ACC ~ Mark 13 v32a
IGNORANCE OF THE FUTURE IS OUR ORDINARY HUMAN CONDITION
ATHANASIUS: When his disciples asked him about the end, he said with precision: Of that day or that hour no one knows, not even he himself [1] âthat is, when viewed according to the flesh, because he too, as human, lives within the limits of the human condition. He said this to show that, viewed as an ordinary man, he does not know the future, for ignorance of the future is characteristic of the human condition. Insofar as he is viewed according to his divinity as the Word who is to come, to judge, to be bridegroom, however, he knows when and in what hour he will come. ⌠For as upon becoming human he hungers, thirsts and suffers, [2] along with all human beings, similarly as human he does not see the future. But viewed according to his divinity as the Word and wisdom of the Father, he knows, and there is nothing which he does not know. FOUR DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 3.46. [3]
[1] Cf. Mt 24:36; Mk 13:32.
[2] HE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL | MARK 1:1-5
[3] NPNF 2 4:419*; TLG 2035.042, 26.420.29-38, 421.1-5. The God-man according to his humanity shares with us our ordinary human condition of ignorance of the future.
WHETHER THE SON IS DEFICIENT IN KNOWLEDGE
HILARY OF POITIERS: It is sometimes turned into a reproach against the only begotten God that he did not know the day and the hour. It is said that, though God, born of God, he is not in the perfection of divine nature, since he is subjected to the limitation of ignorance, namely, to an external force stronger than himself, triumphing, as it were, over his weakness. The heretics in their frenzy would try to drive us to this blasphemous interpretation: that he is thus captive to this external limitation, which makes such a confession inevitable. The words are those of the Lord himself. What could be more unholy, we ask, than to corrupt his express assertion by our attempt to explain it away? But, before we investigate the meaning and occasion of these words, let us first appeal to the judgment of common sense. Is it credible, that he, who stands to all things as the author [1] of their present and future, should not know all things? ⌠All that is derives from God alone its origin, and has in him alone the efficient cause of its present state and future development. Can anything be beyond the reach of his nature, through which is effected, and in which is contained, all that is and shall be? Jesus Christ knows the thoughts of the mind, as it is now, stirred by present motives, and as it will be tomorrow, aroused by the impulse of future desires. ⌠Whenever God says that he does not know, he professes ignorance indeed, but is not under the defect of ignorance. It is not because of the infirmity of ignorance that he does not know, but because it is not yet the time to speak, or in the divine plan to act. ⌠This knowledge is not, therefore, a change from ignorance, but the coming of a fullness of time. He waits still to know, but we cannot suppose that he does not know. Therefore his not knowing what he knows, and his knowing what he does not know, is nothing else than a divine economy in word and deed. ON THE TRINITY 9.58-62. [2]
[1] Cf. Heb 12:2.
[2] Cetedoc 0433, 62A.9.58.4; NPNF 2 9:175-77**. The hour referred to is the fullness of time, which is not yet known as present but is known as future. It is not a defect in the Son of God that he does not know, but it is not yet the time to speak.
WHETHER THE SON KNOWS ALL THAT THE FATHER KNOWS
AUGUSTINE: According to âthe form of Godâ [1] everything that the Father has belongs to the Son: for âAll things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine.â [2] According to the form of a slave, [3] however, his teaching is not his own, but of the One who sent him. Hence âOf that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.â [4] He is ignorant of this in the special sense of making others ignorant. He did not âknow itâ in their presence in such a way as to be prepared to reveal it to them at that time. Recall that in a similar way it was said to Abraham: âNow I know that you fear God,â [5] in the sense that now I am taking you through a continuing journey to know yourself, because Abraham came to know himself only after he had been tried in adversity. ⌠Jesus was âignorantâ in this sense, so to speak, among his disciples, of that which they were not yet able to know from him. He only said that which was seasonally fitting for them to know. Among those with mature wisdom he knew in a different way than among babes. [6] ON THE TRINITY 1.12.23. [7]
[1] Cf. Phil 2:6.
[2] Jn 17:10.
[3] Cf. Phil 2:7.
[4] Mt 24:36; Mk 13:32.
[5] Cf. Gen 22:12.
[6] Cf. 1 Cor 3:1.
[7] Cetedoc 0329, 50.1.11.31; FC 45:34-35**.
FIGURATIVE SPEECH CONCERNING WHAT THE SON DOES NOT WILL TO KNOW
AUGUSTINE: I am by no means of the opinion that a figurative mode of expression can be rightly termed a falsehood. For it is no falsehood to call a day joyous because it makes people joyous. A lupine seed is not sad because it lengthens the face of the eater because of its bitter taste. So also we say that God âknowsâ something when he makes his hearers know it (an instance quoted by yourself in the words of God to Abraham, âNow I know that you fear Godâ [1] ). These are by no means false statements, as you yourself readily see. Accordingly, the blessed Hilary threw light on an obscure point by this kind of figurative expression, showing how we ought to understand the words that âhe did not know the day,â [2] with no other meaning than this: In proportion as he had made others ignorant by concealing his meaning, he spoke of it figuratively as his own lack of knowledge. So by concealing it, he so to speak caused others not to know it. He did not by this explanation condone lying, but he proved that it was not lying to use the common figures, including metaphors, as a form of speech available to all, a mode of expression entirely familiar to all in daily conversation. Would anyone call it a lie to say that vines are jeweled with buds, or that a grainfield waves, or that a young man is in the flower of his youth, because he sees in these objects neither waves nor precious stones, nor grass, nor trees to which these expressions would literally apply? LETTER 180, TO OCEANUS 3. [3]
[1] Gen 22:12.
[2] Cf. Mt 24:36; Mk 13:32.
[3] Cetedoc 0262, 180.44.3.698.26; NPNF 1:547-48**; cf. FC 30:119. This is a true statement figuratively understood, for Christ knew not that day with no other meaning than that he, by concealing it, caused others not to know it.
THE TIME NOT DISCLOSED TO FLESH
AUGUSTINE: No one should arrogate to oneself the knowledge of that time by any computation of years. For if that day is to come after seven thousand years, everyone could learn its advent simply by adding up years. What comes then of the Sonâs even ânot knowingâ this? This is said with this meaning, that his hearers do not learn this from the Son, not that he by himself does not know it. It is to be understood according to that form of speech by which âThe Lord your God tries you that he may know,â [1] which means, that he may make you know. Again, the phrase âarise, O Lordâ [2] means make us arise. Thus when the Son is said not to know this day, it is not because he is ignorant of it, but because he causes those to know it not for whom it is not yet expedient to know it, for he does not show it to them. ON THE PSALMS 6.1. [3]
[1] Deut 13:3.
[2] Ps 3:7.
[3] Cetedoc 0283, 38.6.1.9; NPNF 1 8:15**. When the Son is said not to know this day, it is not because he is ignorant of it but because he does not disclose its time to those for whom this knowledge would not be helpful.
Mk