Time&Eternity

100 chapter 2
God is related to creation, in triune fashion, as a differentiated unity of Father, Spirit,
and Son: as the timeless foundation of everything, as the multi-temporal companion
of everyone, and as the temporal mediator of salvation in the specific lifetime
of Jesus Christ and of all who believe in him. God’s eternity is the epitome of
these time relationships and cannot be identified with any one of them as such. 293
Dalferth’s reflections lead us further at some important points: First, he
frees theological discourse from the fetters of philosophy. Then, he is successful
in overcoming exclusive alternatives, and he achieves a certain relationality.
He does this by creating relationships without being guilty of mixing
concepts. Thus, relationality emerges within retained differentiation, as
Dalferth himself subsequently formulates: “God does not simply belong to
a realm above and beyond our world, but God is also not merely wrapped
up in it [our world] and thus destroyed by its contradictions, ambivalences,
congenialities, and horrors. Rather, God distinguishes Godself from it by
establishing differences in it.l.l.l.” 294
What one misses in Dalferth’s theory, however, is a more exact explanation
of how the economic Trinity relates to the immanent Trinity. Without
more clarity on this point, it is difficult to decide whether or not the Trinitarian
differentiation of time is, in the end, more than an elegant phrase.
Dalferth must also face the question of whether he does not ultimately give
up the primacy of the eschatological difference when he anchors the ontological
time difference in the Creator and the eschatological time difference
in the Son. With respect to the Holy Spirit, the question of the Spirit’s own
role is sparked; it is not at all clear to what extent the Spirit’s multi-temporal
role is still necessary and constitutive after the positions of the Father and
Son have been determined. This promising view of the Trinitarian differentiation
thus falls short of its own claim. The new concept of eternity that is
called for remains somewhat fuzzy; nevertheless, the proposed unity of
timelessness and multi-temporality seems promising.
Pannenberg also wishes to think of the relationship of God’s eternity to
time in a Trinitarian perspective. Furthermore, he uses scientific models
such as the field concept in his theology, which makes him an especially interesting
dialogue partner. With respect to the philosophy of time, Pannenberg
starts with Plotinus and Boethius.
According to Pannenberg, a genuine relationship of God to time can be
conceived only “if the reality of God is not understood as undifferentiated
identity but as intrinsically differentiated unity.” 295 According to Pannenberg,
this is precisely what the doctrine of the Trinity accomplishes: “in
virtue of trinitarian differentiation God’s eternity includes the time of creatures
in its full range, from the beginning of creation to its eschatological