Jesus and his knowledge of being God

Read Luke chapter 2

JohnClay said:

Are you talking about Jesus in the Temple when he was 12 years old?

I'm not sure that involves supernatural knowledge. If he had God-like knowledge he'd know every language in the world, etc. I think it just shows he had more knowledge than normal - perhaps he heard the voice of God, etc. But that's different to the knowledge that an eternally existing God would have.

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Well read on He (Jesus grew in wisdom, etc....)

JohnClay said:

I get the impression that the Bible says that Jesus the Son existed eternally before the universe was created and that he was omniscient. What about when he was born on Earth? Did he still know what he knew before? Or did he only have access to that knowledge at a later point in time?

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I would say that He did because He spoke frequently about His Father in heaven. In Luke 2:49, He says to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?" These were His words to His parents when they found Him and the reason He gave as to why He was missing.
Blessings

JohnClay said:

I thought if Jesus existed before the universe was created he would be omniscient. Talking to God the Father suggests he lost all of his godly knowledge when he was born and God was talking to a blank slate.

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Well , it would appear that Jesus Christ of Nazareth had knowledge far beyond His years as a twelve year old.
"And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and answers."
Also important to note, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was God in the flesh. The flesh does have its limitations which includes those around Him. Jesus Christ of Nazareth may very well have been omniscient when He walked the earth however, revealing His infinite knowledge and power beyond what He already did would not have been appropriate. That being said, raising someone from the dead, walking on water and all the numerous miracles that He performed was a sure sign of his Divinity.

JohnClay said:

I get the impression that the Bible says that Jesus the Son existed eternally before the universe was created and that he was omniscient. What about when he was born on Earth? Did he still know what he knew before? Or did he only have access to that knowledge at a later point in time?

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Your impression is correct: the Bible clearly teaches that the Son existed eternally before creation and possessed divine attributes. The deeper question you’re asking what happened to that knowledge when He became human is one the early Church wrestled with deeply, and Scripture gives us real light here.

Let me walk you through it step by step.

1. The Eternal Pre-Existence of the Son​

Scripture is unambiguous that Jesus did not begin at Bethlehem.

• John 1:1–3
  “In the beginning was the Word (Greek: Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
  The Greek phrase ēn ho Logos (ἦν ὁ Λόγος) uses the imperfect tense, indicating continuous existence already existing when the beginning began.
• John 17:5
  “Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.”
• Colossians 1:16–17
  “All things were created through Him and for Him… and in Him all things hold together.”

These texts establish that the Son is eternal, divine, and omniscient by nature.

2. The Incarnation: What Changed at His Birth?​

The key passage here is Philippians 2:6–7:

“Though He was in the form of God… He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

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The phrase “emptied Himself” comes from the Greek verb kenoō (κενόω).
Importantly, it does not mean Jesus emptied Himself of deity. Rather, He laid aside the independent use of His divine privileges.

In other words:

• He remained fully God
• He became fully human
• He chose to live within the real limitations of human life

This is what theologians call the hypostatic union (one Person, two natures).

3. Did Jesus Retain Divine Knowledge While on Earth?​

Scripture shows us a both/and, not an either/or.

A. Evidence of Limited Human Knowledge​

• Luke 2:52
  “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature.”
  Growth in wisdom implies real human learning.
• Mark 13:32
  “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows… not even the Son, but only the Father.”

This verse often troubles believers, but it powerfully affirms Jesus’ true humanity. As man, He accepted limits.

B. Evidence of Divine Knowledge​

At the same time, Jesus demonstrates supernatural knowledge:

• John 2:24–25 He knew what was in man
• John 4:17–18 He knew the Samaritan woman’s past
• John 16:30 The disciples say, “Now we know that You know all things.”
• John 21:17– “Lord, You know all things.”

So how do we reconcile this?

4. The Biblical Balance: Functional Limitation, Not Loss of Deity​

The best biblical explanation is this:

Jesus did not lose divine knowledge; He voluntarily limited His access to it while living as a man, depending fully on the Father through the Holy Spirit.

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• John 5:19
  “The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.”
• Isaiah 11:2 (Messianic prophecy)
  The Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge would rest upon Him.

This means Jesus lived as:

• True God by nature
• True man by experience
• Perfectly obedient Son by function

5. Did Jesus Know He Was God?​

Yes clearly and progressively.

• At age 12:
  Luke 2:49 “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
• During His ministry:
  John 8:58 “Before Abraham was, I AM.”
  This is a direct claim to YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה), echoing Exodus 3:14 (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh).
• At His trial:Mark 14:61–62, Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man from Daniel 7:13–14, a divine figure receiving worship.

