Ages to Come? (Eph. 2:7)
Preterists argue that biblical passages about “the end”/“last days”[1] refer to the end/last days of the old covenant age, which officially ended when the temple fell in AD 70. Afterwards, the new covenant age began in fullness.
One of the reasons we hold this view is because these passages were written just prior to (withing a few decades of) AD 70. So the timing fits perfectly.
Futurists sometimes try to get around this argument by citing Ephesians 2:7, in which Paul mentions “ages to come”:
“[God] raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7, italics mine).
If Paul was living at the end of the old covenant age, futurists argue, then there must be at least one more age after the new covenant age. After all, Paul said this in around AD 62, which was well within the old covenant age. Then the new covenant age began in AD 70; which means there must be at least one more age after the new covenant age.
Response: If that’s really what Paul meant in Ephesians 2:7—that there would be another age after the new covenant age—then Paul not only contradicted the many passages about the everlasting new covenant age, but he also contradicted his very own writings on this subject.
The Everlasting New Covenant Age
Here are some passages showing that the new covenant is everlasting:
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will” (Heb. 13:20-21, italics mine).
“And I [God] will make an everlasting covenant with them [Israel]” (Jer. 32:40, italics mine).
“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, and will make with them an everlasting covenant” (Isa. 61:8, italics mine).
The Bible—both Old and New Testament’s—clearly say the new covenant age is everlasting, which means there cannot possibly be an age afterwards.
Paul Confirms the Everlasting New Covenant
Paul’s own statements confirm this too. When discussing the transition between the old and new covenant ages, Paul said:
“If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious [the old covenant], the ministry of righteousness [the new covenant] exceeds much more in glory!…And if what was transitory [the old covenant] came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts [the new covenant]!” (2 Cor. 3:11).
Notice how Paul says the new covenant glory lasts. In other words, the new covenant age is everlasting! This matches perfectly with all those other passages referenced above about the everlasting new covenant age.
The Reason for the Passing of Previous Ages
Keep in mind, also, that the reason why the previous ages had to end was that they were deficient. For example, in the age before the old covenant age—the pre-Mosaic age—the law had not come yet, so people were not yet aware of the magnitude of their sins and desperate need for God’s forgiveness. Therefore, this age was deficient and had to end.
The age that followed, the Mosaic age (old covenant age), remedied this problem by magnifying sin and showing people their great need for a Savior (Rom. 5:20). However, there was still no solution for the sin it magnified because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins (Heb. 10:4). So the old covenant age, too, was deficient and had to end.
But the new covenant age has no deficiencies. It remedied the sin problem and restored man’s broken relationship with God. Mankind once again has access to the tree of life—Jesus. As Jesus said:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51, see also John 11:26).
This was the hope of God’s people all through Scripture—the forgiveness of sin, aka resurrection—and it finally arrived in the first century (Heb. 11:13, Acts 3:24)! Since there is nothing deficient about the new covenant age, it does not have to end—and it won’t, according to the Scriptures cited above.
“Ages to Come” Defined
What, then, did Paul mean by “ages to come” (Eph. 2:7)? Paul likely used the plural “ages” to emphasize the greatness and majesty of the soon-coming new covenant age, as compared to all previous ages. In fact, Paul said exactly that just a few verses later:
“To Him [be] the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages” (Eph. 3:21, italics mine; Young’s Literal Translation).
There is a similar kind of statement in Genesis in which God says, “Let us create man in our image” (Gen. 1:26, italics mine), which is immediately followed with, “So God created man in His own image” (Gen. 1:27, italics mine). As many commentators have pointed out, the plural “us” was likely used to emphasize God’s majesty and greatness.[2] It certainly does not mean there are multiple Gods, as verse 27 makes clear.
Modern-day monarchs sometimes refer to themselves in the plural too; it is technically called “the royal we.” For example, the King of England might say “We will do such and such,” when he really just means “I will do such and such.”
Paul was likely doing the same kind of thing. He was emphasizing the majesty and greatness of the new covenant age, the age of ages!
This fits well with the many other descriptions of the greatness and majesty of the new covenant age. For example, the writer of Hebrews—which many scholars believe was Paul, by the way—said:
“But you [Christians] have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:22–24, italics mine).
The passage describes the new covenant as “better” than the old. Moreover, Mount Zion was what the Old Testament saints all longed for (Heb. 11:13; Acts 3:24). It was the goal of Scripture (Mic. 4:3; Isa. 2:2, 25:6, 65:25). And the writer of Hebrews said it had finally arrived!
The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that the new covenant age is everlasting:
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work” (Heb. 13:20, italics mine).
Since the new covenant age is everlasting, Paul would not have been implying it would end/be replaced.
For more information about the new covenant age—and all it entails—check out my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, director of The Bible Fulfilled, 7/18/26.
[1] Heb. 1:1-2, 9:26; 1 Cor. 10:11, 1 Pet. 1:20, 4:7; 1 John 2:18
[2] Some Christians argue this refers to the Trinity.
