Quaerens Deum: The Liberty

Undergraduate Journal for

Philosophy of Religion
Volume 1
Article 1
Issue 1 Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2015)

April 2015

Timelessness
Emily Pemberton
Liberty University, egpemberton@[Link]

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Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons

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Pemberton, Emily (2015) "Timelessness," Quaerens Deum: The Liberty Undergraduate Journal for Philosophy of Religion: Vol. 1: Iss. 1,
Article 1.
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 Pemberton 1

Timelessness
Emily Pemberton

Abstract
God’s temporality is still debated today by theologians and philosophers
with whether God is temporal, atemporal, or some other form of temporality. The
context of this paper is the topic of God’s timelessness with the idea of William
Lane Craig’s idea of “omnitemporality.” The paper discusses a few of the major
arguments for God’s temporality and also God’s timelessness. The paper then
analyzes Craig’s article defending the omnitemporality of God declaring that God
is non-temporal without creation and then becomes temporal with creation.
Though this idea may seem as a possible solution to the question of God’s
temporality, it fails to follow with the Kalam argument and the relationship of
time and change, for any possibility of change requires some duration of time.

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 Pemberton 2

Introduction

There are many attributes that people ascribe to a supreme being; the

attribute of timelessness is one of them. Temporality is understood as the mode of

existence of an object that is in time.1 Many philosophers have debated the issue

of God’s timelessness and temporality, whether he is temporal, non-temporal, or

some other possible form. Recently, William Lane Craig has published a paper

where he defends the idea that God is “omnitemporal”: God is able to change

from non-temporality to temporality in the creation of time. However, with the

attribute of timelessness, the idea that God is non-temporal without creation and

temporal with creation fails to adhere to the Kalam cosmological argument and

the relationship between time and change.

Analysis

In the article “Timelessness and Omnitemporality,” William Lane Craig

defends the idea that God is non-temporal without creation and temporal since

creation. He begins his argument with the explanation of divine timelessness. One

of the most important arguments that supports divine timelessness is the claim

1
Garrett DeWeese, "Atemporal, Sempiternal, or Omnitemporal: God's Temporal Mode of Being,"
in God and Time Essays on the Divine Nature (New York: Oxford University Press
2002), 50.

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 Pemberton 3

that the fleeting nature of a temporal life is incompatible with the life of a most

perfect being.2 The argument for this claim is as follows:

1. God is the most perfect being.

2. The most perfect being has the most perfect mode of existence.
3. Temporal existence is a less perfect mode of existence than a timeless
existence.
4. Therefore God has the most perfect mode of existence
5. Therefore God has a timeless mode of existence.3

The premises of this argument rely on the notion of the loss that comes through

the experience of temporal passage. In another paper by Craig entitled “The

Elimination of Absolute Time by the Special Theory of Relativity,” Craig states

that whether an individual believes that God exists temporally or atemporally is

apt to depend on whether the individual believes that time is dynamic or static.4

The dynamic view of time, which is referred to as “A-theory,” defends that time

flow is objectively real. The static view of time, referred to as “B-theory,” implies

that the flow of time is an illusion; the present does not move, but time is merely

subjective.5 Craig explains that some philosophers argue for the static or tenseless

2
Craig, William Lane. "Timelessness & Omnitemporality." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001), 132.
3
Ibid. 133.
4
Craig, William Lane. "The Elimination of Absolute Time by the Special Theory of Relativity." in
God and Time Essays on the Divine Nature (New York: Oxford University Press 2002), 132.
5
"Time." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed April 11, 2015.
[Link]

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 Pemberton 4

view of time, according to which the past and future are just as real as the present,

and the passing of time is explained as a subjective illusion of human

consciousness. With this view of “tenseless,” a temporal God would exist at all

temporal locations without beginning or end to his temporal extension. Though

this view may seem plausible, it fails to appreciate that it is based on the

experience of temporal passage rather than the objective reality of temporal

passage itself.6 The fact remains with a temporal being: the past is lost and the

future is not accessible to the temporal being.

