WHAT DID JESUS KNOW?

One of the unique properties of God is his omniscience; in other words, He is all-knowing. And we can assume that the other persons of the Godhead shared that characteristic. In the case God the Son, that would refer both to Christ's pre-existence and present status. But what about Jesus' earthly existence? Did he possess omniscience then? There are two indications that he did not – one found at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and one toward the end.

Luke 2:20 describes the young Jesus' maturation as follows: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature. and in favor with God and man.” The fact that there was an increase with time in three of these characteristics is self-evident. But what about “wisdom?” It is not really the same as knowledge; however, it has been often defined as the ability to know what to do with knowledge. So even in this verse, we cannot say one way or the other whether Jesus grew in the ability to utilize his pre-existing omniscience or was constantly obtaining new knowledge as he grew and used this as the basis for increasing wisdom. In C.S. Lewis' novel The Great Divorce, one of the characters is a Bible teacher who is obsessed with speculative questions. One of his areas for endless debate concerns the question of how much wiser and knowledgeable Jesus would have become if he had just lived a few more decades longer. Of course, in Lewis' mind that is a foolish question since Jesus already was omniscient. But was Lewis correct?

The Synoptic Gospels record that Jesus even at age 12 was able to have conversations in the temple with the most learned Bible scholars of the day who were amazed at his knowledge. But lest you think that they were judging him against other boys of that age only, we have the witness of John 7:15-16 that he was still able to amaze them as a grown man.

A teaching later in Jesus' life found in Mark 13:32 seems to definitely limit the amount of knowledge Jesus had while on earth, at least concerning one specific area, the date of the End. Jesus said that only the Father knew. Another possible example of Jesus' limited knowledge regarding future events is found in Matthew 20:23 when the question arises as to who is going to sit on his left and right in heaven. Again, Jesus defers to the Father either because he does not know the answer or does know but refuses to reveal the answer. We even see the same phenomenon in Acts 1:6-7 regarding the question of when Israel will be restored. Here it is actually the resurrected Jesus who again says that it is for the Father to set the times. However, note that Christ does not say that he doesn't know the answer, only that it is not his secret to reveal.

Other than those few examples, all but one of which are ambiguous in meaning, what about the bulk of Jesus' time of ministry? I started to review all of the gospels in a roughly chronological manner using a Harmony of the Gospels as a guide, but rapidly got bogged down in a wealth of data. To simplify the task I decided to limit myself to the Gospel of John since he actually utilizes the two Greek words most commonly translated as “know” more that the other three gospel accounts combined. I will discuss what I came up with in terms of separate thematic similarities rather than tracing Jesus' career chronologically.

Rhetorical Questions

Beginning with the early chapters of Genesis, we see God asking questions of humans such as “Where are you?” addressed to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Even a novice reader of the Bible would not be misled at this point into thinking that the God of all Creation did not know the answer. However, when it comes to the earthly Jesus, it is not so obvious whether he might or might not have gaps in his knowledge. Here are some examples of questions that Jesus asked others. In almost all cases, it becomes obvious from the context that Jesus is not trying to elicit information that he lacks.

John 1:38 Jesus is walking by when he turns to see two probably scruffy looking fishermen following him. Not liking their looks and suspecting their motives, he decides to confront them while they are still in a public place and before they reach a more private location where they can perhaps overpower and rob him worse. He asks, “What are you looking for?” When they reply, “Where are you living?” his worst suspicions are confirmed. If you don't recognize that story in the Bible, it is actually a quite plausible interpretation of the events described in verses 37-38. But that would only be if one omitted the opening setting (vv. 35-36) in which John the Baptist has just told these two men that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Also, my interpretation above would make absolutely no sense out of Jesus' actual response in v. 39 since he invites them to come with him. The only real reason that Jesus asked his question in the first place was to get both of the men to admit that they were willing to treat him as their teacher (rabbi) and wished to follow him as his disciples.

In John 6:5, he asks Phillip where enough food could be purchased to feed the multitudes, but in the following verse John explains that the only reason he pretended to be ignorant on the point was to test Phillip.

In the story of Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery, he asks in John 8:10-11 where her accusers are. This was obviously just as a lead-in to his following words to her. And his question in John 13:14 is also identified as rhetorical since Jesus himself answers it immediately. In John 16:31, Jesus asks his disciples, “Do you now believe?” But this is just to preface his warning to them that they will soon desert him.

When Jesus asks (in 18:4) those coming to arrest him “Whom do you seek?” he obviously knows the answer already since he has been predicting this event for years. The same is true when he asks Mary the identical question outside the garden tomb (see 20:15). And then we get a whole string of additional rhetorical questions from the risen Lord in 18:34; 21:6, 15-18.

