2 Timothy 1:8–9
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Okay, I’m ready for an easy lesson.
Let’s just review this time (pun intended). It’s a fact of nature that time is created. If time is created, then God doesn’t live in time; He lives in eternity.[1] What scripture says, science confirms, but it’s amusing to note that it took millennia for the scientists to discover what Christians have known all along.
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” ― Robert Jastrow
But the Bible reads like it’s written from inside of time.
The Bible is written by human hands for human readers. It’s describing something we cannot fully understand, yet is written in a way we can. You might say that it’s “dumbed down” to our level. With all this in mind, consider the beginning of Genesis.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. — Genesis 1:1–5 (ESV)
God didn’t just create things that He added to the preexisting space and time. He created the space and the time. This passage describes Him creating it all—space, time, matter, and energy. It’s not in modern terms, but it is all there.
Maybe, but that’s not obvious. One could take it another way.
Yes, other Bible verses are more definitive; this passage is merely compatible with the view that God is outside of time. We know, from scripture and from nature, that the creator must exist separate from His creation. While God does interact with His creation, He obviously exists outside of it.
This is hardly a radical idea in Christendom. Many verses in the Bible are specific in describing God as being outside of time (e.g., Titus 1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:9). It’s even in the Athanasian Creed—here describing Christ.
He is God from the Father, begotten before time;
And He is man from the essence of His mother, born in time.This was written centuries before the development of modern physics, so it’s not like they edited their interpretation to match recent developments.
And this is essential teaching; it impacts one’s interpretation of the Bible. While it should be a universal understanding within Christianity, it’s so advanced that you don’t hear much about it. It’s not exactly typical Sunday School material.
I suppose. So I take it that you’re not a young Earth creationist; you don’t believe in the literal six days interpretation of creation, right?
It’s not that simple. The concept of God being outside of time does not push us into one particular view of creation, nor of the meaning of the Hebrew word for day (יֹום, yome). Good. In the division of those things we can understand from those we can’t, subjects that serious theologians disagree on should default to the can’t side.
We shouldn’t argue over things like this. There’s a price to pay for wading into controversies. Only the most necessary points could compel us to go there. Nothing important hinges on one’s view of the creation timeline, as long as we understand that God is not inside of time. In fact, the distinction between the various views fades in the light of what we’ve discussed.
I’m not really interested in your Bible thumper debates anyway. Where’s this going?
The important point here is that the view from outside of time is a different way of seeing things. We must not apply our perspective, from inside of time, to God. Even though God’s perspective can be almost impossible for us to grasp, we mustn’t ignore it.
We must raise all the hard questions this leads to. This may be challenging, but it’s always useful. If we can make progress on some of the hard questions, good. For those we can’t, we are humbled, and that’s good too. Ultimately, the whole thing is totally intimidating. We all could use a little intimidating when pondering our creator.
Good. I’ve got plenty of questions. Let’s pick this up tomorrow.
So, one easy lesson has you ready for some more hard ones, right?
Yikes. I guess I asked for this.
[1] Technically, we have only proved that God is outside of our time—the time in this universe. A time dimension may or may not exist in other realms.
