All of us know that 100 plus 100 equals 200, not 100. If a single being is at 100 and Jesus is a single being, then He must be 100, so how can He or could He be 200? What does all this mean? How could Jesus effectively be completely, 100% man, when He is completely, 100% God? This is usually a struggle when teaching about Jesus to anyone. I’ve been asked about it many times and in various ways.
From my study and experience, the number one thought that brings together His complete humanity with His complete Deity is the teaching that by becoming man Jesus gave up the free exercise of His attributes, a doctrine that centers on Philippians 2:7, which reads:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
The words “made himself of no reputation” translate two Greek words, eautou kenoo, the second of which translates into the four words, “made of no reputation.” That second Greek word is the basis for a doctrine called, “kenosis.” The two words, eautou kenoo, mean literally, “he emptied himself.” If it means, “he emptied himself,” of what did Jesus empty Himself?
The doctrine of kenosis says that when Jesus became man, He was still completely, 100% God, but He emptied Himself of the free exercise of His attributes. This is saying that He had all these attributes. He kept all of them. He did not exercise these divine attributes freely. This was an aspect of His condescension and humiliation, which is taught in Philippians 2:3-10.
The doctrine of kenosis (not kenotic theology) has its one proof text in Philippians 2, but it also emerges from the Gospels. It makes sense of certain statements that don’t complement the Deity of Christ very well. You read it and you ask, why? The doctrine of kenosis answers these, bringing harmony to all of these passages.
Consider God’s attribute of omniscience. God knows everything. Many times Jesus shows omniscience. He can read people’s minds. He knows what they’re thinking in a supernatural way (Matthew 9:4, 12:25, Mark 2:8, Luke 11:17, and John 13:5). Jesus told the woman at the well things that He could not have known about her unless He was God (John 4). At the same time, in the Olivet Discourse Jesus said in Mark 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.
Jesus didn’t know this. Only the Father knew it. This is an example of Jesus limiting the free exercise of His attributes. There were other ways that He did, but you get the point.
Theologians call the union in Jesus of the Divine and the human the hypostatic union. To make sense of the hypostatic union means exploring how He did divine works like forgiving sin (Luke 7:48), while doing things as a human being not characteristic of God, such as sleeping (Mark 4:38), weeping (John 11:35), and hungering (Mark 11:12). Luke 2:52 says Jesus grew in wisdom. If Jesus was omniscient, how could that be true?
The purpose of God necessitated the incarnation. Jesus must become man, while remaining fully God. He would not fulfill the Davidic covenant without a human lineage. Jesus rose from dead with Divine power, but He was dead because He was human. As a human He could pay sin’s price for humans and yet rise again as God. Still a tension exists.
Jesus said in Luke 22:42, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Wait a second. Wasn’t the will of the Father and the will of the Son exactly the same? They had the same will, right? This is where we understand something further in the doctrine of kenosis. As a human being, Jesus must submit His will, His human will, to the will of the Father. As a human being, Jesus must learn obedience. That might sound impossible, but a verse teaches this. Hebrews 5:8 says,
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Did Jesus need to learn anything? Yes. He didn’t need to learn obedience as God. He and the Father forever had the same will. His subservience to the Father’s will, His submission to the Father’s will, was an aspect of His humanity. Like other human beings, He learned that. This was again part of His emptying Himself of the free exercise of His attributes.
For awhile and today still an argument exists concerning the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father (known as EFS, eternal functional subordination). I understand why people have believed it. The main argument against, and I agree with it, is the following. As both God in essence, the Father and the Son cannot have two wills. They do not have two wills. The obedience of the Son, His earthly submission to the Father, represents kenosis, Jesus’ emptying Himself of the free exercise of His divine attributes.
God is one, so He has one will, not two. As human, Jesus learned obedience. He always obeyed, but that subordination was not eternal. The subordination of the Son to the Father does not extend previous to His incarnation. This is a repercussion of Jesus simultaneously being both completely 100% God and completely 100% Man.
“…if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.” (I John 5:14)
Kent,
Thank you for this article. As a bi-vocational pastor with 8 children, I don’t often have time to read thick theology books and such. This morning, in my devotions, I was reading Hebrews 5, and when I came to v8, I had the same pause that I had at other times when reading it. I had to confess that I did not have the understanding of this verse that I ought to have. A few minutes later while praying and meditating on that passage, I asked the Lord to help me understand more fully what it means that the Son of God actually “learned obedience”.
