A. Only God is omniscient.
1. NIDNTT: Only God has infinite powers of knowledge and revelation (1:222, Blood, F. Laubach).
B. To know the totality of all the hearts of all people (Greek: καρδιογνῶστα), which was said to be known only by God (1 Kings 8:39; cf. 2 Chronicles 6:30), is the same thing as being omniscient (God).
1. NIDNTT: The kidneys (Heb. kelayot; Gk. nephros, only in plur.; in the NT only Rev. 2:23, citing Jer. 11:20) are frequently mentioned in close connection with the heart. They are - in the metaphorical sense - the seat of the deepest spiritual emotions and motives (Ps. 7:9[10]; 26:2; Jer. 17:10; 20:12; cf. 1 Sam. 24:5[6]; 25:31; leb conscience), so secret that men cannot fathom them. Only God is able to search and test them (2:181-182, Heart, T. Sorg).
2. NIDNTT: kardiognwstes is unknown to secular Gk. and to the LXX, and occurs in the NT only in Acts 1:24 and 15:8 and later in patristic writings. It describes God as the knower of hearts. The fact that God sees, tests and searches the hidden depths of the human heart is commonly stated in both the OT and the NT (1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 11:20; 17:9f.; Lk. 16:15; Rom. 8:27; 1 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 2:23). This belief in the omniscience of God is expressed succinctly by the adj. kardiognwstes (2:183, Heart, T. Sorg).
3. TDNT: The designation of God as ho kardiognwstes, "the One who knows the heart," expresses in a single term (Ac. 1:24; 15:8) something which is familiar to both the NT and OT piety (Lk. 16:15; R. 8:27; 1 Th. 2:4; Rev. 2:23 of Christ, cf. 1 Bas. 16:7; 3 Bas. 8:39; 1 Par. 28:9; Psalm 7:9; Ier. 11:20; 17:10; Sir. 42:18 ff.), namely that the omniscient God knows the innermost being of every man where the decision is made either for Him or against Him (3:613, kardiognwstes, Behm).
4. Danker: knower of hearts, one who knows the hearts, of God Ac 1:24; 15:8 (on these pass. s. JBauer, BZ 32, 88, 114-117); Hm 4, 3, 4. - M-M. DELG s.v. gignwskw. TW (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, kardiognwstes, page 509).
---> TW stands for the TDNT - Theologisches Worterbuch zum NT, ed. GKittel (d. 1948)
5. Keil and Delitzsch: The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts
and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God - a description of the only kardiognwstes, which is repeated
in Jer. 11.20, 20.12, Apoc. 2.23 (Commentary on the Old Testament, Psalms, Volume 5, C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, page 144).
6. Mounce: While people may be deceived by their own hearts and the deceitful hearts of others (Jas. 1:26), and while sin and evil reside in the human heart (Rom. 1:21; Jas. 3:14), before the Lord the heart is an open book. He knows our hearts (Lk. 9:47; 16:15), tests them (1Thess. 2:4), searches them (Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23), strengthens them (1 Thess. 3:13), and reveals their motives (1 Cor. 4:5) (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Heart, page 328).
7. EDNT: On the one hand God is "in heaven" (Matt 6:9f. par.; 7:11; 11:25) and strictly distinguishable from everything that is of this world. On the other hand, however, he is present (Matt 6:1-18; Rev 1:8) and omniscient (Matt 6:8, 32; Acts 1:24; 15:8) (2:141, theos, G. Schneider).
8. Joel B. Greene: The Lord is addressed as "the one who knows the heart" (kardiognwsta). This is an expression used only twice in the New Testament (here and in Acts 15:8), but that points to a concept almost proverbial in biblical literature - that is, that God is omniscient, who knows the innermost being of humans and foreordains human destiny. In this prayer, there is the consciousness that the Lord is all-knowing and has already chosen Judas's replacement. This understanding is clearly bound up thematically with the prior choosing of the apostles by Jesus (cf. Luke 6:12-16; Acts 1:2) and the prescience of God involving these events, as presented in the interpretation of the Old Testament Psalms in Acts 1:16, 20 (Into God's Presence: Prayer in the New Testament, Editor: Richard N. Longenecker:; From Chapter 9, Persevering Together in Prayer: The Significance of Prayer in the Acts of the Apostles by Joel B. Greene, page 190).
The following passages will demonstrate that the Lord Jesus knows the totality of all the hearts of all people which proves that He is omniscient (God).
C. Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. (Matthew 16:27, NASB)
a. great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds (Jeremiah 32:19, NASB)
b. For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. (Jeremiah 16:17, NASB)
c. John Nolland: To reward each according to his or her works or deeds is a function regularly attributed to God. Here this function is taken on by the Son of Man. (The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew, page 694).
D. John 2:24-25
But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man (John 2:24, 25, NASB).
1. TDNT: the Joahannine Christ knows the hearts (Jn. 2:25; 21:17) (TDNT 3:613, kardiognwstes, footnote #1 Behm).
2. TDNT: He has the ability to search the innermost impulses of the human heart, Jn. 2:24 f. (6:844, prophetes, Friedrich).
3. NIDNTT: He sees Nathanael under the fig tree (1:48) and the thoughts and inner nature of man (2:25) (3:517, See, K. Dahn).
4. A.H. Leitch: Christ possesses the attributes of God: omniscience (Jn. 2:24-25) (The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible 2:94, deity of Christ).
5. Geneva Study Bible: Christ is the searcher of hearts, and therefore truly God. (John 2:25)
http://www.studylight.org/com/gsb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=2
E. John 5:22
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22, NASB).
