One of the defining characteristics of God is his omniscience, the fact that He knows everything. This is often expressed in conjunction with Him being omnipresent (able to be in all places at the same time) and omnipotent (having unlimited power). He’s God, so He’s able to do anything.
But what about Jesus? He himself stated that “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). Does that make him omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent as well? The omnipresent part would have been impossible, at least while He was walking on this earth. He chose to come here in a physical body; the body of a man; which limited Him to things that human bodies can do. So no, He couldn’t have been omnipresent. With that being the case, can we extrapolate from that, that He wasn’t omnipotent or omniscient?
Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. – Philippians 2:6-7
This verse gives us an important clue as to why Jesus was not omniscient or omnipotent while here on this Earth. First, it tells us that Jesus considered Himself to be equal with God. Since we already know that He lived a sinless life, He was not wrong in this regard. Then it goes on to tell us that He “made Himself of no reputation.” Another way of saying that is shown in the Amplified translation of the Bible, where it says, “emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity].”
Put more simply, while Jesus is God, He temporarily set aside his divine nature, along with all its benefits and powers, so that He could come here as a mortal man. That was not only necessary so that He could die on the cross for our sins, but also so that He could demonstrate to us the life that He expected us to live. For Jesus to tell us to lay hands on the sick and pray for healing, while He is operating under divine power and authority that we don’t have, is unreasonable and unjust. When He did those things, He did them as a man, not as God. According to His own words:
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” – John 5:19
This is a pretty clear declaration by Jesus, that He was unable to heal people or do any of the miracles we see recorded in the Gospels. He depended on His Father, God, to do those things, becoming an active participant in what God was already doing. That’s the way we are to operate too. But it also shows us that Jesus chose to leave behind his omnipotence. With both omnipresence and omnipotence set aside for Him to operate here on Earth, it’s likely that He also laid aside omniscience, as we shall see.
Just How Much Did He Know?
The real question is just how much Jesus did know while He walked here as a man and when did He know it. We see throughout the gospels that He was teaching; but does that mean that He was born with all that knowledge or did He somehow learn it along the way? If so, how did He learn it?
The Bible tells us very little about Jesus’ childhood. We all know the story of His birth, as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The only other story about his childhood appears in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. This is where Jesus was accidentally left behind in Jerusalem, when the family (along with others) had traveled there for one of the annual pilgrimage festivals, the Passover. There’s something important which happened there, giving us some insight to His childhood:
…Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. – Luke 2:46-47
I didn’t quote it there, but that story starts by telling us, in verse 42, that this happened when Jesus was 12 years old. That age is significant in the Jewish culture, as it is the age at which a boy has his Bar Mitzvah and becomes a man. I don’t know how it was in Jesus’ time, but today, Orthodox Jewish boys are expected to have the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, memorized by then. They read from the Torah in synagogue for the first time and give a speech at their family celebration, which starts out with the phrase, “Today I am a man…”
Yet it seems clear that the most learned men of Israel were amazed at Jesus’ knowledge at that age; so much so, that Luke learned of it and included it in his accounting of the Gospel. So we know that at least by the age of 12, Jesus had an incredible understanding of the Scriptures.
We don’t actually know how He came by that knowledge. There are things which He said in the Gospels, which were taught by some of the Jewish rabbis of the day. In addition to that, He used parables in His teaching, something that was also used by the rabbis.
Actually, what they used was known as the “Mashal and Nimshal,” which refers to the teaching and explanation. Many think that Jesus taught with parables so that the people would understand Him; but He Himself explained to His disciples that He taught in parables “Because it has been given to you (His disciples) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:10). We only fully see Jesus using the Mashal and Nimshal in the parable of the Sower, in Matthew 13:3-9, which has the Nimshal in verses 19-23.
Nevertheless, between His use of teachings that the rabbis used in that day and His use of the Mashal and Nimshal teaching method, it seems fairly clear that Jesus received at least some rabbinical training, as did many boys of His time. Just how much He received is something that we don’t know.
More than Rabbinical Training
But to say that Jesus only depended on that training would be wrong, as much of what He taught went far beyond what others were teaching. Jesus clearly had a unique understanding of the Old Testament Law and Prophets, as well as the will of the Father. His teachings were imminently applicable to everyday life, rather than just being theory or theology. He wasn’t concerned with how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, but rather what those angels might be doing in our lives.
We don’t know for sure, but it is likely that Jesus started studying the Torah as soon as He learned to read. It’s even likely that He learned to read by reading Torah, much as pioneering children did in the early days of the United States. We can also see that he didn’t stop when He was 12, as the same part of Luke’s gospel tells us, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). That increase in wisdom implies and necessitates further study.