After the brief discussion of divine timelessness, Craig begins to explain

the arguments for divine temporality. One of the arguments is that since the

Christian God is a personal being, God must be a temporal being in order to be a

person, for it is argued that a person must have certain properties that inherently

involve time7.

Another argument concerns the divine relations with the world. This

argument is summarized as follows:

1. God is creatively active in the temporal world.

2. If God is creatively active in the temporal world, God is really related to
the temporal world.
3. If God is really related to the temporal world, God is temporal.

6
Craig, William Lane. "Timelessness & Omnitemporality." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001), 134.
7
Ibid. 137.

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 Pemberton 5

4. Therefore God is temporal.8

This argument initiates a standard belief that in order for God to relate to the

temporal world, then God must undergo extrinsic change. To explain this further,

at the first moment of time God would be in a new relation in which He would not

have been before (since there was no “before”). In the creation of time, God

would undergo an extrinsic change because He comes into the relation of

sustaining the universe or possibly coexisting with the universe, which relations

had not existed before.9 Lastly, Craig argues for a third argument for divine

temporality from divine knowledge of tensed facts. It is argued by some that a

timeless God cannot know certain tensed facts about the world (for example, what

is happening now) and therefore, since God is omniscient, He must be temporal.10

Tensed facts are defined with the function to locate something in relation to the

present. 11

This argument is summarized as follows:

1. A temporal world exists.

2. God is omniscient.
3. If a temporal world exists, then God is omniscient, God knows tensed
facts.

8
Craig, William Lane. "Timelessness & Omnitemporality." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001) 141.
9
Ibid. 140-141.
10
Ibid. 145.
11
Ibid. 145.

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 Pemberton 6

4. If God is timeless, He does not know tensed facts.

5. Therefore, God is not timeless.12
Both of the arguments for divine timelessness and divine temporality are strong

and are still debated today by many philosophers such as Alan Padgett, Garrett

DeWeese, Brian Leftow, and Delmas Lewis. These arguments show the difficulty

in the attempt to describe God’s relation to time, whether He is temporal or non-

temporal.

After explaining the two sides of this debate, Craig defends his notion of

“omnitemporality.” Several statements are declared: first, that God exists in time;

second, time had a beginning; and third, God did not have a beginning.13 It is

difficult to merge these statements, for if time began to exist, then God must have

existed beyond the beginning of time. God must therefore have been changeless

in that state, for change requires time. Furthermore, this state cannot exist before

the creation of time in a temporal sense. God must be causally, but not

temporally, before the creation of the universe and time. When God created the

universe, God entered into time at the moment of creation in virtue of His real

relations with the created order. Thus Craig concludes that God must be timeless

12
Craig, William Lane. "Timelessness & Omnitemporality." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001) 145.
13
Ibid. 156.

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 Pemberton 7

without the universe and temporal with the universe.14 As God exists without

creation, there are no temporal states such as before, or after, or any temporal
15
passage or future phase: there is just God. However, to state that time exists

before the beginning of the world (a “timeless” phase before the creation of time)

constitutes a problem with a backward causation (which has an effect occurring

before its cause) for the occurrence of the first event causes time to exist not only

with the event but also before it.16 Craig uses an analogy of the possible creation

of the universe by the Big Bang and how it is not considered to be part of time but

to constitute a boundary to time, but it is considered to be causally connected to

the universe. By following this analogy, Craig offers the idea that God’s timeless

eternity is a boundary of time that is causally, but not temporally prior to the

creation of the universe.17

Response

All of the previous arguments for the temporality of God make it difficult

to determine whether God is in time or is timeless. However, Craig’s argument

for God’s omnitemporality with God without time without creation and becomes

temporal with creation does not satisfy the debate, for the argument is

14
Craig, William Lane. "Timelessness & Omnitemporality." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press 2001) 156.
15
Ibid 156.
16
Ibid. 159.
17
Ibid. 160.