Fast forward a few hours to lunch time and I brought up this article. I started reading it and a little ways in I thought, “No way! Is he going to address Hebrews 5:8?” Sure enough, and by the time I finished the article and thought upon it a little more, my prayer was answered very precisely! What a great God who wants us to understand the truth!
Thanks for writing, Kent. God is using you!
Mat Dvorachek
Thanks Mat!
Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer. He is a great, loving, good God!
I enjoy meditating on this too. I wanted to sort out the ESS issue more and then write something about it for everyone to get it. I might write one more, but you were an encouragement to me with your comment.
Brother Kent,
I’ve read through nearly all of your articles on prayer. For a while I’ve tried to pray more carefully. When I read 1 John 5:14-15 and what you’ve written. I want to pray what I know to be God’s will. I want to pray for the things I believe.
But Christ’s prayer, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Or as in Mark, “All things are possible to thee.” Seems to be the exact prayer we aren’t supposed to pray. i.e. “God, I know you can (heal, save, etc.) so that is my request, but if it is not your will I submit to your will.”
If you answered this already I just didn’t see it but I have read almost all your articles on prayer. How do you reckon Christ’s prayer with His and other teaching on praying God’s will?
Thank you.
I’ve continued thinking about this. Without knowing God’s will in every matter, are we allowed to have any desire for how we want things to turn out? Would it be sin to pray, “Lord, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done”? If we cannot pray that, why would Jesus pray it?
I realize that 1 John 5:14-15 says that we must pray according to God’s will and we can know we will receive it, along with Christ’s teaching. Do those passages remove from us any desire for what God’s will will be?
I believe that we should all only ever want God’s will to be done (anything else would be to our detriment, even if God’s will is something terribly hard). Therefore, our desire should always be God’s will be done.
But before we know God’s will, are we allowed to have a desire for how things will go? For instance, if my wife got cancer, could I desire that she not die from it? Could I request God that she not die from it, while also saying, “nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done”? I understand the “full court heave” that you’ve mentioned. I’m not saying that we should ask God to heal, but simply inform God (“making your requests known”) of our desire in the matter while submitting to His will.
Also, would God not know what our desire was even if we didn’t tell Him? Just like Jesus desired the cup to pass from Him. If God’s will was that my wife die but I didn’t want her to die, should I repent of having a desire against God’s will? Should Jesus have repented of asking God to remove the cup while submitting to God’s will?
I’m not claiming expertise here. I realize that a request of, “God, I don’t want my wife to die” is not a case where “we know that we have the petitions we desire of him.” I’m struggling to square these things. Faithful people asked God for things that they did not get. Jesus asked God to do something that God did not do.
I would appreciate some instruction here.
David,
I want to comment on this and the other comment you made, but I’ve got things I’ve got to write, mainly focusing on getting another post out, being ready for Wednesday night and other things here, and dealing with the debate stuff. I hope to get back to your questions.
David,
My wife got cancer. I did not want her to die. We asked the Lord to heal her. We also asked Him to help us honor Him throughout no matter what, and to use her cancer for His glory (these requests, at least, we knew we should be praying, and we did). At one stage as the cancer advanced, we asked Him to help her walk again (something none of the medical professionals thought was possible).
In all these requests, we relied on Romans 8:26. We do not always know how to pray as we ought (and neither did Paul if that verse is to be believed). I did not know what was God’s will, but I trusted Him that if I was praying for the wrong thing, the Spirit would intercede on my behalf.
My wife did walk again, and God used it. God did not heal her, and she died, and God used it. God did enable us to honor Him throughout, and He did use the cancer and her death. People have been saved as a direct result of her cancer and death.
In the last few weeks I’ve had the privilege of leading two young men to the Lord. Both of those situations would not have arisen if my wife were still alive. I am lonely but that loneliness is temporary and those men are ready for eternity. I have no idea how many lives they will touch, but my wife’s cancer and death will be part of those stories, too, and I would not trade eternal salvations away for a few more years of temporary happiness in this life. I have good reason to believe others have been saved as well, and many believers strengthened in their faith, through our experience and our determination, no matter what, to honor God.
I am very sure we should not pray for that which we know is not God’s will. I am quite confident, for myself, in the Father’s love and the promise of Romans 8:26, and quite willing therefore to pray for things where I do not know His will. I do so trusting Him to intercede as needed.
