What actually is time?

When we speak of time as a realm, ... we denote simply the created order which is populated by beings that are subject to and undergo change and thus are measured temporally. (James E. Dolezal, All that is in God, 79 footnote 2)

Accordingly, the essential nature of time is ... that it encompasses a succession of moments, that there is in it a period that is past, a period that is present, and a period that comes later. (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:163, as cited in Dolezal, 88)

... time is indeed the numbering of change or motion... (Dolezal, 88)

If God should be in time, then the full actuality of His life would be built up out of temporal parts ... (Dolezal, 88)

Temporal beings must necessarily exhibit a variety of existential states since time is the measurement of movement between these states. (Dolezal, 89)

What actually is time? In these excerpts, we can see a certain philosophy of time at work, perhaps something that Dolezal himself is not aware. These statements reflect a view of time that sees time as a dimension, time as a B-series. This is seen most explicitly when Dolezal states that the "full actuality of [God's] life would be built out of temporal parts" if God were in time. The image that should come to mind is as if God is spread out through the time dimension so that one can cut a slice of time with a little of the divine in it. If that is sacrilegious, then of course it is! Another revealing part is the citation of Bavinck's Dogmatics whereby time is stated as having within it "a period that is past, a period that is present, and a period that comes later," which bring to mind the image that someone outside time can see all periods happening simultaneously. Now, if that were the view of time a person holds, then obviously God must be timeless, totally out of time, and classical theism would be absolutely right.

The problem of course is that it is by no means the case that this is the only theory and view of time. Treating time as a dimension seems to lend itself to the view that time itself is unreal (McTaggart's argument, as cited in Paul Horwich, Asymmetries in time: Problems in the Philosophy of Science, 18). Alternatively, one can see time as a dimension while allowing for there to be the possibility of counter-intuitive things like time travel, changing the past, and backward causation, which is what philosopher Paul Horwich argues for. I have yet to take a firm position on the nature of time, but it seems to me that the idea of seeing time as a dimension is wrong.

Instead of seeing time as a dimension, it should be seen as just movement of duration or succession. It should not be tied down to any physical or material thing for a very simple reason: Can we use time words for non-physical and non-material things? If we can do so, then time should not be tied to space. So although there is a sense in which time and space are related (i.e. special and general relativity), it seems to me to be reductionistic to reduce time to space alone.

Perhaps something that would aid us is the following question: Did God exist before the creation of the universe? The orthodox answer should be yes. But think about the question again. WE are asking if God exists (state) before (temporal term) the creation of the universe (along with what we normally call time). So how can we apply a temporal term ("before") to God when time did not exist ("before" the creation of the world)? If we are to be consistent with the idea that all manner of time begins at creation, then we cannot say that God existed before the creation of the universe, because that would be a nonsense sentence. There cannot be anything before creation, because there was no time *before* creation. And now we end up tying our sentences in knots because even our language cannot conceive of what this actually means.

It would be really helpful for those who insist that time must only begin at creation to amend their statements. Stop talking about time events before creation, or time states either, because that would be false if time only began then. Stop saying that God exists before creation, and perhaps just say that God exists outside time. Stop saying that God ever hates the elect prior to them coming to faith (in contradiction of Ephesians 2), because God's love for the elect is eternal and thus timeless and unchanging. Stop teaching that the Covenant of Redemption was present before God created the world, because the eternal covenant as an eternal covenant must be likewise timeless and not subject to "before, now, and after." Be consistent with your talk about God and eternity, at the very least.