62. Moreover Paul, the teacher of the
Gentiles, forestalls the impious falsehood, that the Only-begotten God
was partially nescient. Listen to his words, Being instructed
in love, unto all riches of the fulness of understanding, unto
knowledge of the mystery of God, even Christ, in Whom are all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden Col. ii. 2, 3.. God, even Christ, is the mystery,
and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him.
But a portion is one thing, the whole another: a part is not the
same as all, nor can all be called a part. If the
Son does not know the day, all the treasures of knowledge are not in
Him; but He has all the treasures of knowledge in Him, therefore He is
not ignorant of the day. But we must remember that those
treasures of knowledge were hidden in Him, though not, because
hidden, therefore wanting. As in God, they are in Him: as
in the mystery, they are hidden. But Christ, the mystery of God,
in Whom are all the treasures of knowledge hidden, is not Himself
hidden from our eyes and minds. Since then He is Himself the
mystery, let us see whether He is ignorant when He does not know.
If elsewhere His profession of ignorance does not imply that He does
not know, here also it will be wrong to call Him ignorant, if He does
not know. In Him are hidden all the treasures of knowledge, and
so His ignorance is an economy rather than ignorance. Thus we can
assign a reason for His ignorance, without the assumption that He did
not know.