Subject: Can we disappoint the omniscient God? |
Bible Note: Greetings Mommapbs! No, your question is not "too" controversial! Contrary to what many believe, it is "OK" for Christians to have questions and doubts, which are answered by studying His Word. Philippians 2:5-8 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!" [NIV] I believe that Christ did not give up any of His attributes. His "making Himself nothing" ultimately boils down to 3 things: 1. A 'veiling' of His preincarnate glory 2. A voluntary nonuse of some of His divine attributes 3. Taking on the 'appearance' of a man 1. I believe that part of "making Himself nothing" involved veiling the glory that is His for all eternity as God, which would be necessary if He were to take on the appearance of a man. Christ never surrendered His glory (note the Transfiguration), but He simply veiled His glory so that He could dwell among His creation, "appearing" as one of His created beings to His creation, even though He was the Creator Himself. :-) If He had not chosen to veil His glory, then human beings would not have been able to associate with Him! Everyone would have been like John the Apostle in Revelation 1:17, or like Isaiah in Isaiah 6:5 (see also John 12:41) in relation to Him. 2. I believe that Christ voluntarily did not use some of His divine attributes on some occasions, so that He could accomplish everything that He came to do. I don't believe that He ever could have actually surrendered any of His attributes, since He would then have ceased to be God. But He did voluntarily choose not to use some of His attributes as the Son of God so that He could live amongst us humans and our limitations during His time here on earth. However, He DID use His divine attributes of omniscience (John 2:24; 16:30), omnipresence (John 1:48), and omnipotence (one example - John 11). So, in whatever limitations that Christ may have had to endure when he 'made Himself nothing', He did not subtract a single divine attribute, or in any way make Himself less than God. 3. Third, Christ "took on the appearance of a man", literally looking like a man, taking up residence inside a body that grew from an infant to full grown adult, and being 'truly' human. And this humanity was also subject to temptation, distress, weakness, pain, sorrow and limitation. However, He was "made in human likeness": even though He was similar to humans, He was still different from us. Though His humanity was genuine, He was different from everyone else in that He had something that you and I don't have- He was perfectly sinless. But even though He was not sinless, He still "made Himself nothing" in a sense that He had to take on our likeness, which was a great condescension on His part. Blessings to you, Makarios |