, or eon) underlies these passages, reflecting the apocalyptic framework in which present and future ages are distinguished and the full disclosure of God's purposes awaits the consummation.