Did God Put "Eternity In Their Hearts"
or "The World In Their Hearts"?
by Sandy Simpson, 8/4/11


In the introduction to Mike Oppenheimer's and my book "Idolatry In Thier Hearts" I exposed the fact that Don Richardson pulled the phrase "Eternity In Thier Hearts" to use as his book title from it's context in Ecc. 3:11.  He did this to support his thesis, which actually contradicts the second part of that verse, where it states that man cannot fathom what God has done. Richardson, rather, sets forth what has become the foundation for the false teachings of the WCGIP, YWAM, a number of Bible translation societies and the Emerging Church ... the propostion that men from Gentile cultures have always been seeking God and that Gentile cultures were already worshipping the true God before missionaries came with the Gospel.

But as I further investigated this verse I found that Richardson even ignored the true meaning of the FIRST half of the verse in favor of a few translations that use the phrase "eternity in their hearts".  Richardson opted to use that phrase, or the equivolant, which is only used in five major translations: the NIV, GWV, Lesser, NKJV and RSV.

Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)
Ecc. 3:11 It is beautiful how God has done everything at the right time. He has put a sense of eternity in people's minds. Yet, mortals still can't grasp what God is doing from the beginning to the end of time. (GWV)
Ecc. 3:11 Every thing hath he made beautiful in its proper time: he hath also placed the eternity in their heart, without a man's being able to find out the work that God hath made from the beginning to the end. (Lesser)
Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. (NKJV)
Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (RSV)
The Hebrew word translated above as "eternity" is actually owlam, according to Strongs, meaning ever, everlasting, old, perpetual, evermore, never, time, ancient, world, always, alway, long.  Eternity is not the most used meaning of owlam in the Bible. Usually when the Old Testament means "eternity" it uses the Hebrew word ad.  To be fair, the OT uses the world tebel most often for "world".  But when you look at the majority of the translations of Ecc. 3:11 you will not find "eternity in their hearts" but rather "the world in their heart".  I believe that "the world in their heart" is more consistent with the last half of the verse.  God gave man a worldly mindset, if you will, so that he could not really know God without the intervention of His Word and the Holy Spirit through being born again.

What Richardson ignored were the twelve transtlations that use the phrase "the world in their heart" which is far more in keeping with the second part of the verse.

Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (KJV)
Ecc. 3:11 He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. (AKJV)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in its time; also he hath set the world in their heart, so that man findeth not out from the beginning to the end the work that God doeth. (Darby)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end. (Douay)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. (ERV)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time; also He hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. (JPS)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time. Also He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (KJ21)
Ecc. 3:11 All the things which he has made are beautiful in his time: he has also set the whole {1} world in their heart, that man might not find out the work which God has wrought from the beginning even to the end. {1) Or, age} (LXXE)
Ecc. 3:11 God maketh every thing good in its time; but he hath put the world into the heart of man, so that he understandeth not the work which God doeth, from the beginning to the end. (Noyes)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (R Webster)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (Webster)
Ecc. 3:11 He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set {1} eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. {1) Or the world} (ASV)
Notice that the word owlam also has to do with concepts of time.  Man was created in space and time, whereas God is outside of those constraints.  Therefore it would have made sense to say that man does not really understand God who is set apart from space and time because those are the boundaries of his life.  There are a couple of other variations we need to consider that Richardson chose not to use.
Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last. (BBE)
This translation is interesting because it gives a good sense of the meaning of the verse in context, though it is obviously not a word for word translation.
Ecc. 3:11 Everything, hath he made beautiful in its own time,––also, intelligence, hath he put in their heart, without which men could not find out the work which God hath wrought, from the beginning even unto the end. (Rotherham)
Ecc. 3:11 The whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end. (YLT)
The above translations are a stretch.

So we are left with having to either accept that (1) God put the world in men's consciousness "so that no man can find out the works of God" or (2) God gave man intelligence and a deep seated knowledge of "eternity" so that man could possibly know God.  But (2) is inconsistent with the Bible that states over and over again that the Gentiles "did not know God" and that we cannot know God without the Holy Spirit revealing God to us through His Word and our acceptance of Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Spirit whereby He creates in us a new man.

Gal. 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
1 Cor. 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Rom. 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
1 Thess. 4:5 ...not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God...
Ephesians 2:12-13 ...remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
2 Thess. 1:8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
It is also consistent with the fact that "God gave them over" to their lusts and worship of idols, thus our book title "Idolatry In Thier Hearts" in opposition to Richardson's title.
Ac 7:42  But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: "‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
Ro 1:24  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Ro 1:26  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Ro 1:28  Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
CONCLUSION

The preponderance of translations stating that God "set the world in their heart" are more consistent with the whole counsel of God's Word.  It is therefore a serious breach of hermeneutics for Don Richardson to have (1) chosen one of only a few translations of Ecc. 3:11 to provide a title for his book, (2) to not give the immediate context of the verse and (3) to not take into account the meaning of this verse in the context of the whole counsel of God's Word.