Posted on 07/28/2007 6:17:10 AM PDT by xzins
When you think of Jesus of Nazareth what descriptions come to mind? Do you imagine a holy man who, while off pondering deep thoughts, is not particularly brilliant? Christians might wear the fashionable bracelets with the initials WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” which demonstrate that they at least think him to be an ethical role model. However, do his followers also think of him as the smartest man in the world? I believe the way in which we think of Jesus’ intelligence directly impacts how we submit to him as Lord and King.
In chapter three of Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy, he writes, “And can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart? If he were divine, would he be dumb? Or uninformed? Once you stop to think about it, how could he be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best-informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person who ever lived?” Jesus’ closest followers—those he traveled, ate, and lived with—were convinced that he was The Intelligence behind all the universe (John 1:1-5; Col 1:17; 2:3). And they saw his triumph over this world’s greatest weapon—death—to bolster their recognition of him as the rightful king over all minds and bodies in the universe (Rev 1:5, 18).
Consider how Willard explains Jesus’ mental greatness:
Master of Molecules “At the literally mundane level, Jesus knew how to transform the molecular structure of water to make it wine. That knowledge also allowed him to take a few pieces of bread and some little fish and feed thousands of people. He could create matter from the energy he knew how to access from ‘the heavens,’ right where he was.
It cannot be surprising that the feeding of the thousands led the crowds to try to force him to be their king. Surely one who could play on the energy/matter equation like that could do anything. Turn gravel into gold and pay off the national debt! Do you think he could get elected president or prime minister today?
He knew how to transform the tissues of the human body from sickness to health and from death to life. He knew now to suspend gravity, interrupt weather patterns, and eliminate unfruitful trees without saw or ax. He only needed a word. Surely he must be amused at what Nobel prizes are awarded for today.
In the ethical domain he brought an understanding of life that has influenced world thought more than any other. . . .And one of the greatest testimonies to his intelligence is surely that he knew how to enter physical death, actually to die, and than live on beyond death. He seized death by the throat and defeated it. Forget cryonics!
Death was not something others imposed on him. He explained to his followers in the moment of crisis that he could at any time call for 72,000 angels to do whatever he wanted. A mid-sized angel or two would surely have been enough to take care of those who thought they were capturing and killing him. He plainly said, ‘Nobody takes my life! I give it up by choice. I am in position to lay it down, and I am in position to resume it. My father and I have worked all this out” (John 10:18).
All these things show Jesus’ cognitive and practical mastery of every phase of reality: physical, moral, and spiritual. He is Master only because he is Maestro. ‘Jesus is Lord’ can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate before saying, ‘Jesus is smart.’
He is not just nice, he is brilliant. He is the smartest man who ever lived. He is now supervising the entire course of world history (Rev 1:5) while simultaneously preparing the rest of the universe for our future role in it (John 14:2). He always has the best information on everything and certainly also on the things that matter most in human life.”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Why is it that we don’t tend to think of Jesus as a master intelligence? 2. How does thinking about Jesus’ supreme intellect inform and impact your understanding of him as your life’s master?
SUGGESTED RESOURCE: For a great short book on Jesus as a philosopher, who valued reasoning and who held a well-developed worldview, see Doug Groothuis’ On Jesus, in the “Wadsworth Philosophers Series” (Wadsworth, 2003
I understand that your interpretion of the “emptying” passage is that it means simply that Jesus “put others before Himself.”
If that is correct, then are you saying that He didn’t really die?
Perhaps you believe that God can die? (I’m not trying to be a smart aleck; it’s a serious question.)
See my post 16.
His status as God the Son was never changed. But His actions here, the miracles, healing, His words, were a result of a man who spent time with His father and operated in perfect obedience.
I believe that we can also operate at that level. It’s an ideal of perfection, but we are created in His image, seated in heavenly places with Him, made to drink the same Spirit, baptised into Christ Himself. It’s the Father’s pleasure to give us the Kingdom, and may His will be done on earth (through us, since Jesus isn’t here anymore) as it is in heaven.
We are a new creation- a divine order of being, filled with the Holy Spirit and imitating Christ.
I've witnessed this myself. A cool passage has to do with Jehoshaphat wanting God's opinion of a joint military venture of his with Israel against Moab. He calls on Elisha. It's interesting (2Kings4) that Elisha calls in a harpist, and THEN the Spirit comes upon Elisha.
(and wrecks the place.:>)
Two words- Keith Green!
You don't have to understand it...You just have to believe it...
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mar 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Loved Keith Green. I’ve still got his LPs at the house.
(Don’t have a needle for my turntable, though. :>)
“But His actions here, the miracles, healing, His words, were a result of a man who spent time with His father and operated in perfect obedience.”
Because he acted in obedience to the Father does not mean his actions on earth were not those of a God as well as those of a man.
Again...I think it is a disjoined view of Jesus to separate his Divine from his human nature.
He was - at all times - both. It is not mutually exclusive.
And while we were created in God’s “image”, we were not created to be “God.”
Christians were not able to perform miracles because they became god themselves, they were given those gifts through God - who consists of 3 persons.
So I think this debate is really about the Trinity and the role each of the 3 persons has in the Godhead.
I don’t see in any of the passages cited that Jesus somehow became unaware of his divinity, or somehow lost his divine attributes.
Excellent verse.
There’s also the one where Jesus says to James/John/and their Momma that the place at His right or left is not his to give.
And, of course, there’s the death on the cross.
Again...nothing there that describes Jesus losing his divine attributes.
I’m sensing a tendency toward nestorianism here.
Never thought about it.
And what's it mean if you say that He did not?
First (put that way) it means you're claiming to know something that it's impossible for you to know.
More generally, it could mean that you don't think IQ is particularly important in the situation.
Intelligence quotients didn't exists 2007 years ago.
Why would it become a subject of thought now?
That said, there is a big difference between intelligence and wisdom even in our understanding of the concepts. One can be highly intelligent and yet be a complete fool. There are also those who the world would not consider to be highly educated who are, never-the-less, wise in use of what learning and/or intelligence they have. Wisdom is knowledge appropriately applied and that is what is truly important about Christ. He had infinite knowledge and the infinite love, compassion and comprehension to apply it appropriately.
I don't raise chickens....:>)
I think there are problems with associating Jesus’ power and high intelligence.
Were not the Nestorians a group of people that your group still refers to as heretics??? And were murdered by your group because they wouldn't bow down to your religion???
I don't give a flip who the Nestorians were but I know a little bit of what the bible says...
I know what it says - I just don’t see how that means he somehow lost his divine intelligence.
Here's your problem...You just don't want to believe what it says...
Obviously not everything was revealed to Jesus, the man...
How Jesus could be tempted as a man as we are and still be God is something I won't understand til I get to Heaven...But I don't worry about it, I just believe it...
Come on....he’s like, God, part of the Trinity, his intelligence far surpasses those of mere mortals.....
Worst. article. ever.
I think the problem arises if we think that high intelligence (by our measurement!) is an essential element of Jesus's mission.
The author contends, for instance, that Jesus's miracles of healing required high intelligence to "repair" cells and so on ... and yet we know from the Bible, as well as other history, that the apostles performed miraculous healings and raised the dead. The prophet Elijah experienced miraculous multiplication of food and manipulation of the weather. They can't all have had the highest IQ ever!
So, if Einstein was smarter than you, then that makes Him closer to God than you?
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