Jeus embodied all that the Scripture teaches us, even things that weren’t yet written in His day. So, we can safely say that He understood the need of study, living out what Paul wrote many years later:
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
Jesus clearly went beyond the studies that the rabbis offered Him, or He would not have been able to amaze them with his understanding and answers. Where did He get that understanding; was He dipping into His own divinity or was He studying?
We don’t fully know the answer to that question, as there is nothing that directly talks about it in the Bible. However, Jesus later tells His disciples:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all the things I said to you. – John 14:26
I’d like to propose to you that the reason why Jesus was able to say that to His disciples was because He had personal knowledge of the Holy Spirit as a teacher. I mentioned earlier how He continued to grow in wisdom even after His meeting with the teachers in the temple, at age 12. Since He wasn’t living in Jerusalem, He couldn’t have been learning from them. He would need another teacher and it only makes sense that He would receive that teaching from the greatest teacher of all, the Holy Spirit.
By the way, all the teaching that Jesus received, whether from a rabbi, from His own study, or from the Holy Spirit, was based upon the Old Testament. The New Testament didn’t exist yet and wasn’t written until after His death. His teachings, and those of Paul’s as well, were explanations of what is written in the Old Testament books of the law and the prophets.
Why Did He Study?
I suppose it would be reasonable to ask why Jesus bothered to study so much. After all, as we’ve already discussed, He was God. Why didn’t He just tap into His divine nature and use the knowledge there?
It may seem like a small point, but part of the reason why Jesus did the things He did, in the way that He did them, was to ensure that we could follow in His footsteps, doing the things that He did. Had He not done things that way, we would be limited in our ability to fulfill what He said, when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12).
Could He have just given us the same ability or knowledge? Yes, He could have, all the way back in creation. But God chose not to do that. Therefore, since Jesus lived and died as a man, that was a limitation He had to live under. Had He broken from that, giving those of us who believe in Him that knowledge, it would have been unjust towards all those who never had an opportunity to know Him by name.
That alone would have been enough of a reason for Him to study, rather than depending on his divine omniscience. But there’s another reason I can see for His study; that’s because He grew into His ministry, even though He was born into it.
I doubt that the baby Jesus was filled with thoughts about what He would do as an adult. The same can be said for Him as a growing child and even as a young man. Had He been focused on that; His childhood would have been much different and that would have been recorded in scripture. The only indication we have of His knowledge of the calling on His life, is recorded, once again in Luke, when He was 12:
So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” 49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” – Luke 2:48-49
This actually looks like Jesus was getting ahead of Himself a bit here. It was not His time to start in His earthly ministry, yet He was talking about just that. Perhaps He wasn’t as much talking about ministering, as giving that as an explanation of why He was at the temple, where they should have easily found Him. In either case, His ministry didn’t actually start until He was 30 years of age.
There’s a good reason why His ministry didn’t start until then. Even though the doctors of the law were amazed at his understanding and answers at the age of 12, He was probably more of a curiosity to them, than anything else. While He was at the age of having his Bar Mitzvah and becoming a man, it wasn’t until he turned 30 that he was a “mature man.” The difference between the two is striking, for although He would have read from the Torah at 12, any comments He made about the passage would not normally be taken seriously until he reached 30.
What Does this Say About Us?
There are a couple of important things that this shows us. First, the fact that Jesus had to study for Himself, learning not only to quote scripture, but to have sufficient understanding and knowledge to expound upon it, means that we can too. I don’t care who you are, you are capable of learning what the Word of God has to say. I doubt any of us will ever reach the level of understanding that Jesus had, but that’s no reason not to try.
Secondly, it shows us the importance of that study. Had Jesus not studied, He would not have been able to teach the people, as He did. Oh, He could have dipped into His divinity to do that; but as we’ve already discussed, He chose to come to Earth as a man, setting aside His divinity, not as God incarnate. He was able to do God’s will, because He studied; the same can apply to us.
Finally, Jesus demonstrated to us that ministry requires a time of preparation. If we are not willing to prepare, then we can’t expect God to be able to use us. While He is God, and therefore able to do anything, we are not. He can only pull out of our spirits the Word that is planted there. So if we don’t study, we limit the number and type of people that He can use us to minister to.
Jesus is our Savior; but He was also the perfect example of who we are to be trying to become. If we are not seeking to become Christlike in our lives, then we are falling short of who God has called us to become.