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 Pemberton 8

inconsistent. In his article, "God, Time and the Kalam Cosmological Argument"

Christopher Bobier argues that Craig must either abandon his view of God’s

relationship to time or the Kalam argument. William Lane Craig presents the

Kalam argument as follows:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.18

In regards to William Lane Craig’s idea on God’s relationship to time, Wes

Morrison defines Craig’s view as: “Qua creator of the temporal universe, God is

eternal in the sense of ‘atemporal.’ But now that there is a temporal universe, God

exists at every time – past, present, and future.”19 However, Bobier defends that if

one affirms both the Kalam Argument and Craig’s view on God’s

omnitemporality, then it follows that either God has a cause or the Kalam

Argument is unsound.20

To begin his argument, Bobier starts with premise 1 and tries to discover a

satisfactory account of what it means for an object to “begin to exist.” However,

18
Bobier, Christopher Alan. "God, Time and the Kalam Cosmological Argument." Sophia Vol.
52, no. 4 (2013): 593-600. Accessed March 6, 2015. 593.
[Link] 593.
19
Morriston, Wes. “Must the Beginning of the Universe Have a Personal Cause? A Critical
Examination of the Kalam Cosmological Argument.” Faith and Philosophy, 17(2), 149–169. 151.
20
Bobier, Christopher Alan. "God, Time and the Kalam Cosmological Argument." Sophia Vol.
52, no. 4 (2013): 593-600. Accessed March 6, 2015. 594.

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 Pemberton 9

with every account that Craig offers there still seems to be the conclusion that

either the Kalam Argument is unsound or God has a cause. The first account that

was given for the “begins to exist” (BTE) is as follows:

BTE) X begins to exist at t1 if there is an earlier time immediately prior at

which X did not exist.21

It is argued that those who affirm the Kalam Argument cannot affirm this first

BTE. If this first BTE is true with the universe to begin to exist, then there must

be a time “prior” to the creation at which the universe did not exist. But,

according to Craig’s view, time was created along with the creation of the

universe so there is no time “prior to” the creation. The creation of the universe

combined with Craig’s view does not satisfy BTE, and therefore would suggest

that the Kalam Argument is unsound.22 In order to resolve these problems, Craig

has revised the BTE in order to try to make it conform to the Kalam Argument.

One of his next revisions was BTE2 which is as follows:

BTE2) X begins to exist at t1 if (i) x exists at t1 and (ii) there is no time

prior to t1 at which x exists.23

Unfortunately, this version is not effective either for if it were correct, according

to Craig’s view, in the creation of the universe God also created time; so define

21
Bobier, Christopher Alan. "God, Time and the Kalām Cosmological Argument." Sophia Vol.
52, no. 4 (2013): 593-600. Accessed March 6, 2015. 595.
22
Ibid. 595.
23
Ibid. 596.

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 Pemberton 10

the first moment of time be “t1” for the rest of this paper. God entered into time at

t1 and thus had a first moment of time. But, since God entered into time at the first

moment, there was no earlier time at which God would have existed. Time did not

exist prior to t1 (the first moment of time) and thus God did not exist at any time

“prior to” t1. Therefore it concludes with BTE2 that God begins to exist and

according to the first premise of the Kalam Argument, God must have a cause.24

There are a few other accounts for the BTE argument but each has had some

aspect of the argument that either has God have a cause or the makes the Kalam

Argument unsound. The recent account is BTE4 which is as follows:

BTE4) X begins to exist at t1 if (i) x exists at t1; (ii) t is either the first time

at which x exists or is separated from any time t*<t at which x existed by a

nondegenerate, temporal interval; (iii) x’s existing at t1 is a tensed fact.25

Again, if BTE4 is true, then it leads to the question of whether God’s existing at t1

is a tensed fact. When God entered into time, according to Craig, then God

experienced a first moment in time: let this be t1, and one says that prior to t1, God

exists timelessly. However, God existing at t1 is a tensed fact. It is a fact that at t1,

God exists now. Therefore, with BTE4, God exists at t1, t1 is the first time at

24
Bobier, Christopher Alan. "God, Time and the Kalām Cosmological Argument." Sophia Vol.
52, no. 4 (2013): 593-600. Accessed March 6, 2015. 596.
25
Ibid. 598-599.

