Once again: Does Jesus Know Everything?

 

In one of those passages that have fascinated Christians through the ages, Jesus says, referring to His Second coming:

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

What does this mean? I certainly don’t know for sure, but I have some ever-evolving thoughts on the matter. 

First of all, there is general agreement that the human nature of Jesus was not omniscient. There is no problem in that regard. The issues becomes: what did the divine nature of Jesus know or not know? And what’s up with this puzzling choice of words that seem to limit the attribute of omniscience to the 1st person of the Trinity only? 

Broadly speaking, there are two views 

1) For the sake of the Incarnation, Jesus (the deity) “set aside” (by what mechanism, nobody knows) some of his Godly attributes in a cosmic lockbox, including some portion of his omniscience. So the passage means exactly what it says: Neither Jesus’ human nature (okay) nor his divine nature (surprise!) knows.

 2) Another view is that Jesus’ divine nature was, is, and forever will be omniscient, but by design this knowledge was not transmitted to His human nature, which is speaking here for himself and only for himself. Jesus the God knows, but he’s not telling Jesus the man through whatever mysterious data transmission channel connects the two. ^[1] 

 I support view 2, although it is fraught with danger. Crossing the threshold from Jesus’ natures being distinct into his natures being separate is to cross into the dreaded realm of Nestorianism. What about the choice of words: the Father alone [knows]. That's a hard pill to swallow. For even if you accept view 1, that Jesus set aside divine omniscience, why, according to those words, is the 3rd person of the Trinity excluded from this knowledge? 

On the one hand it is a sort of amusing question, but on the other hand the implications of such a reality on our view of the Trinity are enormous. 

I can think of two explanations. There must be more, because probably both are wrong. 

1) The first explanation follows on top of the fact that Jesus the man was not omniscient. In this explanation for "only the Father knows", not only does man-Jesus admit ignorance on the time of the Second Coming, he displays ignorance of even a working understanding of the Trinity. While it “works”, I reject view. Jesus' human nature may be missing some unessential information, but I will gladly make a fallacious argument from incredulity that it cannot be the case that Jesus the man had errors in his doctrine of God. May it never be. 

 2) My proffered explanation, though still probably wrong: Human language is simply inadequate. Here and elsewhere Jesus seems to refer to “God” as “Father” ^[2] . Why? Well I can think of a reason. If Jesus’ divine nature is (as I believe) omniscient, as well as the Holy Spirit, then Jesus (the man) could have stated, 

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but God alone.

This would have preserved the omniscience of a persons of the Trinity. However, can you imagine what confusion that would have caused down the ages? It would have been used to “prove” (somewhat convincingly) that Jesus not only never affirmed his own deity, but by implication he denied it. To avoid that problem, Jesus would have had to pause at that point and give us an object lesson on the Trinity. Which would have been splendid, but apparently it was not the time or the place. So the words were chosen to strike a balance between creating confusion and unnecessary data overload. The blanks were left for the reader to fill in for homework. 

 I don't knowif that's right. I give it no more than a 25% chance But it's all I got.

 

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^[1] The divine nature can communicate to the human. Jesus can prophesy. Jesus can read minds and hearts. For example, he knew Nathanael before he met him:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:43-49)

^[2] E.g., on the cross: "Forgive them Father for they know not..". Since the divine nature of Jesus has the power to forgive sins, The human nature of Jesus could have prayed: "Forgive them God for they know not..". But great exegetical michief would have ensued.