Jesus knew who He was but He walked the path the Father set, in humility, obedience, and love.

6. Why This Matters Pastorally​

This truth should not confuse us, it should comfort us.

• Because He is God, He can save completely
• Because He became man, He understands us fully

Hebrews 4:15
“We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.”

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Jesus did not pretend to be human. He truly entered our condition without sin, so that He could redeem us from within it.

Dear Brother,​

The mystery is not meant to be solved like a puzzle, but worshiped like a truth.
Jesus is:

• Eternally God
• Truly human
• Humbly obedient
• Perfectly revealed

As the early Church confessed:

“One and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” (Chalcedon, AD 451)

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May this deepen not just your understanding but your reverence and trust in Him.

Blessings

JohnClay said:

I get the impression that the Bible says that Jesus the Son existed eternally before the universe was created and that he was omniscient. What about when he was born on Earth? Did he still know what he knew before? Or did he only have access to that knowledge at a later point in time?

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The answer to this question leads to a confessional paradox. That is, it's a paradox and yet it ought to be confessed as true even if it doesn't necessarily make complete sense.

Jesus, because He's God, knows all things.
Jesus, because He's human, says there are things He doesn't know (see where Jesus says that of the day and hour of His return only the Father knows, not the angels, not the Son, but the Father only).

We read that Jesus "grew in wisdom before God and man". So Jesus, a human being, went through infancy and childhood and into adolescence and finally adulthood--He grew in wisdom, He learned things. We can deduce that Joseph and Mary were there teaching Jesus how to speak, encouraged Him to crawl and walk, they had to potty train Him. He would have been educated in some fashion through the regular synagogue life of the Jewish community in Nazareth.

We also see that when Jesus was an adolescent He was at the Temple having deep religious conversations with religious experts.

What need does God have to learn when He knows all already?

How can the All-Knowing not know something?

How can Jesus both know everything, and not know somethings or have to learn things?

That's the paradox. The Incarnation introduces many paradoxes.

God can't die. Yet God died on a cross.
God can't suffer. Yet God suffered, He was beaten and cursed, His beard yanked, had a wreath of thorns forced upon His head.

The easy way out is to try and separate Jesus' Divinity from His humanity (or vice versa). But for the Incarnation to truly mean something we must confess the true and indivisible unity of Jesus' singular Person. We don't have a Divine Person on the one hand and a human person on the other. We have a single Person: God and human. So we speak of the Person growing, the Person knowing, the Person suffering, etc. Jesus grew in wisdom: God grew in wisdom. Jesus commanded the waters of the sea to be still: a man commanded nature.

When Christians talk about "The Mystery of the Incarnation" it's not "mystery" in the sense of "Well, we just don't know anything"; it's that we are confessing and believing something revealed to be true; even when it is immensely difficult. That's what a Mystery is: truth revealed outside of human reason.

JohnClay said:

I get the impression that the Bible says that Jesus the Son existed eternally before the universe was created and that he was omniscient. What about when he was born on Earth? Did he still know what he knew before? Or did he only have access to that knowledge at a later point in time?

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Hello John
Yes as some others told, the incarnation of Jesus is difficult to understand. Paradoxal !


I wonder whether there's not a possible response from Genesis, which i propose to you, however partial

I mean :
Let's consider the tree of knowledge of good and evil did bring a knowledge, but not an important one to Adam and Eve (that is, their nudity would be shameful)

Now, if the knowledge of their nudity induced them into feeling shameful, we may wonder whether this shame was adding or substracting to their self-awareness.


Another questions they might wonder is whether :

Their nudity was or not the deepest origin of the shame ? Couldn't it rather stem directly from the knowledge of this nudity, that would have induced them into feeling some guilt. Indeed, it seems to me the same nudity they're first not ashamed with becomes source of their shame then.

And, also, that the word "naked" bore no significance before the first sin. Neither does God use it before. Nor does the Verb in Jn 1.

So, does the word "naked" bear any significance but subjective ?

Finally,
i wonder whether this word, "naked", made Adam and Eve wealthier or poorer, as regard their knowledge
And whether the New Adam didn't start his incarnation unaware of its subjective and subsequently impoverishing significance, thus making him straightly far more knowing than the first man

Onmiscience and omnipresence are under the control of omnipetence. Jesus is omnipotent that He can, by ability, to submit His onmiscience to God the Father, that is, He can be in a state that He knows only what God the Father wants Him to know. That's the role of a human prophet.