Scholium 2. On
ignorance and error. The question here is about ignorance in the proper
sense or denoting a privation, that is, of those things that
according to his status the soul of Christ needed to know. For it is
clear that the knowledge of Christ suffered some ignorance in the improper
sense, in a negative way, or better, simply not knowing, since, as
finite, he did not know everything that is contained in the power of God. . . . There were not lacking important
Fathers who attributed some ignorance to Christ the man, especially
because of Mark 13:32 But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Some of these
Fathers held only the progress of the human knowledge of Christ up
to his resurrection. But many of the Fathers, especially after the
Agnoetists, who following the leadership of Themistius attributed ignorance to
Christ, strongly affirmed that it is unworthy of Christ to think that he was
burdened with any ignorance.
358.
Already at the beginning of scholastic theology the exclusion of all ignorance
in Christ was almost unanimous. St. Thomas deduces from the fullness of
Christ’s knowledge that there was no ignorance in him (III, q. 15, a 3 c)
The magisterium itself of the
Church, both formerly and recently, has rejected the opinion that places
some ignorance in Christ. See D 474-476, 3432-3434, 3645f..
359. Regarding
a positive explanation of Mark 13:32: Christ said that he did not know
the day and hour, because it was not part of his mission to reveal this.
This saying of Christ agrees with not a few others in which Christ hides
himself, so that the father may be more apparent.
Moreover, concerning the
knowledge acquired by his own acts it can truly be said that Christ did not
know the day of judgment . . . he truly asked questions and experienced true
admiration. However since Christ did not know the day of judgment by his human
knowledge both beatific and infused, it would be false to say that the Lord simply
did not know it by his human knowledge. (Iesu Solano and J. A. de Aldama, Sacrae
Theologiae Summa, 4 vols. [trans. Kenneth Baker; Keep the Faith, Inc.,
2014], 3-A: 164)
