Time&Eternity

44 chapter 1
In summary, one can say that, as existential conditions of the world,
space, and time occur more frequently in more recent texts, where they occasionally
replace eternity terminology; that God has a different relationship
to space and time than God has to human beings; and that, at some
point, something highly dramatic will happen to space and time. Apart
from this, one cannot say anything more precise. Hoping for greater clarity,
let us therefore now ask about the relationship of time to God, who, in the
words of Rudolf Alexander Schröder, “.l.l. prepares the world according to
an inscrutable plan .l.l. who behind time and measures, which awe the
mind, prepares the beautiful streets .l.l. that lead to the eternal present,
where perfect clarity is revealed to all .l.l.” 222
“Der du die Zeit in Händen hast” 223 —God and Time
Is God beyond time and not influenced by it? If so, then is God’s timelessness
a flaw? Can God be God without time? Or conversely, can a God
having time be God at all? Does God’s divinity not presuppose a transcendence
of temporality? Is God’s eternity an endless temporality or a timelessness?
Hardly any passages can be found in which God’s relationship to time
and eternity is actually a topic. As already previously observed, the hymns
do not deal with a carefully considered dogmatic statement, but rather with
the formulation and processing of faith and life experiences. There is basically
no doubt that the eternal God is related to earthly reality. As the eternal
Father, God is also the Lord and Ruler of creation 224 and the one who
structures time. 225 The acting presence of an eternal God in the temporal
world per se is not seen as a logical problem.
Even if the hymns themselves do not actually deal with timelessness versus
God’s temporality as a theological question, there are nevertheless two
types of narration, namely, one that moves eternity and God’s unchangeability
into the foreground and one that presupposes the experience of time
and looks at God’s existence and actions in time. Let us first turn to the former,
the foundation of which Gerhardt described as follows:
Die Morgenröte war noch nicht mit ihrem Licht vorhanden;
und siehe, da war schon das Licht, das ewig leucht, erstanden.
Die Sonne war noch nicht erwacht,
da wachte und ging auf voll Macht
die unerschaffne Sonne. 226
“As you were before all time began, so you will remain in eternity.” 227
This interpretive translation of the te aeternum Patrem in the Te deum stresses
the unchanging nature of God, which nevertheless does not prevent God
from guiding God’s people through this age, so that they can be admitted