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NASB | Luke 2:52 ¶ And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 2:52 ¶ And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and men. [1 Sam 2:26] |
Bible Question: How could Jesus, being already omniscient and perfect, increase in wisdom? |
Bible Answer: This is a very good question and one that the church has wrestled with for many years. The typical response is: Jesus (Phil 2 passage) voluntarily set aside some of his divine attributes when he chose to become a man. The question philosophers in the Church have wrestled with is how could God give up any of his attributes and continue to be God? After all, God by definition does not change, knows everything and is everywhere at all times etc., If Jesus lacked any of these qaulities, how could he continue to be God? The solution to this problem was that Jesus just chose not to operate in some of his divine privieleges: Omniscience/Omnipresent/. He did not give them up, but rather chose not to utilize or take advantage of certain aspects of his divinity. There is more than one way to look at this issue. I am just supplying one I know you have probably heard of a million times. A number of these problems deal with our presuppostions about God that have been passed down through the church. The early church fathers, in an attempt to make Christianity relevant to the Greek culture, interpreted scriptures about God through the lens of Plato. Some of the concepts we have about God are more Platonic than Biblical! In fact, many scriptures are explained away by the church fathers as being anthromorphic and being written that way for the "dumb" saints within the church who couldn't comprehend who God really is. I am chasing rabbits so I will sign off for now. |