Helpful article explores Catholic teaching about the Person of Jesus Christ
1/12/2004 4:03:18 AM
In his article, "Christology: some contemporary issues," Thomas Weinandy OFM Cap. provides a helpful, popular explanation of the Incarnation and the relationship between the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ. One question he takes on is a common—and very important—one: "Did Jesus know he was God?" Weinandy replies:
The first thing we need to do is to frame the question properly. The question is not ‘Did Jesus know he was God?’ as if Jesus, the man, was a different person or subject (a different ‘who’) from that of the Son. The proper question is: Was the Son of God conscious of himself and so did he know that he was God in a human manner, that is, through his human consciousness and mind? Again, in keeping with our three incarnational truths, who it is who is humanly self-conscious is the Son of God and the manner in which he is self-conscious is as man. The answer to this question must be ‘yes’. If the Son of God incarnate was not humanly conscious and so did not humanly know that he was the Son of God, then he could not have revealed that to us for he would have been ignorant of his own identity, which in itself would be absurd. There is obviously something psychologically amiss with a person who does not know who he or she is.
