This is probably the simplest argument for the timelessness of God, and somehow I’ve missed out on it in the past:
God does not change.
Creation has a finite age.
There is nothing outside of creation besides God.
So, change has a finite age. (1–3)
There is no time without change.
So, time has a finite age. (4,5)
If something is in time, it has an age which is less than or equal to the age of time.
God does not have a finite age.
God is not in time. (6–8)
Premise (2) is supported by causal finitism and is also a part of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith.
Some philosophers deny (3): they think abstract things exist besides God and creation. But this theologically problematic view does not affect the argument. For abstract things are either unchanging or they change as a result of change in concrete things (for instance, a presentist will say that sets come into existence when their members do).
The most problematic premise in my view is (5).
3 comments:
I like this argument!
Interestingly and as best as I can tell, Bill Craig's view, according to which God is timeless without the universe and temporal subsequent to the creation of the universe, commits one to the falsity of 8. I think on his view, God is ~14 billion years old (the age of the universe).
God does not begin to exist with time, so to speak of God having an age just because enters time is misleading. If we qualify the statement, then God having a finite age no longer becomes problematic, if all it means is that God has been in time (updating His beliefs, etc.) for X years.
And the changes are plausibly only external, as well.
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