Did Jesus know he was God? A confirmation class confronts Chalcedon and the Gospels
At St Michael’s confirmation class, 11 candidates aged 13–14 are preparing for the sacrament. One candidate, Luke, has read Mark 13:32 - “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” - and asks how this fits with John 8:58, “before Abraham was, I am.” Another candidate says, “If Jesus was really human, he must have been able to make mistakes; otherwise he wasn’t really one of us.” The catechist has 30 minutes and must avoid both a docetic Jesus who only appears human and a merely human teacher who is not God. The parish priest has asked for an answer that respects the Chalcedonian faith and does not use the Bible as a flat proof-text. The candidates will write an annotated statement for their confirmation portfolio.
1. Explain how the Chalcedonian definition of 451 helps the catechist answer Luke without denying either Mark 13:32 or John 8:58.
Read the worked answer
Chalcedon (451) defines one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division or separation; the difference of natures is not abolished by the union, but each retains its own properties. That gives the catechist a rule: predicates can be true of the one person according to either nature. John 8:58 speaks of the Son’s eternal existence and is predicated according to the divine nature. Mark 13:32 speaks of the Son’s human knowledge and is predicated according to the human nature. The definition does not tell us exactly how Mark’s community understood the saying; it does tell us that we may not say the divine nature was ignorant, nor that the human Jesus was a different person from the divine Son. The communication of idioms allows us to say “the Son of God suffered” without saying “the divine nature suffered.” So the two texts are not flatly contradictory: they are two predications about one subject under different natures. The catechist should also admit that the Church does not claim to have exhausted the exegesis of Mark 13:32; the definition sets boundaries, not a full commentary.
2. Evaluate the statement: “If Jesus was truly human, he must have been capable of moral error.”
Read the worked answer
The statement confuses finitude with sin. To be human is to be limited, to grow, to be tempted, to suffer and to die; it is not essential to be morally corrupt. Hebrews 4:15 says Christ was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Chalcedon and Constantinople III (681) teach a real human will in Christ, but one that is perfectly aligned with the divine will; freedom is not the same as the ability to choose evil. A person can be most free when habitually oriented to the good. What Jesus shares with us is creaturely limitation: he hungered, learned, was ignorant of some things (Mark 13:32), and died. What he does not share is culpable error or sin. The statement also slides from “could make mistakes” to “must have sinned”; the first is ambiguous (intellectual limitation is not moral error), the second is denied by the Church. A good answer should affirm the reality of Jesus’ humanity - his growth, temptation and suffering - while rejecting the inference that sin is required for authenticity.
3. Outline a three-point classroom response and a portfolio statement of no more than 80 words.
Read the worked answer
Classroom response: (1) Name the two truths: Jesus is one person, truly God and truly human; do not solve the tension by turning him into a disguised God or a mere teacher. (2) Give the students a tool: when a Gospel says something about Jesus, ask “according to which nature is this said?” and “what is the evangelist doing with this saying?” (3) Model humility: Mark 13:32 is a hard text; the Church’s definition guards the faith but does not replace exegesis. Portfolio statement (78 words): “I believe Jesus Christ is one person with two natures, divine and human, without confusion or separation. Because he is truly human, he could be hungry, learn and not know the day of his return (Mark 13:32). Because he is truly God, he is eternal (John 8:58). His human limits are not sins. The Church’s Chalcedonian faith stops me from making him either a fake human or a mere man.”