On another thread, the point was made that Jesus does not know the time and hour of His Second Coming, and that only G-d the Father knows. I was wondering how this can be, given that Jesus is supposed to be fully Divine as well as fully human. Is Jesus any less omniscient than G-d the Father? Or is it only the human aspect of Jesus that does not know, but the divine Jesus does know? Or is this simply incorrect information, and Jesus really does know when He will return?
I asked this question as well a while ago.
A reasonable response is that Jesus was omniscient, but He was also “willfully ignorant”. We see this characteristic in God the Father as well. When our sins are forgiven, God seems to “forget” the sins were ever committed: “I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). God does not hold a grudge, and wipes a sinful slate clean again :).
In much the same way that God the Father can “forget” our iniquity, Jesus would not have seen everything that would was going to occur. He possibly chose not to see the future. The reason behind this is because we have to remember that Jesus was a humble man, as we see in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 6-7). What this passage illustrates is that despite Jesus being the Son of God, despite Jesus having every power anyone could possibly have, He did not use it. He was a modest character, and was not tempted even by the devil to turn stone into bread, or to call down an army of angels when He was about to be taken away to be crucified.
Thank you,
Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL 1 Cor 15:28
Dear Brothers/Sisters in Christ –
Jesus Christ has two intellects. The Divine Intellect, Identical with the Father and with the Trinity … and a real human intellect, which learned and matured throughout his earthly lifetime.
In Heaven … now … Jesus’ human intellect enjoys the Beatific Vision … and knows all that a created intellect can know in sharing Divine Life.
On earth … then … Jesus’ human intellect did not know all the Father Knew … but only what the Father wanted Jesus human intellect to know.
I hope this will be of help. Holy Spirit, please give us Meaning.
John (JohnJFarren) Trinity5635@aol.com
I believe the church put this down as the Arian heresy many centuries ago.
Hello –
Sorry. You are mistaken. Read up and found out what the Arian heresy is. What I have written is in no way heresy … but rather good Catholic teaching. John
I am afraid you misunderstood me.
Perhaps I was unclear.
The thread title…“Can Jesus be less omniscient than G-d the Father?” is a remake of the Arian heresy.