World Without End?

[TonyC]

“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.”

What does the “world without end” part of this mean? Don’t we think that the world will in fact eventually end?

Does this refer to the next world, heaven, which will not end?

Thoughts?

 

[awalt]

Well IMHO, we know this world will end. I have always in terpreted this to mean our eternal world with God, which will never end.

 

[Dandelion_Wine]

Good question - I always took it as a statement of the eternalness of the GLory.

 

[Brendan]

It’s kind of a poor translation of the Latin

GLORIA Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen

Which literally means " And in Ages of Ages"

The connotation here is that we are praising the Enternal Glory of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Glory was always Was, Is Now, and will be for Enternity.

 

[serendipity]

I’ve always wondered why some versions don’t include the world without end part.

 

[jeffreedy789]

it’s my understanding (and i do have a degree in theology) that the ‘world without end’ is referring to the new heavens and the new earth - which will, in fact, never end. the eternality of God and His creation - even though this bit we’re living on NOW will end eventually.

 

[TonyC]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts on this. There’s seems to be a loose consensus that this refers to the next world, or that the Glory of God will never end; the Latin original seems to bear this out.

I’d suggest a new translation: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, until the end of time.”

or “… ever shall be, for eternity.”

or " … ever shall be, for all ages."