Does Jesus' Human Mind Know When I Pray to Him?

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TryingToLearn

Puritan Board Freshman
I get that when we pray to Jesus, we're praying to Jesus as a person, but at the same time I realize that when Jesus was on Earth, He probably didn't know if people were praying to Him, and since he's forever human, I don't see why this would change now that He's been glorified.

Like for example, on Earth if you asked Him if He knew the time of His return, He would tell you "no", so I'm wondering if in Heaven right now if someone asked Him whether I'm praying to Him right now, whether He would respond with "I don't know" (though He obviously knows in His divine nature).

Anyways, I never really thought about this much before, but it does seem strange that as a limited human being in Heaven, He likely doesn't know when people are praying to Him (though I guess this is true of His time on Earth too, so maybe that makes it less weird, idk).
 
I think I like to envision the abilities of Jesus going way beyond my comprehension. He told the apostles that he is with them always, so his presence is with Christians in a real way. Also, when he spoke to Saul, who later became Paul, he asked him why he was persecuting him. So he knew what was going on on earth, and it seems like he is very much linked to his body the Church. Also, through Jesus all things are held together.

I just have a hard time imagining two different forms of Jesus, one that is a human in heaven, and one that is divine in the universe, so I treat them as one and the same.
 
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There is only one Person of Christ. When he was incarnate as a man, he set aside his divine prerogatives—such as omniscience and impassibility—he did not split into separate minds. His natures are forever distinct but not separate.

Further, he is eternally begotten, not made, and his nature is unchanging. There was never a point in time where he acquired an additional, human mind. The Person is the totality of consciousness and mental processes and activities; to split the Person into “ranges of consciousness” is necessarily to create two persons.

God is not schizophrenic.

Since the resurrection, the Son of God no longer sets aside the prerogatives of his Godhead. Therefore, his knowledge is infinite. There is no separate human Person to know or not to know. His two natures are distinct, but not separate, in one Person.

The separation or mere junction of the two natures or accessing relation between two separate Minds is known as Nestorianism.

However, the Son of God has two natures, two sets of inclinations and dispositions, which may be called two wills and two intelligences—yet indivisible and unchanging, one purpose, one volition, and one Mind / one Person.

“Of what being? It must be of him who has been proved to be the First Cause of all things, the source of all the power, wisdom, and goodness displayed in the universe. It cannot be the universe itself, for that has been shown to be but an effect, to have before and behind it a Mind, a Person.” His intelligences may be called “minds,” but they are distinct, not separate.

“It is the tendency to so emphasize the distinction of the two complete, unmodified natures in Christ, as to throw into the shade the equally revealed fact of the unity of his Person… Nestorius supposed, in accordance with the Antiochian mode of thought, that the divine and the human natures of Christ ought to be distinctly separated, and admitted only a συνάφεια (junction) of the one and the other.”

“7. State the five points involved in the church doctrine as to the Person of Christ.

“1st. Jesus of Nazareth was very God, possessing the divine nature and all its essential attributes. 2d. He is also true man, his human nature derived by generation from the stock of Adam. 3d. These natures continue united in his Person, yet ever remain true divinity and true humanity, unmixed and as to essence unchanged. So that Christ possesses at once in the unity of his Person two spirits with all their essential attributes, a human consciousness, mind, heart, and will, and a divine consciousness, mind, feeling, and will. “Gemina substantia, gemina mens, gemina sapientia robur et virtus.”—“Admonitio Neostadtiensis,” 1581, of which Ursinus was the principal author.

“Yet it does not become us to attempt to explain the manner in which the two spirits mutually affect each other, or how far they meet in one consciousness, nor how the two wills co-operate in one activity, in the union of the one person. 4th. Nevertheless they constitute as thus united one single Person, and the attributes of both natures belong to the one Person. 5th. This Personality is not a new one constituted by the union of the two natures in the womb of the Virgin, but it is the eternal and immutable Person of the λογος, which in time assumed into itself a nascent human nature, and ever subsequently embraces the human nature with the divine in the Personality which eternally belongs to the latter.”

