Was Christ Omniscient in the Flesh?

It is reasonable to suppose that in the days of his flesh Christ experienced some curtailment of divine attributes. We read of his being weary, of his weeping, of his praying, being hungry and thirsty, and being tempted. We read also of his increasing in wisdom (Luke 2:52). We infer from all these that the divine nature did not have full scope for its powers in the human form or could only express them partially owing to the obvious limitations. Christ seems to have been aware of this while on the earth, for he said, "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28.) We conclude, therefore, that a part of his humiliation was his voluntarily divesting himself of some part of his divine nature and this may account for such a passage as Mark 13:32. It is impossible for the human mind to fully comprehend the mystery of the Trinity, but we can imagine that Christ in his loving compassion, voluntarily put from him certain attributes of the Godhead while on earth in order that in all things he might be made like unto his brethren. In what way or to what extent, if at all, the incarnation limited the divine attributes cannot be defined, and the fact of his praying to his Father indicated that in the days of his flesh there was a distinction between them that is incomprehensible to us.

---

Articles related to Matthew:

• An Introduction to Matthew
• An Argument of Matthew
• A Bibliography of Matthew
• Overview of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• Matthew: Introduction, Argument, and Outline
• Other articles..