Jesus of Nazareth was a human being. Since human beings are limited in their knowledge, does this not mean that Jesus also was limited? Should we not dismiss His statements as being conditioned by His own time? Granted, He said some magnificent things. But why should we accept His word seeing that He was human?

Questions such as these often come up when we talk about the person of Jesus Christ. People will point to Jesus' own statements to show that he was ignorant of some things.

When Jesus was asked about the time of His second coming, He responded, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32 KJV).

Once when surrounded by a crowd, Jesus was touched by someone. As a result, He turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" (Mark 5:30), thus Supposedly revealing His ignorance. Furthermore, He asked questions of people, "What is your name?" (Mark 5:9), "How many loaves do you have?" (Mark 6:38).

These passages reveal that Christ did not know certain things, skeptics say. Why, then, trust any of His statements?

The New Testament answers the question, "Was Christ fallible?" with a resounding, no! It must be remembered that Jesus had two natures, one human, one divine. As a man, there were things of which He was ignorant. But as God, He possessed all knowledge.

Jesus was not a man who worked Himself up to the position (if being God. Rather, He was God condescending to humanity. Philippians 2:5-11 states that, as God, Jesus chose to lay aside the independent exercise of certain attributes that were rightfully His. As a man, He totally trusted God the Father and lived a perfect, sinless life.

Even though He was still God while here on earth, He voluntarily laid aside certain rights He possessed. There is no hint that His statements - whether theological, historical, or of some other nature-were in any way fallible.

Jesus always told the truth. When He said He did not know something He made us aware of that. Since He told us when He did not know something, we naturally can assume that when He did tell us something it was because He did know it. The fact that Christ admitted He was unaware of certain things makes us all the more secure in the statements which He made without any qualification.

Also remember that some of Jesus' questions, such as in John 6:5 and Mark 6:38, were not for His own information as though He did not know the answer, but to provoke those hearing Him to come up with their own response, since the proper response was for their good (cf. John 6:5-6).

This is generally similar to God's questions in the Old Testament (as in Genesis 3, "Where are you?” etc.). These were asked not for His information but for the sake of those involved, who could in some way be helped by making a proper response. Or, they were simply rhetorical.

Moreover, as a human being Jesus possessed knowledge that was beyond the normal as Norman Geisler points out in Christian Apologetics (pp. 358, 359): "Even in his human state Christ possessed supernormal if not supernatural knowledge of many things. He saw Nathaniel under the fig tree, although he was not within normal visual distance (John 1:48). Jesus amazed the woman of Samaria with the information he knew about her private life (John 4:18-19).

"Jesus knew who would betray him in advance (John 6:64). He knew about Lazarus' death before h~ was told (John 11:14) and of his crucifixion and resurrection before it occurred (Mark 8:31; 9:31). Jesus had superhuman knowledge of the location of fish (Luke 5:4).

"There is no indication from the Gospel record that Jesus' finitude deterred his ministry or teaching. Whatever the limitations to his knowledge, it was vastly beyond normal men and completely adequate for his mission and doctrinal teaching."

The Bible also makes it clear that Christ is the final authority on all matters with which He dealt. Individuals will be judged on what they do with His words. As He said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day" (John 12:48 NASB).

His word is a sure foundation. Our lives need to be based upon it. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts Matthew 7:24 NASB).
His words are eternal: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:34 NASB).

Even from these few statements it is clear that any human limitation that Jesus submitted to was not reflected in His theological statements and teachings. One cannot use this as a viable excuse for rejecting the finality of Jesus' statements. He has demonstrated the fact that He has authority to claim infallibility by returning from the dead the third day (Romans 1:4).

Although Jesus was truly God, He was also truly man. Or you could say He was just as much man as if He had never been God, and He was just as much God as if He had never been man. He was the God-man.

It is now up to each individual to choose whether to build his house on the rock or on the sand.