I've recently been involved in a debate with a Jehovah's Witness--or someone highly influenced by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society--and it’s interesting that some of those who would like to believe in everlasting destruction would go so far as to deny that all the unsaved dead are raised before the Great White Throne (even though scripture clearly says that death, hades, and the sea are emptied.) They do this in a vain attempt to make “olam/aionios” mean something it does not mean--but they are right about one thing.
If olam/aionios simply means “forever” (as it is rendered in the KJV), Moses clearly said that the Egyptians who drowned in the Red Sea would never (Heb. "ad olam") be seen again:
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever (Ex. 14:13.).
If olam/aionios means everlasting, fleshly circumcision is still binding today:
He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. (Gen. 17: 13-14.)
And Hebrew slaves, born thousands of years ago, must still serve their earthly masters today:
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. (Ex. 21:5-6.)
Note: If "ad olam" must necessarily mean "for ever," and there is any life beyond the grave for any of these slaves, they must still serve their former masters.
Olam is consistently translated aion/aioios in the LXX, and aionios is used of a finite period of time in Romans sixteen verse twenty five:
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began (Greek: aionios chronos.)
Immediately after this (next verse, same sentence), aionios is used of God (who is eternal):
but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God (Greek: aionios Theos.)
It should be obvious from it's usage in the above examples that olam/aionios is broad in meaning, and that it’s basic meaning is that of a prolonged, indefinite, undisclosed, unknown, or unknowable period of time. It would seem we could all agree that only such a definition is broad enough to include all of it's occurrences--Israel was not told how long the covenant of circumcision would last, The loyal Hebrew slave did not know how long he would live, and eternity is presently beyond our comprehension .
Tom Talbott and Dean Farrar both suggest another meaning of olam/aionios--that it may sometimes have more to do with quality than duration (quality as in "of God," or "Divine"), and I believe that this is also true.
Consider what John says in the following passage:
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15.)
Now consider what James wrote to some of the brethren:
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:1-10.)
David, and at least some of those to whom James wrote, would seem to be among the elect, and I believe they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4.) They could never really lose the eternal life God planned for them, but it seems safe to say that they could not have had aionian life (i.e. the life of God in their hearts) when they killed (or hated) their brothers. This means that the term "aionian" life--at least here in 1 John 3:15--has more to do with quality then duration.
God Bless.
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