Human relationships are always influenced by time and space, yet they are never hindered by those limitations. When two people are speaking in person, for example, they hear each other’s words after those words are spoken, and each is communicating at different temporal rates. Yet, the conversation is still intelligible and meaningful to both parties.

Beyond that, consider a conversation broadcast over video: Each participant hears and sees the other not only speaking at different times but also from completely different locations. Yet, their relationship is not considered disingenuous. Humans don’t need to be in the same space, or connect at the same time, in order for there to be a meaningful relationship. In the same way, it seems to make little sense to think that God’s relationships with humans are anything less than authentic simply because they do not occupy the same time-space.

Those who claim that God’s relationships are less real because He is atemporal simply do not understand the wonderful significance of God’s eternality on His relationships.

By way of contrast, consider your own earthly relationships. When you have a newborn girl, you can experience and love her while she is in that needy state in a way you simply cannot when she becomes an independent adult. Similarly, when you grow old, your relationships to your siblings will be different than when you were children. This is because your relationships change based on the various temporal intervals of your earthly life.

Your relationships are limited and subject to change. They grow stronger and weaker in intimacy with the passage of time, distance, and communication. But when we consider God’s relationships with temporal creatures, we need to remember He possesses all His life at once. Thus, God has all of your life with Him at once. He can relate to us in fullness at once. He can be closer and more intimate with a temporal creature than two time-bound creatures ever could with each other. Since His relationships are not determined or affected by the fleeting moments of life, He does not possess the limitations in relationships that temporal creatures experience.

Thus, God has all of your life before Him each time you kneel in prayer. He can relate to you in a more real manner than you can relate to yourself—in complete fullness. He can be closer and more intimate with a temporal creature than a time-bound creature could ever hope to be. Your spouse can only relate to who you are in this moment, but God looks chronologically before and after you and can love you in the entirety of your being—past, present, and future.

The concern is that a genuine relationship is nullified between a time-bound creature and a time-less God. But this is simply not true. God always acts in time—He is the author of time, the governor of time, and has relationships with His creatures who are bound by time. Every decree of the Lord is executed in time. But God does not undergo temporal succession, even though the works of His hands are very much in time and space. The actions and relationships of the Lord are a product of His eternal will—His eternal will exists outside of time, and then it breathes numerous temporal effects into being.

In the end, those who claim that God’s relationships are less real because He is atemporal simply do not understand the depth of God’s relationships as an eternal being. As mentioned earlier, human relationships evolve based on the various temporal seasons of earthly life. Your relationships are limited by, and subject to, change. They grow stronger and weaker in intimacy with the passage of time, distance, and communication. They wane and are complicated by years and moves. But it is not so with God.

Sammons, Peter. The Forgotten Attributes of God: God’s Nature and Why it Matters (The Institute for the Christian Life Series) (pp. 124-126). CLC Publications. Kindle Edition.