(1) In virtue of His Divine wisdom, Christ is omniscient, i.e. He knows all actual and possible things, present, past and future, including the future contingent actions of beings possessed of free- will. The nature of this last kind of knowledge (sometimes called scientia media) is altogether in- scrutable to us ; but it is expressly ascribed to God in many passages of both Testaments (1 S 23'"^^, Is 4P2- 23^ Jer SS'Sff-, He 4^3 etc.), and is frequently claimed by Jesus (Mt \\-^-^^ 26^1, Jn6™etc.), who is represented as able to read the heart of man (Jn l^'-"224-25etc.).
(2) With regard to Christ's human wisdom, be- lievers in a real Incarnation {evavdpunrrjai^), as distinguished from a mere assumption of a body (eva-dpKwa-is, ev<Tu/j.dTuais), are bound to recognize both its finite charade?' and its gradual develop- ment. The gradual development of Christ's wisdom is twice noticed by St. Luke (2*° ■rrXripovfj.ei'ov aocplq. [co^tas], 2^^ TrpoeKOTTTe crocpia Kal ijXiKiq.), and once by the author of Hebrews (5** Kaiirep (bv laos, ^/nadev d(t)' uv tirade ttjv viraKor]v, Kal reXeicodeis eyivero, etc. ). To understand tlie growth in wisdom here spoken of as merely exhibltive — Christ being supposed, as He grew in age, to manifest more and more of the hidden wisdom which He possessed entire from the first (so John of Damascus and most of the later Fathers ; also Aquinas and the Scholastics) — is not only bad exegesis, but is virtual ApoUinarism. Apollinaris denied to Christ a real human soul ; but Aquinas virtually does the .same when he asserts that the soul of Christ was created tnature, in the full enjoyment of free-will and of the Beatific Vision, and possessed of wisdom and knowledge practically coextensive with the Divine.*
Far different is the representation of the Gospels. In them Christ undergoes not simply a bodily, but a normal psychical development. He is true infant, true boy, true youth, in mind as well as in body. As Irenteus beautifully says : ' He came to save all by means of Himself- all, I say, who through Him are born again to God— infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children, thus sanctifying those who are of this age, being at the same time made to them an example of piety, righteousness, and submis- sion ; a youth for youths, becoming an example to youths, and thus sanctifying them for the Lord ' (Against Heresies, ii. 22-24). The Incarnation of Christ thus restored the norm, of human develop- ment. In the growth of the child Jesus, God saw
* The Srholastic doctrine is that from the moment of con- ception Christ's soul knew all actual events and things, past, present, and fiiture. Only abstract possibilities, which were never to be realized, were hidden from Him.
for the first time human nature expanding and pev- fecting itself according to its original ideal and plan, unhindered and undistorted by sin ; and upon the gracious spectacle God and man looked with approval (Lk 2*'>- ^2).
(3) By the human wisdom (ero^ta) of Christ is meant His quick undei'standing in the things of God (cf. Ja P) ; His knowledge of the Scriptures, and His power of interpreting them (cf. Ac 6^- 1") ; His deep moral insight, gained by actual experi- ence of temptation and suffering (He 5^) ; His capacity for learning His lessons at the synagogue school (cf. Ac 7^-) ; His skill as a carpenter (cf. Ex 3r^*-) ; the power of asking and answering hard questions (cf . Rev 13^* 17^) which He displayed even as a boy (Lk 4^), and which stood Him in good stead on so many occasions diiring His ministry (Mt 2215- 23. 34 g^g ^ . jjig skill in constructing parables, allegories, and sententious sayings, like those of the wise men of old (cf. Mt 12'*) ; His persuasive- ness as a teacher and eloquence as a preacher (see Mt 13^^ cf. 1 Co l'^2i-4); His common sense and practical ability (cf. Col 4^) ; probably also His power of working miracles (Mk 6'^, cf. Ac 7^"), and His prophetic gift (2 P 3*^), which were in Him, partly at any rate, hunum endowments, as in other prophets (see Mk IS^^).
(4) It is implied in Scripture that Christ's human knowledge received a great extension at His Besur- rection and Ascension. At the Resurrection He received all authority {traaa ^^ovaia) in heaven and on earth (Mt 28^^), and this authority He exercises as man, and not simply as God (Ph 2*'*, Rev 5^'^* etc. ). His human knowledge, therefore, must now be co- extensive with His human authority ; that is, it must embrace all cosmical facts — past, present, and future. It is an error, however, to suppose that His human knowledge is even now infinite. Human nature is essentially _^wi^c, and therefore the human soul of Christ, though glorified, can never com- pletely know the Infinite Essence of God. See, further, CONSCIOUSNESS.
2. On Christ as the Wisdom of God, see i)reced- ing article.
Literature. — Dorner, Person of Christ ; Baldensperger, Das Selbstbewmsstsein Jesu ; Liddon, BL ; Gifford, The Incarnation ; Gore, Dissertations ; Bruce, Humiliation of Christ ; Hall, Kenotic Theory ; Mason, Conditions of our Lord's Life on Earth ; Powell, Principle of the Incarnation ; Expositor, iv. iv.