Digging Deeper: Time in the New Testament

The ancient Greeks had two main words for time. One of them is kairos. This word can refer to a season of time or to an opportunity.

At the dawn of His ministry, in Mark 1:15, Jesus declared, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
In 2 Corinthians 6:2, Paul wrote, “For He [God] says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”

In both these verses (Mark 1:15; 2 Cor. 6:2) and in many others, the word kairos is used. Yet as we have said, kairos isn’t the only Greek word referring to time. A second is chronos, the term from which we get the English word chronology, meaning a series of events occurring one after another. Chronos refers to a point in time or a period of time, either long or short in duration.

After secretly calling the wise men, King Herod, ascertained from them when, or what time—chronos—the star they had been following had first appeared (see Matt. 2:7).
Later, after realizing the wise men had tricked him, Herod “sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time—chronos—which he had determined from the wise men” (v. 16).
Luke used chronos as well in Luke 4:5 when he described one of the temptations Satan used, unsuccessfully, against Jesus: “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.”

For a list of additional passages containing chronos, go here.

Acts 1:6-8 is a great place to study these two words. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, His disciples asked their Master,

“Lord, will you at this time [chronos] restore the kingdom to Israel” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times [chronos] or seasons [kairos] which the Father has put in His own authority, 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus didn’t mean we aren’t to know anything about the times or seasons God directs, but that we aren’t to be overly concerned with them.

Indeed, we do well to learn about and acknowledge God’s detailed activity in setting the stage for Christ’s birth, where the theme of time is quite important.

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