A Christian Challenged Our View of Jesus' Omniscience

A listener challenged our previous episode on the omniscience of Jesus with a thoughtful objection: If the incarnation meant that Jesus genuinely took on the limitations of humanity, why wouldn't that limitation include His knowledge? If Jesus is truly God, and God is omniscient, how do we make sense of passages like Luke 2:52, where Jesus "increased in wisdom," or Jesus' statement that He did not know the day or hour of His return? That's a serious question—and today we're taking the time to work through it. We discuss: • What Christians mean by the incarnation • The difference between essential and contingent attributes • What Philippians 2 actually says about Jesus "emptying Himself" • Whether Jesus surrendered divine attributes when He became human • God's omniscience and omnipresence • The difference between omnipresence and omnispatiality • Why theories of time matter to this discussion • How Jesus could grow in wisdom without necessarily gaining new propositional knowledge • What Luke 2 actually tells us about Jesus' humanity • And whether the objection actually gives us a better explanation of Jesus This isn't about pretending every question has an easy answer. It's about being willing to ask difficult questions about Christianity—and then following the evidence wherever it leads. If you have any pushback on our content, we'd love to hear from you.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 – Why We’re Revisiting the Omniscience of Jesus

01:18 – A Listener Challenges Our Previous Episode

03:35 – The Big Question: Did Jesus Know Everything?

05:36 – Essential vs. Contingent Attributes

06:38 – What Does the Incarnation Actually Mean?

07:36 – A Theory vs. B Theory of Time

10:34 – Omnipresence vs. Omnispaciality

11:37 – Why Christians Shouldn’t Fear Difficult Questions

12:07 – Ryan Responds to the Objection

14:01 – What Does “Emptying Himself” Mean in Philippians 2?