Ecclesiastes 1:4

Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass away, until all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Let us see what this generation is, of which Christ speaks.

And the simple, indeed, refer these words to the destruction of Jerusalem; and they suppose it was said of that generation which existed in the time of Christ and looked upon his suffering, a generation that would not pass away before the destruction of that city came to pass.

But I do not know whether they can expound word for word what he says: "do you not see all these things? amen I say to you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be destroyed" down to that which he says: it is near, at the door. For perhaps in some points they will be able, but in others they will not be able at all, and, sufficiently hemmed in, I do not know whether they will have been able to say anything.

But we, observing in many passages the word "generation," take it in two ways. For we hold that there are two generations, one indeed of the Jews, the other of the Gentiles.

Thus we understand also Ecclesiastes saying: one generation passes away and another generation comes, and the earth stands forever. For, prophesying of the people of the Jews, who were to pass away, he says one generation passes away; but of the people of the Gentiles, who were to believe, he said another generation comes. Something of this kind I think is said also in the eighty-ninth Psalm by Moses in his prayer: Lord, thou hast become a refuge for us from generation to generation. For God is the refuge of the two generations, since there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith. And since God is the God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, therefore the generation shall not pass away of the new testament, which is in the face of the Savior, nor shall it depart to those blessed promises of that age, until all things be done which Christ has spoken. For to each one of us it is fitting that all things be done which have been foretold, as we have handed down through the several expositions. There is, therefore, one generation of the Church, which began from the teaching of the Lord the Savior and lasts until the consummation. And this same generation will indeed at some time pass through this whole age (and it will pass through it, so as to inherit that age which is to come), yet until all these things be done, it shall not pass away;

but when it shall have been sufficient in all these things and shall have remained impassible until the glorious coming of Christ, then it shall pass through.

Yet until all these things be done (not some of the things that have been said, while others are not), those things are not to be; nevertheless this generation shall pass away, when all these things shall have been done, when there shall have passed away not only the earth, but also the heaven, that is, not only those men whose life is earthly, and who for that reason are called earth, but also those whose "citizenship is in the heavens", and who therefore are called heaven. And they shall pass to the things to come, along with all their states, so that they may come to more eminent and better things. For the revelation of these (since they are sons of God) the expectation of the creature awaits, and "every creature groans together with them and is in pain", until, conceiving in the womb from the fear of the Lord, they bring forth "the spirit of salvation", making their own offspring; and then shall pass away the generation of which Christ speaks, and the heaven according to what we have expounded, and the earth according to what we have handed down.

But the words which were spoken by the Savior shall not pass away, since the things which are proper to them they work both now and shall always work. But the perfect, and those who do not receive so that they may now be made better, passing beyond what they are, arrive at that which they are not.

Now in that which he said: but my words shall not pass away, this too I think must be inquired into, lest perhaps the words of Moses indeed and of the prophets have passed away, while the words of Jesus Christ have not passed away: because the things that were prophesied by those men have indeed been fulfilled, but the words of Christ are always full and are ever in the act of fulfillment and are daily being fulfilled and are never fully completed; for they are the very things which in the saints both have been fulfilled and are being fulfilled and are yet to be fulfilled. Or perhaps we ought not to say that the words of Moses or of the prophets are altogether fulfilled: for properly those words too are the words of the Son of God and are always being fulfilled. It is therefore good to unfold the depths of the divine words in simple words; yet for the sake of the few let us examine this, understanding only this much: that the word which in the Word of God is human has not passed away from the creation of the world until the consummation. For it presses on and works, since neither did it receive the beginning of its working before the times of the days, but it began with the creature and with the creature will pass away. But the word which was before the creature will not pass away with the creature.

What good does the possessor of many acres gain in the end? Except that the foolish man thinks his own that which never belongs to him, ignorant seemingly in his greed that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," for "God is king of all the earth." It is the passion of having which gives men a false title of lordship over that which can never belong to them. "The earth," says the wise Preacher, "abideth for ever," ministering to every generation, first one, then another, that is born upon it; but men, though they are so little even their own masters, that they are brought into life without knowing it by their Maker's will, and before they wish are withdrawn from it, nevertheless in their excessive vanity think that they are her lords; that they, now born, now dying, rule that which remains continually.

By the will of God, therefore, the earth remains immovable. "The earth stands forever," according to Ecclesiastes, yet it is moved and nods according to the will of God. It does not therefore continue to exist because based on its own foundations. It does not stay stable because of its own props. The Lord established it by the support of his will, because "in his hand are all the ends of the earth." The simplicity of this faith is worth all the proffered proofs.

The sun has existed since it was created and will exist and be one and the same as long as God wants it. But if I say … that humankind remains forever, I do not mean one and the same human being but the whole succession of generations. The same is true for other mortal beings and plants.… One generation goes and one generation comes. The generation that goes is destroyed by death; the one that comes is the one that is born.

"A
generation goes, a generation comes, but the earth remains forever."
While some men die, others are born, and those you had seen, are not
seen anymore, and you then see those who have not been before. What is more vain than this vanity, than that
the earth remains, which was made on account of mankind? And that man himself, the master of the earth,
should be suddenly returned to the dust?
Another meaning of this is: the first generation of Jews dies and a
generation formed from all peoples takes its place; but the earth however will
remain for so long as the Synagogue's influence slips away, and the Church
becomes more powerful. For when it was
predicted that the Gospel would be known all around the world, then, it was
said, would be the end. When the end is
approaching, it is true, the sky and the earth will pass away. Solomon very precisely does not say the earth
remains "through the ages" [Hier.. "in saeculis"]
but "through that age" [Hier.. "in saeculo"]. More precisely we praise the Lord not in one
age, but throughout the ages.

And that he has nothing more than vanity, he shows when he adds: "A generation passes away, and a generation comes." Therefore there is change and succession both in man and in his works. Sirach 14: "Some things are generated, and others are cast down; so is the generation of flesh and blood: one ends, and another is born," according to what is said in James 4: "What is your life but a vapor appearing for a little while"? But when they are corrupted, they do not pass into nothing, but into something, because into earth; whence it was said to Adam: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." Therefore he adds: "But the earth stands forever," as it were the matter into which dissolution takes place. Psalm: "Who founded the earth upon its stability"; and Proverbs 8: "When he was weighing the foundations of the earth."

Likewise, there is a question concerning what he says: "The earth stands forever."

To the contrary: Matthew twenty-four: "Heaven and earth shall pass away": therefore the earth does not stand.

Likewise, Apocalypse twenty-one: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth," therefore the earth grows old: therefore it does not stand.

I respond: it must be said that "the earth standing" is twofold: either with respect to substance, or with respect to figure or disposition; I say that the earth stands forever with respect to substance, but passes away with respect to figure: First Corinthians seven: "The figure of this world passes away." But men are generated and corrupted with respect to substance, so that they are rightly called not "men" but "the dead."

Or "eternal" is said in multiple ways: in one way, that which does not have an end prescribed in Scripture: thus the land of promise was given to the children of Israel as an eternal possession. In another way, that which has an end, but not in time: thus "time" is said to be eternal. In the third way, that whose signification is never ended. In the fourth way, that whose substance is never ended. In the fifth way, that whose substance neither ends nor began.

In this last way, God alone; in the fourth way it applies to the earth with respect to substance, in the third way with respect to signification, in the first two ways with respect to figure.