You asked for teaching. This is not teaching, this is personal testimony. It’s not entirely consistent with what Kent teaches on this matter, nor am I trying to formulate a clear statement that “the Bible says this and so this kind of prayer is appropriate.” I believe how we prayed is consistent with the kind of God we have and the kind of relationship He wants to have with His children, but I’m not going to try to present a clear proof-text or series of texts to prove Kent’s teaching is wrong on the matter. I only tell you about this because my experience so closely matches the scenario you described, to let you know how we prayed and how God worked. I do not believe He was displeased with our response and our prayers.
Hi Jon,
I just posted my thing for tomorrow. I am thankful for you and your testimony. I believe you want to do what God wants you to do. We don’t see exactly eye to eye on this, but we’re close. In general, I don’t chide people for praying for someone to be healed. I’m glad they care. I’m glad they want to pray. I rejoice that in everything they are in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. You were very nice here in your critique of what you know I believe. Thank you for that spirit. I’ve always admired that about you, and you’re much better than me on that.
Thanks, Kent. I respect your view. Ultimately, I respect your desire to pray the way God wants you to. We should all have that desire, rather than just praying selfishly.
I think your teaching on this, even if I’m not quite on the same page, is very valuable, because believers do need to stop and ask ourselves, “Should I really be asking this?” For far too many prayers, the answer is no, we shouldn’t.
If that’s being “nice” I guess that’s good, but I thought it was just being honest.
David,
I think it is God’s will to pray something and say, “I want your will in this matter, I ask that you would give me that,” and then depend on God for that. We don’t know, so we leave it to God’s will. If someone asked, will God heal so and so? I don’t know. That’s why I don’t pray that person will be healed. Praying in God’s will means praying for what we know is His will. Mark 11:24 says, “Believe that ye receive them,” not “believe that he could give them.” Those two are not the same. What do I believe I will receive? I believe I will receive those things that I know are God’s will. That is a lot to pray for. I could pray 24/7 just for those things.
It’s tough for people to hear this, I know. Because of that, I don’t usually break this to them until after I know them for awhile and have talked to them about a lot of issues. Until then, I let it go, and deal with other things.
I entirely agree with what you said. I also see how it is a “rude awakening” for those so accustomed to praying that way. It was for me.
Could you just give a simple answer of your thoughts on Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane? I realize His prayer ended with “thy will be done.” Yet, there was a request made “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” I realize Christ knew this was not possible. I realize that unlike us, Christ already knew God’s will (He already told the disciples He was going to suffer). But Christ said he had a “will” in the matter that might be different than God’s to which He must “learn obedience.” Obviously, that wasn’t a sin. It was a time of intense prayer. How would Christ’s prayer and his will that was different than God’s apply to our prayers today?
I do want to thank you for your teaching on prayer because it made me search the Scriptures. I was to the place where I almost wanted to stop praying because I didn’t see God answering and I didn’t believe what I was praying (I realize this was entirely contrary to the Bible, yet my faulty understanding of prayer by Satan’s deception caused my doubt). I now realize that I can pray in faith for the things God has promised and know He will give them. It has reinvigorated my time with God and given me a hunger to pray more and as Paul says, “I will pray in the Spirit, and with understanding also.” So thank you.
Also, have you considered writing an article about what it means to pray “in the Spirit.” I would be interested in your thoughts on that if you ever get around to it.
Bro,
Jesus wasn’t praying for something that wasn’t within the power of God, like the Father didn’t have the power to do whatever He wanted that was in His will, but that if it was possible that this was in your plan, I would want that, but your will be done. Jesus wanted the Father’s will, and if there was some other way in the Father’s will, in His plan, for this to be done, Jesus would want it. Wouldn’t Jesus know that? Jesus was omniscient still in His incarnation, but He gave up the free exercise of His omniscience as part of his self-emptying, spoken in Philippians 2. He made Himself of no reputation is one Greek word. This manifests itself in many different ways. I think when someone is praying for wisdom, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. He has options. He wants to make the right choice. Whatever your will is, I want to do it, but if it could be something other than this, I don’t know if that is possible, but if it were in your will, please let it be that. It’s an unusual prayer, but it is still in the will of God. If there were another way for redemption to be done, the inclusion of His Father’s wrath upon Him, that’s the cup. It wasn’t the death, but this aspect of the wrath of His Father on Him, the Father’s forsaking of Him on the cross. We can’t really comprehend it. He limited Himself from knowing, just like He didn’t know the day nor the hour of His coming.
