Qualitatively Eternal

Surely every man must repent or suffer, for I, God, am endless. … Nevertheless, it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. ... wherefore it is more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, altogether for my name’s glory. DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 19:4-7

All scripture attests that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, from eternity to eternity. But what does this mean? Our God is an exalted Man of holiness (Moses 6:57), he has a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22), and mortals are created in his image. Church leaders have taught that for God to be “from eternity to eternity” means that he is from one premortal existence to the next (Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:12; McConkie, Promised Messiah, 166). The revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 19 declares that such words as eternal and endless are descriptions, characteristics of God and of God’s time; in that sense, they are nouns rather than adjectives, for God is endless and God is eternal. It was only under the influence of Greek philosophy that the words eternal or eternity came to mean timeless and without end. Eternal and endless punishment are qualitative forms of punishment, just as are eternal and endless life. (Robert L. Millet and Lloyd D. Newell. Draw Near Unto Me: Daily Reflections on the Doctrine and Covenants. 55)