In Matt. 24:35-36 Jesus said, "Heaven and earth
will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 36"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels
of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of
Noah."
If Jesus is God in flesh, then shouldn't He know what the
day and hour of his return would be? After all, God knows all things. Therefore, if Jesus doesn't know all things,
then He cannot be God. This objection is most often raised by the Jehovah's
Witnesses but is also echoed by the Christadelphians. It is a good question. Jesus
was both God and man. He had two natures. He was divine and human at the same time. This teaching is known
as the hypostatic union; that is, the coming-together of two natures in one
person. In Heb. 2:9 that Jesus was ". . . made for a little
while lower than the angels . . ." Also in Phil. 2:5-8, it says that Jesus "emptied Himself, taking the
form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men . . ." Col.
2:9 says, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." Jesus was both God and man at
the same time. As a man, Jesus cooperated with the limitations of being a man. That is why
we have verses like Luke 2:52 that says "Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and men." Therefore, at this point in his ministry he could say He did not know the day nor hour of His
return. It is not a denial of His being God, but a confirmation of Him being man. Also,
the logic that Jesus could not be God because He did not know all things works both ways. If we could find a scripture
where Jesus does know all things, then that would prove that He was God, wouldn't it?
He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was
grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know
that I love You." Jesus *said to him, "Tend My sheep" (John 21:17 - NASB).
Jesus did not correct Peter and say, "Hold on Peter,
I do not know all things." He let Peter continue on with his statement that Jesus knew all things. Therefore,
it must be true. But, if we have a verse that says that Jesus did not know all things and
another that says he did know all things, then isn't that a contradiction? No. It is not.
Before Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection He said the Father alone knew the day and hour of His return. It wasn't until
after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection that omniscience is attributed to Jesus. As I said before, Jesus was
cooperating with the limitations of being a man and completed His ministry on this earth. He was then glorified in His
resurrection. Yet, He was still a man (cf. Col. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:5).
After Jesus' resurrection, He was able to appear and disappear at will. This is not the normal ability of a man.
But, it is, apparently, the normal ability of a resurrected and glorified man. Jesus was different after the resurrection.
There had been a change. He was still a man and He knew all things.
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