|
If Jesus
is God, then why did He not know the
time of His return?
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.
For further reading please
see the two natures of Jesus.
Return to Questions
about Jesus
or to Jehovah's Witnesses
|