Jesus as a child

[moondawg]

If Jesus was fully God, how could he ever have been a child? As a five year old, would he be omnipotent or be a five year old child? Would he get sick or misbehave like a normal child? Would he mature? It doesn’t make sense that an omnipotent God could be a human child.

 

[GEddie]

If Jesus was fully God, how could he ever have been a child? As a five year old, would he be omnipotent or be a five year old child? Would he get sick or misbehave like a normal child? Would he mature? It doesn’t make sense that an omnipotent God could be a human child.

1. We do not know; God has not seen fit to tell us.
2. See 1).

Seriously,

1. As both a divine and human being, our LORD has both divine and human minds. Although His divine mind is eternal, His human mind grew inside its body, as happens in all human life.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[PurdueEngineer]

1. This is in the realm of speculation. But my understanding is that Jesus never suffered ignorance in His human intellect. This even includes during His phase as a zygote. And no, I have no idea how that is possible.
2. I think He would have been omnipotent, even as a toddler who was getting used to walking. (And no, I don’t really understand that previous sentence)
3. I suspect Jesus would have been a fun-loving, well-behaved child… but a child nonetheless. Right now I’m listening to my 2.5 year old bouncing around the living room. No reason to think Jesus wouldn’t have done the same. Except he would’ve shared his toys.
4. Its fair to say that a great deal of it doesn’t make sense. But this is the sort of area where I’m fine letting it not make sense.

(An area where I’m not cool with things not making sense is if it involves formal logical contradictions. Such as God being 3 persons and 1 person. That’d be bad. But God at 3 persons and 1 being, while incomprehensible, is not logically impossible.)

 

[petra22]

Jesus grew in wisdom and age and grace…
He was like us in all things except sin.

He was also God. So, I’m thinking he knew everything.

I also think the reason he was born as a little child was to get the human race to UNDERSTAND how special and blessed we are. Sometimes we as humans get so used to a certain thing it becomes hum-drum and boring. Jesus came to show us how special it is to be born into this world. It’s our ticket to ETERNAL LIFE. No matter how hard or painful this life happens to be. Look how hard and painful it was for Jesus… That’s why abortion is such a sin. We are preventing the greatest gift God has given us. The gift of pro-creation. Many people now days think children are a bother, too much trouble, cost too much, take too much of our freedom, take too much time… May God forgive us for turning up our noses and thinking we know all about it. We will know what we have done and it won’t be pretty. “There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth…”

 

[cena]

If Jesus was fully God, how could he ever have been a child? As a five year old, would he be omnipotent or be a five year old child? Would he get sick or misbehave like a normal child? Would he mature? It doesn’t make sense that an omnipotent God could be a human child.

He was sinless, he did not misbehave. Although, you can’t sin before the age of reason so…he probably got sick. If he got hungry, thirsty, etc. like every other person I’m sure he got sick.

He had two natures. His Divine nature is omnipotent (when he was older he could stop storms, raise people from the dead, etc.)

Well people try to argue an omnipotent God can’t become man. But if God can’t become a five year old child, is he really all powerful?

 

[cena]

If Jesus was fully God, how could he ever have been a child? As a five year old, would he be omnipotent or be a five year old child? Would he get sick or misbehave like a normal child? Would he mature? It doesn’t make sense that an omnipotent God could be a human child.

He had two natures, human and divine. His divine nature was omnipotent (when he was older he could stop storms with just willing it, raised people from the dead, etc.)

He could die so I guess he could get sick. He was sinless so I don’t think he misbehaved but you can’t sin before the age of reason so…I don’t know. Doubtful. Certainly when he reached the age of reason he never sinned.

He matured like anyone else.

Some people argue that an omnipotent God can’t become man. But if God can’t become a five year old child is He truly all powerful?

 

[fred_conty]

Tho Jesus’ person was divine, he expressed this thru his human nature, which at five years old, was not developed as man but as a child. So I would think that he would be like every other five year old whose humanity was not mature. Having said this, this is a mystery.

When Jesus, as a grown man, was in the synagogue at Nazareth, he read Isaah’s prophecy about the messiah, sat down, and said that it had been fulfilled in him. The people began to say, “don’t we know his father and mother, Joseph and Mary?”. That was his home town where he grew up, and all the people in that town were familiar with him and didn’t see anything special about him.

So from this, we are left with the impression that he probably was like every other youngster growing up in Nazareth.

 

[Gorgias]

If Jesus was fully God, how could he ever have been a child? As a five year old, would he be omnipotent or be a five year old child?

In his human nature, he “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” and “advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” (Lk 2:40, 52). In his divine nature, he was fully God. Does this mean that, in His human nature, he always manifested all the knowledge and omnipotence of His divine nature? No: he “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself.” (Philippians 2:6-8).

The closest we can come to an answer is that, when we see Jesus as an adult in the Scriptures, He knows His nature. We don’t know, precisely, how or when He first manifested that knowledge.

Would he get sick or misbehave like a normal child?

I’ve seen some assert that, since He was free of sin, Jesus would never get sick. That doesn’t seem to be a reasonable conclusion. If he was unable to be harmed physically, how could He have experienced death?

Did he misbehave? What would you call “staying at the temple and worrying your parents sick”?

Would he mature?

Physically? Of course.

It doesn’t make sense that an omnipotent God could be a human child.

You’ve just grasped the miracle of the Incarnation. It “doesn’t make sense”, and yet, it is…

 

[Mintaka]

Okay, imagine that you’re a telepathic alien scientist who is the world’s greatest expert on the planet Zabob.

Imagine that you’ve spent years studying residents of Zabob telepathically, and even made Zabob plants and animals with your scientific remote control.

If you went to Zabob yourself, you would simultaneously know all about Zabob, including about what it’s like to live on Zabob – but you would always have experienced other people’s experience or your own awesome knowledge about Zabob. You would never actually have set foot on Zabob before. You would never have tasted the food for yourself.

Now imagine that only Zabobbians have bodies that can survive on Zabob. But you love Zabob so much that you make yourself a Zabobbian body – a baby body, of course – and join a Zabobbian family as part of an alien exchange program.

So first of all, your body would have a lot to learn about Zabob. It would be a brand new body. So even if you directed your body perfectly, it would still have to gain strength and practice, and then grow up.

Secondly, you would be very interesting in having your own experiences, even if you knew more or less what it would be like. Scary things that you knew were coming would scare you in advance. Good things would be savored even more.

Obviously this is an oversimplification. The Son existed outside time and space, so He already knew everything that would happen. But as true God and true Man, He would be much more a unified whole with His Body than the alien scientist could ever be with his Zabobbian body.

But yes, the human Body of Jesus would have plenty to learn, and His human brain and emotions would have plenty to experience as both God and Man, even though He would already know every single thing that was coming and would know the perfect thing to do.