Jesus Christ: An Omniscient Being?

JESUS CHRIST: AN OMNISCIENT BEING?

According to Juan Baixeras, a well-known and influential American religious scholar, the biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity (i.e., the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) "claims that Jesus Christ is God and it is for this reason that the doctrine claims that Jesus Christ is omnipotent (all-seeing), omnipresent and omniscient (all-knowing) and equal in all ways" to God Himself. Thus if God is all of these things and "in order for the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to hold true, Jesus Christ must also be omniscient," due to biblical theology which asserts that Jesus Christ was God's son on earth and was in many respects God Himself. However, if Jesus Christ was not omniscient, then the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is in error and if "we find Jesus Christ not to be omniscient," then he is not on an equal par with God the Father ("Jesus Is Omniscient?" Internet).

Also, Jesus Christ must have known everything that God knows; if not, then the theological argument that Jesus was the Son of God does not hold true ("Jesus Is Omniscient?" Internet). Obviously, the question as to whether Jesus Christ was omniscient is one which cannot be answered with much exactness nor can it be supported by empirical evidence except for what is contained in the New Testament via the Gospels. Perhaps the best place to start in order to arrive at a conclusion regarding the alleged omniscience of Jesus Christ is to look at what the Holy Bible has to say about knowledge itself.

As Robert Williamson relates, the ancient Hebrews considered knowledge as "actively relating to the experienced world," meaning that knowledge is very closely linked to what one can learn by living in the real physical world. In contrast, the ancient Greek ideal of knowledge was a contemplation of static and abiding reality, a much more abstract idea" (156). In the Old

Testament, one can find references to "knowing" certain things by experiencing them first-hand, such as "knowing" what grief is and "knowing" one's marriage partner through sexual intercourse. As mentioned in the Book of Psalms, verse 139, God Himself knows completely His creation (i.e., man) and His agents (i.e., the angels). Another Hebrew conception is that spiritual enlightenment can only occur when a person "comes to know the truth" as it relates to God. Also, the apostles John and Paul often stressed that true knowledge comes from a commitment to the historic figure of Jesus Christ (Brown, 76). Therefore, according to the Holy Bible, true knowledge can only be obtained by having a direct and personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ, at least in the sense of human spirituality and outside of what a person can learn and know through living in the real physical world.

Before proceeding with our examination, it should be pointed out that if Jesus Christ as the one and only Son of God was omniscient, then he must have known everything in advance before it happened. For example, if Jesus Christ was truly an omniscient being, then he would have known in advance that he was doomed to experience a very horrible death on the cross at the hands of the Romans. There are some references in the New Testament in which Jesus alludes to dying, but there are no clear-cut references proving that Jesus knew in advance of his death by crucifixion. However, at the Last Supper with his twelve disciples, Jesus did in fact state that one of his followers was going to betray him, none other than Judas Iscariot. Whether or not this prophetic warning to his disciples was omnisciently guided is not known, yet it does bear some resemblance to knowing in advance or at the very least to some form of precognition or premonition.

Perhaps the best way to further explore the question of Jesus' alleged omniscient ability is to examine the various titles assigned to Jesus Christ as mentioned in many of the books and gospels of the New Testament. First of all, the name of Jesus is "a Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua and literally means 'Yahweh is salvation' and thus the title of 'savior' was naturally used first as a description of what Jesus did as in Acts and then later as part of his solemn title as found in first Timothy" (Carter, 234).

This title refers to the suggestion that Jesus was God in the flesh, due to being the only way to eternal salvation. If this is so, then Jesus must also have possessed God's knowledge which of itself is unbounded by space and time and is limitless, i.e., God knows everything in advance. However, in the Book of Mark 13:32, we find the statement by Jesus himself, "No one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven nor the Son (being Jesus), but only the Father," being God, in relation to the end of the world as man knows it. Thus, "Jesus admits that he does not know the day or hour and that only the Father knows" which shows that Jesus was not omniscient (Baixeras, Internet).

Jesus has also been referred to as a teacher as a result of his activities in spreading the gospel. He was also called Rabbi which literally means "my great one," a sign of respect which came to connote "the revered Teacher." In Mark 9:5, we find this title translated as "Master" (Anderson, 216). Thus, in order to be called a "revered Teacher" or a master, a person must possess special knowledge which lies outside of books or universities. Of course, such a person, at least in the context of being human, cannot possibly know everything. In the Book of John, we find Jesus stating "For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it" which indicates that God the Father is the penultimate teacher and instructor rather than Jesus himself. In essence, if Jesus was omniscient, why would he have to be shown "how to do or say anything if he is already all-knowing?" (Baixeras, Internet).

Even more important is the fact that Jesus Christ was often referred to as a prophet which indicates that he was viewed by his disciples and outside followers as a very special teacher with perhaps extraordinary abilities not found in normal human beings. As Wolfhart Pannenberg declares, "prophets were primarily concerned with bringing God's word to the people of Israel who were convinced that the words they spoke were God's own and that God had intervened and spoken decisively" through the prophets, such as Moses and John the Baptist (312). Also, in the Old Testament, almost every prophet "appears on the biblical scene first as a foreteller of future events" (Williamson, 245), meaning that prophets could relate what was going to happen in the near and distant future, something quite similar in nature to a fortune teller.

Also, almost every biblical prophet, including Jesus Christ, spoke his message or oracle in a way unique to his own personality. So, while the words that come from the mouth of the prophet are God's own words, they are also those of a particular human being. This does not render a prophet like the Old Testament Elisha, Isaiah or Ezekiel less infallible, for the prophets like Jesus Christ and all of their followers were absolutely certain that God was speaking His own words and thoughts through them. One some occasions, the words were not orally-based; rather, they were visual, such as the symbolic actions of some of the Old Testament prophets.