Arians

But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Mark 13:32)

The Arians, the ancient version of the Jehovah's Witnesses, triumph at this verse because they think it shows the Son is not of the same substance of His Father or He surely would have the same knowledge as His Father has. That is, He would share in His omniscience, but what we are bumping up against in this verse is the self-chosen limitations. The limitations that the Son of God chose to experience during the time of His humiliation.

St. Athanasius explains this well at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. "Of that day or that hour, no one knows not even Himself, that is, when viewed according to the flesh because He, too, as human, lives within the limits of the human condition. He said this to show that viewed as an ordinary man; He does not know the future, for ignorance of the future is characteristic of human condition. In has so far as He is viewed according to His divinity as the Word, that is, to come to judge, to be Bridegroom however He knows when and what hour He will come."

It is this exact sort of ignorance which allowed Jesus to increase in wisdom (Luke 2:52). Like a child today, He had to learn to read, understand, and remember He accommodates Himself to the condition of our humanity in so far as He sees it to be needful for us. But, even in the time of His humiliation, He would still stroll across water or perform many of the miracles we marvel at. So, He could have chosen to know the day and hour, but He chose that such will not be revealed to His human mind and understanding at that time. On the other side of the resurrection, Peter will confess, "Lord, you know everything..." (John 21:17), and that would be true too; it all depends on where you are in the economy of our salvation. The Eternal Logos knows all - the humanity assumed by the Logos grows in His knowledge according.

- Pr. Will Weedon