—AA Hodge, Outlines of Theology

“30. Perfect God, perfect man, subsisting of a rational soul and human flesh. 31. Equal to the Father in respect to his divinity, less than the Father in respect to his humanity. 32. Who, although he is God and man, is not two but one Christ. 33. But one, not from the conversion of his divinity into flesh, but from the assumption of his humanity into God. 34. One not at all from confusion of substance, but from unity of person. 35. For as a rational soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ.”
—Athanasian Creed
 
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There is only one mind of Christ.

I'm not sure about this. The distinction of natures would seem to imply that Christ has "two minds." Is mind proper to person or nature? If nature, Christ has two. If person, God has three. If God only has one (proper to nature) and yet Christ only has one (specifically to divine nature), then either we are mindless, or our minds are not redeemed (and in either: we cannot take every thought captive to Christ).

Asymmetrical accessing relation b/t the two minds, but only one knowing subject

Jacob, would you say that treating the human mind as its own knowing subject, or more broadly either nature as its own subject / agent, is implicitly Nestorian?
 
I'm not sure about this. The distinction of natures would seem to imply that Christ has "two minds." Is mind proper to person or nature? If nature, Christ has two. If person, God has three. If God only has one (proper to nature) and yet Christ only has one (specifically to divine nature), then either we are mindless, or our minds are not redeemed (and in either: we cannot take every thought captive to Christ).
Two intelligences but one Mind, two natures but one Person.
 
I'm not sure about this. The distinction of natures would seem to imply that Christ has "two minds." Is mind proper to person or nature? If nature, Christ has two. If person, God has three. If God only has one (proper to nature) and yet Christ only has one (specifically to divine nature), then either we are mindless, or our minds are not redeemed (and in either: we cannot take every thought captive to Christ).



Jacob, would you say that treating the human mind as its own knowing subject, or more broadly either nature as its own subject / agent, is implicitly Nestorian?
Probably. That was always a danger
 
Minds aren’t acting agents. Persons are. The human mind has limited access to the divine mind. The divine mind has full access to the human. Read Thomas V Morris
So is that a "no" or "yes" or "maybe" to whether the human mind of Jesus knows when I pray to Him?
 
Basically yes. The human mind had limited access to the divine
Ok. I don't understand why I can't ask whether the human mind of Jesus knows whether I'm praying to Him, then?

If we just don't want to say that "minds know", then I guess let's phrase it like this: the human mind of Jesus did not have access to the knowledge of the timing of His return. Does the human mind of Jesus have access to the knowledge of the fact that I am praying to the person of Jesus at any given moment?
 
Ok. I don't understand why I can't ask whether the human mind of Jesus knows whether I'm praying to Him, then?

If we just don't want to say that "minds know", then I guess let's phrase it like this: the human mind of Jesus did not have access to the knowledge of the timing of His return. Does the human mind of Jesus have access to the knowledge of the fact that I am praying to the person of Jesus at any given moment?
In John 14:13-14, Jesus said this about prayer.

13 "You can ask for anything in My name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.

14 Yes, ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it!"

So we can pray to Jesus. If I'm not praying to the person of Jesus, I don't know who else I am praying to then. It seems like one would have to say there are two separate Jesuses if prayers are not going to the risen, glorified Jesus.
 
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In John 14:13-14, Jesus said this about prayer.

13 "You can ask for anything in My name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.

14 Yes, ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it!"

So we can pray to Jesus. If I'm not praying to the person of Jesus, I don't know who else I am praying to then. It seems like one would have to say there are two separate Jesuses if prayers are not going to the risen, glorified Jesus.
No doubt that it's the person of Jesus who answers our prayers, as acts shouldn't be separated from the person performing them but I don't think this shows the human nature/mind of Jesus (the mind that learned and grew and was ignorant of some things like His return) was aware (even during His time on Earth) of when people prayed to Him. I'm not even sure how a limited human mind could even be aware of 1,000's of prayers all potentially happening at once.
 
No doubt that it's the person of Jesus who answers our prayers, as acts shouldn't be separated from the person performing them but I don't think this shows the human nature/mind of Jesus (the mind that learned and grew and was ignorant of some things like His return) was aware (even during His time on Earth) of when people prayed to Him. I'm not even sure how a limited human mind could even be aware of 1,000's of prayers all potentially happening at once.
Good point. So what's the conclusion on the matter?
 
