Jesus and Omniscience

What did Jesus know in His incarnation?  Was there anything He didn’t know?  Was it possible for the God-Man to not know something?

Those questions relate to one’s understanding of the hypostatic union of Christ.  The term hypostatic union refers to the union of His divine and human natures; classically it is defined as “the second person, the preincarnate Christ came and took to Himself a human nature and remains forever undiminished Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.  When Christ came, a Person came, not just a nature; He took on an additional nature, a human nature — He did not simply dwell in a human person. The result of the union of the two natures is the theanthropic Person (the God-man).” [Moody Handbook of Theology]

So in the incarnation, Christ remains truly and fully God, while also being truly and fully man.  Three fundamental truths are important to recognize:

• Christ had two distinct natures: deity (the basis of His personality) and humanity (what was added to His deity)
• the two natures were not intermixed (they remained distinct)
• although He had two natures, Christ was one Person (he is not a dual personality).

One question, then, is how these natures operated together.  Because the basis of His personality is the divine and not the human (i.e., humanity was added to His divinity; divinity was not added to His humanity), however He acts His humanity cannot overwhelm or supersede His divinity; He can never be less than God. 

Yet Christ could voluntarily lay aside His use of His divine attributes.  So while omnipotent, He could voluntarily set aside His power and become dependent on sleep, food, and water.  (And at other times He could demonstrate His divine power by walking on water.)

Theologian William G. T. Shedd explains this by nothing that in Scripture some statements are true only of His human nature, yet the whole theanthropic person is the subject. For instance, Christ ascended into heaven and is no longer in the world (Jn. 16:28; 17:1 1; Acts 1:9-11). That is true of His humanity but in His deity He is everywhere present (Mt. 28:20). Christ was about 30 years old (Lk. 3:21), referring to His humanity, but in His deity He has existed eternally (Jn. 1:1).  The statements about His ascension and His age refer to His humanity, yet the entire theanthropic person is the subject.

Conversely, some statements are true only of His deity, but the whole person is in view.  Jesus said, “Before Abraham was I AM” (Jn. 8:58). That reflects His deity as the eternal God, yet the entire theanthropic person is the subject (cf. also Jn. 2:24-25; 10:18).

We see these two realities present in the knowledge of Christ as well.  At times the Gospels point out realities of what He knew and didn’t know that were true only of His human nature, even while He was still the true God-Man.  For instance, Jesus “kept increasing in wisdom and stature…” (Lk. 2:52), and “of that day and hour [the day of Christ’s return] no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mt. 24:36).  And Christ also prayed, seeking not only fellowship with the Father, but wisdom for the selection of the Twelve (Lk. 6:12-13). Those examples do not mean that Christ set aside His omniscience and became less than God; they do demonstrate though, that He willingly (voluntarily) did not always access the divine attributes resident within Him. 

Conversely, we also see examples of Christ (the God-Man) using the power of His divine omniscience.  For example, He knew Nathanel before He had ever met him (Jn. 1:45-51) and He knew what was in the hearts of the Pharisees (and all men, Jn. 2:24).  Those are instances when He voluntarily used His divine attributes, while still the God-Man.

In summary, Christ did not set aside His divine attributes in the incarnation. He was and is always perfectly holy, just, merciful, truthful, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and faithful, etc.

So what did Jesus know (and what does He know now)?  He is God.  He is omniscient. He has always known all things (both prior to and during His incarnation).  And He will always know all things.  He cannot not know something.

Yet for His divine purposes in the incarnation as the God-Man, at times He voluntarily did not access what He knew.  He became like us, so that He might stand in our place on the cross and absorb the wrath we deserve so that He might redeem us through faith in Him so that we might live eternally with and for Him.

What a Savior.