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Christ grew in wisdom and stature?
I might of known the answer to this before but not now
How could He grow if He was God?
How could He grow if He was God?
Comments
So according to the Holy Fathers, this verse is not saying that Christ was ignorant at any point, or that God (who is omniscient) gained knowledge or wisdom. Rather its saying that Christ manifested His wisdom in relation to His humanity.
St. Cyril the Great: "To say that 'the little Child was growing and showing Himself strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him,' are things spoken of concerning His humanity....He is said also to have advanced in wisdom, not as receiving added wisdom,...but because God the Logos gradually manifested His wisdom proportionably to the age which the body had attained. The body then advances in stature, and the soul in wisdom; for the divine nature is capable of increase in neither one nor the other, seeing that the Logos of God is all perfect." [ Commentary, P.G. 72:136D-137C (cols. 505, 508).]
So according to the Holy Fathers, this verse is not saying that Christ was ignorant at any point, or that God (who is omniscient) gained knowledge or wisdom. Rather its saying that Christ manifested His wisdom in relation to His humanity.
I don't get it, but Christ was in the temple when he was 12 and it say in luke 2:47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. so he had a lot of wisdom when he was young right
"Though the Eternal Word was united to the human soul from his conception, yet the divinity that dwelt in him manifested itself to his humanity by degrees, ad modum recipientis--in proportion to his capacity; as the faculties of his human soul grew more and more capable, the gifts it received from the divine nature were more and more communicated."
If thats true why is that? why not have all wisdom even as a baby?
well that would seem strange if a baby talked with wisdom.. but why not have wisdom but not manifest it to the world and not speak?
Also why did Jesus pray so much if He did? I understand that He had a human body and was weak and so He was in need of prayer.. but what things would He pray about? I understand the Gethsemane prayer.. He would not pray to overcome sin would He? He has no desire to sin.. right? would He pray for the success of His preaching?
This comes from Matthew Henrys Commentary.. is it right?
"Though the Eternal Word was united to the human soul from his conception, yet the divinity that dwelt in him manifested itself to his humanity by degrees, ad modum recipients--in proportion to his capacity; as the faculties of his human soul grew more and more capable, the gifts it received from the divine nature were more and more communicated."
If thats true why is that? why not have all wisdom even as a baby?
well that would seem strange if a baby talked with wisdom.. but why not have wisdom but not manifest it to the world and not speak?
As a starting point, the question posed seemingly begs the question at hand. For if our Lord indeed possessed the fullness of wisdom within his mindset as a child and yet restricted Himself from fully uttering such wisdom in accord with his self-perpetuating human nature as a child, then we would never know of such wisdom for all had been encaptured within the mindset of God and never disclosed for the public. Thus, one may presume that the fullness of Christ's wisdom indeed remained beladen within Him as a child, but as you have yourself pointed out, His restrictive action permitted only partial emanation of such wisdom for the public. I believe the key word of Henry's commentary is "communicated"; that is to say, the active role on Christ's part to communicate the substantive inladen wisdom is concretely different than the presence of such substantive wisdom. Thus, the argument poses no slant against the "ad modum recipientis" described.
This remains to be the beauty and mystery of such inladen wisdom. The Scriptures explicate that while Christ was indwelt with "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Coll 2:8-10), He choosingly and conspicuously suppressed His glory making "Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men." (Phili 2:7) Thus, Christ veiled Himself of his pronounced glory (always susceptible for full recovery had Christ had so chosen) foreshadowing it behind the restrictions of His Humanity for the sake of absolute humility. Thus, at particular moments and points within our timeframe, Christ revealed instances of His Divinity to certain degrees that were apportioned to Him by His immeasurable wisdom, so as to fulfill all necessity. Now, as Philippians 2 and various other Scriptural references denote, such necessity flowed from His inherent love for us as His creation.
For, if for no other reasoning (which is ad hoc to presume), the very suppression of His glory unto the pronunciation of His Humility was a perfectly painted portrait for us to emulate in full subjection. As Saint Paul commits to us: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus...." (Philippians 2:5) and to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phillipians 2:12); we as adamant servants of God are called to pour out our selfish ambitions and exalted states unto the ascension of Christ's Name for all men. We are called to take up the very mind of Christ, to imbibe the inladen wisdom of God's Son for ourselves--depriving ourselves of self-sustained significance to a significance erupted by the glorification of God as commander over us. The wisdom then of God's restrictive action was for the sake of mankind's salvation; to draw all men to emulate His ways and to ultimately humble themselves before God as little children before their Father.
Such was the wisdom of Christ as He washed the disciple’s feet: "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (John 13: 15) The prayer, the fasting, the suffering....all were embraced by Christ for the desire that man would follow Him and by following Him obtain a means for eternal salvation. The consummate aestheticism lies in the approachable doorway Christ has made Himself for our sakes....not for His own. All glory and honor is consummated by Christ in the full impoverishment and seemingly apparent stultification he brought upon Himself, all for the desire to win a few. By such accord, we call our God the only God of love, rightfully so, for not merely has God demonstrated unconditional love but has proven Himself to be the absolute archi or origin of absolute love.
God bless