I know that Jesus knew the Bible taught that He must bear the chastisement of our sin for us (Isa 53). He knew what Psalm 22 predicted about His death. He knew “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” I don’t know everything that Jesus knew, but I can see what He prayed. He specifically said, “All things are possible to thee,” and, “If it be possible (in your will) let this cup past from me.” God’s answer was, “My will will be done, but I will not let the cup pass from you.” So Christ’s prayer for God’s will to be done was answered, but His request for God to let the cup pass was given a “no.” I don’t really know how to say Jesus did not get part of what He asked for. God’s will was done (which Christ prayed for), but the cup was not removed (which Christ also prayed for). I realize that the asking for the cup to be removed was subordinate to God’s will being done, but that doesn’t change the fact that He asked for it and called it “my will.” He had a will in something that God had a will in and His will was different than the Father’s. Do we have no will in any matter that is not God’s will?
Is there any way in which this would happen to a prayer that you would pray? That is, you ask for something not to happen to you that appears to be impending while submitting to God’s will and God says, “No, I will not remove this” but “Yes, my will will be done.” And in that He gives you the strength (as Jesus was sent an angel for strength).
I might liken this to “casting your care upon God.” “God, my wife is dying and it is very hard. My desire is that she not die from this, but I trust your will and desire your will to be done over mine if it is not possible for her to live in your will. Please give me the strength to trust you no matter what.” In that case, I asked for God’s will to be done, asked for strength (grace), and told God what my care was in the matter. I can expect Him to do His will, give me strength, and care for me and my cares while also expressing my will.
Sorry to keep bothering you with this, but I don’t want to err one way or the other. I know the Scriptures about expecting what we ask for, but I have to be honest and say Jesus got a “no” to the request of His will while learning to submit to God’s will. If there is no prayer that might ever turn out that way for us then we can’t say Christ is our example in all things.
Hi David,
I don’t want to see one prayer, that is so unusual, so unique to one Person, Who is also the second Person in the Godhead, and say, this is how God wants us or me to pray. One of the prayers of the Old Testament, that believers don’t think about today as often, that is in the will of God, is the lament. A person is not a rock, like Job mentions, when he goes through his suffering. Can he express dislike to God, at least to God, about what he’s going through? This is hard, God. This is very difficult. I don’t want to go through this, but I will, if it is your will.
Brother Jon, thank you for your thoughts. I understand what you are saying. My thoughts seem to indicate there may be Scriptural precedent for that. However, I would still have to reconcile what you said with 1 John 5:14-15 and many places where Christ promised that we would receive exactly what we pray for. For if we ask a fish (healing in this case) and we receive bread (the blessing of souls saved as a result of God not healing) we did not receive that for which we asked. I’m not arguing that you are wrong, I’m seeking understanding of this matter.
Brother Kent, I am also reading E.M. Bounds book on prayer and he states that there are three exceptions to the law that God gives specific answers to specific prayers. Gethsemane, David, and Paul’s thorn in the flesh. He says of them, “We are constrained to believe these must have been notable as exceptions to God’s rule… There must have been unrevealed reasons that moved God to veer from His settled and fixed rule to answer prayer by giving the specific thing prayed for.”
Also, I don’t expect a quick response every time or at all for that matter. I’m thankful for your patience and desire to have open discussion about the things of God.
Jesus did not say you would not receive bread if you asked a fish. He said you would not receive something bad if you asked for something good, and in the context He was talking about asking for the working of the Spirit.
I firmly believe that we aren’t experts on what is best for us and that God sometimes gives us other than we ask because that other is better than what we asked for. If I ask for bread and He gives me fish, I’ll assume the fish was better for me in that case. That’s true even if we believe we are asking in His will. But I’m quite confident that if I ask for spiritual bread I won’t get a stone or a serpent.
God is not a machine. He wants to have a loving relationship with us. Prayer is not a formula and He is not a computer that spits out what we want just because we asked for it in the right way. My earthly father wasn’t like that and my heavenly Father isn’t, either.
Brother Jon,
You are certainly right about my misuse of that passage. I said that in haste to make a point and it was an unwise use of Scripture. Thank you for pointing that out. I will strive to be more careful in being faithful to God’s Word.