Yes.

There is no separation between the human mind and the divine mind. There is no separation in the natures or Person of the Son of God. There is a distinction but no separation.

To say that there are separate minds or that “one accesses the other” is Nestorianism. It is heresy and against the creeds and confessions.

The answer to the question is “YES,” with the explanation that there is no separation between the human intelligence and the divine intelligence. Jesus, the man on earth, was still 100% God and 100% man, yet he emptied himself to be obedient unto death. After, the resurrection, he no longer empties himself. He knows everything. Any other answer than Yes is heresy.
 
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Here's what Ligonier says (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-omnipresent-son-of-god/):

Jesus’ divine nature makes Him always present with us. He is omnipresent in His deity as God’s Son. Thus, we can commune with Him wherever we are. We commune with the whole Christ, including His humanity, because the omnipresent Son of God closes the geographical gap between us and our Savior’s humanity, which, like ours, is in only one place at a time. Because Christ’s divine nature is united to His human nature, we meet with Jesus in His humanity and in His divinity when we fellowship with the Son of God. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes: “The person of Christ is still a perfect union of a divine nature and a human nature. The human nature is in heaven. The divine nature is not limited to the physical confines of the body of Jesus… . The divine nature retains its property of omnipresence. The person of Christ can be everywhere, but that ability is through the power of the divine nature, not the human nature” (Truths We Confess, vol. 1, pp. 246–247).

Though this still makes me wonder what it means to "commune with Christ in His humanity" when we pray to Him. Does this then mean that He is aware of it in Heaven? Wouldn't this mean He was also aware of it anytime anyone in 1st century Palestine prayed to God while He was on Earth? I mean it's sure mysterious how a human mind could be aware of so many prayers at any given time, but if it's true, it's true.
 
Ok. I don't understand why I can't ask whether the human mind of Jesus knows whether I'm praying to Him, then?

If we just don't want to say that "minds know", then I guess let's phrase it like this: the human mind of Jesus did not have access to the knowledge of the timing of His return. Does the human mind of Jesus have access to the knowledge of the fact that I am praying to the person of Jesus at any given moment?
The short answer is maybe, but given the unity of the knowing subject, it doesn’t matter
 
Here's what Ligonier says (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-omnipresent-son-of-god/):



Though this still makes me wonder what it means to "commune with Christ in His humanity" when we pray to Him. Does this then mean that He is aware of it in Heaven? Wouldn't this mean He was also aware of it anytime anyone in 1st century Palestine prayed to God while He was on Earth? I mean it's sure mysterious how a human mind could be aware of so many prayers at any given time, but if it's true, it's true.
Christ is a divine person, so he is aware of it. We commune with his humanity because his deity is simple
 
Here's what Ligonier says (https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/the-omnipresent-son-of-god/):



Though this still makes me wonder what it means to "commune with Christ in His humanity" when we pray to Him. Does this then mean that He is aware of it in Heaven? Wouldn't this mean He was also aware of it anytime anyone in 1st century Palestine prayed to God while He was on Earth? I mean it's sure mysterious how a human mind could be aware of so many prayers at any given time, but if it's true, it's true.
The questions seem to presuppose the heresy of Nestorianism, that the Son of God has separate natures and substances. That is the opposite of unity. That would be neither Trinitarian nor compatible with the faith.

Because in Christ’s Person, the human (although distinct) is not separate from the divine, the questions could also deny God’s omniscience, which is to deny that God is God.

This, too, is heresy—
“The human mind (of the Son of God) has limited access to the divine mind.” It divides Christ, separating the natures and creating two persons. Classic Nestorianism.

“In the Godhead, however, there is but one substance, and one intelligence, one will, etc., and yet three persons eternally co-exist of that one essence, and exercise that one intelligence and one will, etc. In Christ on the contrary, there are two spirits, two intelligences, two wills, and yet all the while one indivisible Person.”

—AA Hodge, Outlines of Theology
 
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