“Non-Questions”

There are two places in John's Gospel where it looks as if Jesus is asking a question, when in fact the original Greek expresses a Semitic idiom questioning the appropriateness of someone's comment that is not the questioner's concern. Thus, Raymond Brown mentions the possibility (although he rejects it) that John 2:4 can be interpreted as Jesus saying that neither he nor his mother should become involved in the current problem, which does not involve them. This is in analogy with the meaning of a similar Hebrew phrase in II Samuel 16:10. That general meaning definitely appears to be in mind also in John 21:23 when Jesus replies to Peter's request for information regarding John's ultimate fate. The literal translation of these two phrases is given below:

John 2:4: What to me and to thee?

John 21:23: What to thee?

Ability to Read the Thoughts of Others

In John 6:15, Jesus perceives that the crowd is about to make him king, even using force to attempt it. And so he leaves that place.

In that same chapter (verses 60-61) Jesus knows “in himself” that his disciples are murmuring at his teachings regarding eating his body and drinking his blood. This is obviously information that was not acquired by him eavesdropping on their conversations. Similarly, he perceives the apostles' thoughts in 16:19.

Hidden Knowledge of the Past

John 1:40-48 illustrates Jesus knowledge of past events in the call of two of his Apostles, Peter and Nathanael. Jesus appears to know Peter's name in v. 42 and Nathanael's personality in v. 47. However, in both cases they were brought to Jesus' attention through the actions of their brothers who were already followers. So it is indeed possible that Andrew told Peter's name to Jesus in advance and that Philip told Jesus about Nathanael's honest nature as well. However, none of that can explain away the fact that Jesus accurately recounted to Nathanael where he had been (under a fig tree) before Philip had even talked to him (v. 48). That fact alone convinced Nathanael that Jesus was the Son of God.

John 3:13-14 and 8:38 show that Jesus was aware of his past existence in heaven. That fact is also expressed in John 8:14 and 13:2-3 as well his knowledge of his future destination. The references to the knowledge God gave Jesus found in 12:49-50 and17:7-8 may also allude to what was revealed to him in his pre-incarnate state. The same could be true concerning the spiritual truths that Nicodemus was not ready to receive (see John 3:12-13).

John 5:38-41 demonstrates that Jesus knew that the Scriptures bore witness of him.

Hidden Knowledge of the Present

John 4:16-18 is a prime example of Jesus apparently having no knowledge of an event, but then revealing that he knew it all along as well as additional facts regarding the Samaritan woman's past life.

John 5:5-6 Jesus knows that the lame man has been that way for some long time, and 5:19-20 goes even further in stating that he knows what God is doing.

The whole passage in John 10 (especially vv. 13-18, 34-35) indicates that Jesus knows who are his sheep and belong to him.

Hidden Knowledge of the Near Future

John 1:51 is the first indication that Jesus also has insight into future events when he reveals to Nathanael his heavenly destination. In a similar manner, at the very end of John's Gospel (21:18-19) he reveals the mode of Peter's later death.

In John 2:19-22, Jesus predicts his own resurrection after three days in the tomb.

The information in John 6:64,70-71 is important in regard to the whole subject of Jesus' knowledge since it states that Jesus knew from the beginning who would betray him. It offers a good comeback to critics who say that Jesus certainly wasn't omniscient since he picked Judas as one of his apostles. Jesus repeats the fact of his pre-knowledge in 13:18-30.

In John 7:1 is contained the information that Jesus refused to leave Galilee because he knew the Jews in Judea were planning to kill him. In the same manner, 11:54 narrates the fact that Jesus later on knew that the council was planning to have him arrested, and so he departed Judea for the wilderness.

A repeated theme in John's Gospel is Jesus' comment to his disciples that he is going where he can't be found and they can't follow him. This appears in 7:32-36; 8:21-24; 13:31-36; and 16:16-19. Similarly, there are references to him being lifted up (on a cross) in 8:28 and 12:32-33.

He knows that he will be bringing Lazarus back to life (see John 11:4). And if we didn't have such overwhelming proofs of Jesus' supernatural knowledge elsewhere in John's Gospel, we might suspect that 11:34-35 reveals his ignorance of the tomb's location.

After repeated references to Jesus knowing that his hour had not yet come, in John 12:23 he knows that his hour has come. This is repeated in 13:1.

Peter's imminent denial of Jesus is accurately predicted in John 13:38. In 14:16,26 and well as 16:7-8, the Holy Spirit's coming is predicted. In 16:1-4, 32-33, the apostles are warned of their coming persecution. And in John 18:4, we find out that Jesus knew all the things that were about to happen to him.

Hidden Knowledge of the Distant Future

John 5:21-29 Jesus knows his future role as the judge of all mankind, and the resurrection of the dead on the last day. But other details of that time period are either veiled from him in his incarnate state or he is not free to reveal yet to mankind.

A fitting conclusion to all these references is found on the lips of those closest to Jesus in their final hours together. In John 16:30, they declare, “Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.”