Randal Rauser is associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton, Canada and was granted Taylor's first annual teaching award for Outstanding Service to Students in 2005.
December 10th, 2009 03:59 PM ET
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Did Baby Jesus know more physics than Einstein?

Christians have classically defined God as omniscient. That is, they have affirmed that God has all knowledge; more specifically, God knows all true propositions and believes no false propositions. According to that classic understanding of God, which theologians often refer to as "classical theism", God is not only omniscient but essentially so. That is, for God to be God, he must be omniscient. Put another way, the property of being omniscient is necessary, if not yet sufficient, for any given entity to be divine. Alternatively, if you ain't omniscient, then you ain't divine.

We can now put the problem rather winsomely as follows:

(1) Christians believe that Jesus Christ was once a blastocyst (that is an early structure in the embryogenesis of mammals prior to implantation; basically a hollow ball of cells)
(2) But no blastocyst can know more physics than Einstein (indeed, no blastocyst can know anything)
(3) Therefore, Jesus Christ as Blastocyst (JCB) did not know more physics than Einstein
(4) Therefore, JCB was not omniscient
(5) Therefore, JCB was not divine

Admittedly the gospels don't talk about Jesus at the blastocyst stage. But Luke makes it clear that as a young child Jesus did not have all knowledge (and thus probably at this stage still lacked the physics of Einstein): 

"And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom" (Luke 2:40; cf. Luke 2:52)

The word "filled" (plaeroh) entails transitioning from a state of lack to fullness, like filling up a jar with liquid or, in this case, "filling" a person with wisdom (Sophia). This simply supports what common sense already has concluded: Jesus the blastocyst did not know more physics than Einstein or more literary theory than Harold Bloom or more logic than Bertrand Russell or more addresses in Manhattan than your average New York cabbie. 

Conclusion: God is essentially omniscient. Jesus was not omniscient. So where do we go from here?

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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).
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