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 Pemberton 11

which God exists, and his existence at t1 is a tensed fact.26 So it concludes again,

as with all of the BTE accounts, that either God has a cause for his existence or

the Kalam Argument is again unsound. Bobier states that an individual who

affirms the Kalam Argument precludes the individual from affirming that God is

outside of time without creation and temporal with it; for if one affirmed Craig’s

view of omnitemporality then the person cannot offer the Kalam Argument, for

the person will have to undermine the view that God is uncreated.27 In a review of

"Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time” Merrit Quarum asks

the question of whether God chose to destroy the universe and also time

(temporality), would that then make God timeless? With the view of

“omnitemporality” that Craig provides, how would he be able to answer this?

God’s role in creating and possibly submitting Himself into time has significant

philosophical and theological implications in regards to God’s omnipresent,

omniscience, and omnipotence.28

In “God and Time Four Views” Alan G. Padgett responded to William

Lane Craig’s paper on God’s omnitemporality on the argument that if God is

timeless before creation then it would be impossible for God to change and

26
Bobier, Christopher Alan. "God, Time and the Kalām Cosmological Argument." Sophia Vol.
52, no. 4 (2013): 593-600. Accessed March 6, 2015. 599.
27
Ibid. 600.
28
Quarum, Merrit. "Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time." Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society 46, no. 4 (12, 2003): 746-9,
[Link] 749.

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 Pemberton 12

become temporal with creation. The argument is centered on the idea that for a

change to occur, a duration, or interval of time, must also occur. He begins his

argument is as follows:

1. Necessarily, if no duration occurs then no change occurs.

2. Necessarily, if a change occurs then duration occurs.
3. If a duration occurs, then it must be the case that a change does not occur
(at that time).
Padgett introduced proposition 3 in order to argue it false. Proposition 3 obviously

contradicts proposition 2.

So he introduces the final part of the argument:

4. If a duration occurs, then it might be the case that a change occurs.

5. If no duration occurs, then it is not possible for a change to occur.
6. If possibly a change occurs then duration occurs.29

He shows that time is the dimension of the possibility of change. Change does not

have to happen in order for time to happen, but the possibility of change follows

from time.30 Following from Proposition 5, since it is impossible for change to

occur if there is no duration, then it is impossible for a world to be both fully

timeless and have the possibility of change to occur. With Padgett’s argument, it

argues that in Craig’s view that God is timeless without creation and then become

temporal with creation, that it is impossible for God to change if He is truly

29
Padgett, Alan G. "Response to William Lane Craig." in God & Time Four Views (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001) 168-169.
30
Ibid. 168.

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 Pemberton 13

timeless. Padgett concludes that since God has the possibility of change and has

had it even before creation that God is and has been temporal in some sense.31

Conclusion

In regards to the question of the temporality of God, there are various

evidences used in the arguments for the different possible temporalities of God.

The philosophical arguments debate the temporality of God with the premises of

God’s perfect mode of existence, the relationship to the temporal world, and also

God’s omniscience. At first it seems that William Lane Craig’s hybrid view of

God’s relationship to time, that of “omnitemporality” may hold possible answers

to the long debate of the temporality of God. However, with Craig’s argument for

God’s “omnitemporality,” there seems to be enough evidence to support the view

that it is inconsistent in that it does not correspond to the Kalam Argument nor to

the relationship between time, or duration, and the possibility of change.

31
Ibid. 169.

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 Pemberton 14

Bibliography
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Views. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
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of Relativity." In God and Time Essays on the Divine Nature. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002.
DeWeese, Garrett. "Atemporal, Sempiternal, or Omnitemporal: God's Temporal
Mode of Being." In God and Time Essays on the Divine Nature. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Morriston, Wes. “Must the Beginning of the Universe Have a Personal Cause? A
Critical Examination of the Kalam Cosmological Argument.” Faith and
Philosophy, 17(2), 149–169.
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Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
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[Link]
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9, [Link]

Quaerens Deum Spring 2015 Volume 1 Issue 1