1. Since the Lord Jesus is the Judge of all it necessitates that He knows the totality of all the hearts of all people (cf. Mathew 25:31 f.)
2. Barnes: Judgeth no man - Jesus in these verses is showing his “equality with God.” He affirmed John 5:17 that he had the same power over the Sabbath that his Father had; in John 5:19, that he did the same things as the Father; in John 5:21 particularly that he had the same power to raise the dead. He now adds that God has given him the authority to “judge” men. The Father pronounces judgment on no one. This office he has committed to the Son. The power of judging the world implies ability to search the heart, and omniscience to understand the motives of all actions. This is a work which none but a divine being can do, and it shows, therefore, that the Son is equal to the Father.
http://www.studylight.org/com/bnb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=5
3. Gill: For the Father judgeth no man,.... That is, without the Son; which is another proof of their equality: for that he does judge is certain; he is the Judge of the whole earth; he is God that judgeth in the earth, or governs the world with his Son, who works together in the affairs of providence: he judged and condemned the old world, but not without his Son, who by his Spirit, or in his divine nature, went and preached to the spirits now in prison, then disobedient in the times of Noah; he judged and condemned Sodom and Gomorrah, but not without the Son; for Jehovah the Son rained, from Jehovah the Father, fire and brimstone upon those cities, and consumed them; he judged the people of Israel, and often chastised them for their sins, but not without his Son; the angel of his presence that went before them; he judges all men, and justifies and acquits whom he pleases, but not without his Son; but through his justifying righteousness, which he imputes to them; in doing which he appears to he a just judge, and to do right; and he will judge the world in righteousness at the last day by his Son, whom he has ordained; so as the Son does nothing without the Father, the Father does nothing without the Son, which shows perfect equality.
http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=5
4. Gill: Jesus Christ; to whom all judgment is committed, who is ordained Judge of quick and dead, and is every way fit for that office, being God as well as man, and so both omniscient and omnipotent (Romans 2:16)
http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?bk=44&ch=2
5. The same author (Paul) to the same recipient (Timothy) applies the omniscience of God to the Lord Jesus (2 Timothy 4:8 with 1 Timothy 5:24-25, cf. Psalms 9:8; 50:6; 72:2; 96:10, 13; 98:9).
a. in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (NASB).
In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul refers to the Lord Jesus as "the righteous Judge" in the context of His coming again/appearing. Three previous times in his letters to Timothy Paul used "appearing" in reference to the Lord Jesus (1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1).
b. The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed (1 Timothy 5:24-25, NASB).
In 1 Timothy 5:24-25 we read of the Omniscient God that no one can escape from.
1. NIDNTT: Only God has infinite powers of knowledge and revelation (1:222, Blood, F. Laubach).
B. To know the totality of all the hearts of all people (Greek: καρδιογνῶστα), which was said to be known only by God (1 Kings 8:39; cf. 2 Chronicles 6:30), is the same thing as being omniscient (God).
1. NIDNTT: The kidneys (Heb. kelayot; Gk. nephros, only in plur.; in the NT only Rev. 2:23, citing Jer. 11:20) are frequently mentioned in close connection with the heart. They are - in the metaphorical sense - the seat of the deepest spiritual emotions and motives (Ps. 7:9[10]; 26:2; Jer. 17:10; 20:12; cf. 1 Sam. 24:5[6]; 25:31; leb conscience), so secret that men cannot fathom them. Only God is able to search and test them (2:181-182, Heart, T. Sorg).
2. NIDNTT: kardiognwstes is unknown to secular Gk. and to the LXX, and occurs in the NT only in Acts 1:24 and 15:8 and later in patristic writings. It describes God as the knower of hearts. The fact that God sees, tests and searches the hidden depths of the human heart is commonly stated in both the OT and the NT (1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 11:20; 17:9f.; Lk. 16:15; Rom. 8:27; 1 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 2:23). This belief in the omniscience of God is expressed succinctly by the adj. kardiognwstes (2:183, Heart, T. Sorg).
3. TDNT: The designation of God as ho kardiognwstes, "the One who knows the heart," expresses in a single term (Ac. 1:24; 15:8) something which is familiar to both the NT and OT piety (Lk. 16:15; R. 8:27; 1 Th. 2:4; Rev. 2:23 of Christ, cf. 1 Bas. 16:7; 3 Bas. 8:39; 1 Par. 28:9; Psalm 7:9; Ier. 11:20; 17:10; Sir. 42:18 ff.), namely that the omniscient God knows the innermost being of every man where the decision is made either for Him or against Him (3:613, kardiognwstes, Behm).
4. Danker: knower of hearts, one who knows the hearts, of God Ac 1:24; 15:8 (on these pass. s. JBauer, BZ 32, 88, 114-117); Hm 4, 3, 4. - M-M. DELG s.v. gignwskw. TW (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, kardiognwstes, page 509).
---> TW stands for the TDNT - Theologisches Worterbuch zum NT, ed. GKittel (d. 1948)
5. Keil and Delitzsch: The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts
and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God - a description of the only kardiognwstes, which is repeated
in Jer. 11.20, 20.12, Apoc. 2.23 (Commentary on the Old Testament, Psalms, Volume 5, C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, page 144).
6. Mounce: While people may be deceived by their own hearts and the deceitful hearts of others (Jas. 1:26), and while sin and evil reside in the human heart (Rom. 1:21; Jas. 3:14), before the Lord the heart is an open book. He knows our hearts (Lk. 9:47; 16:15), tests them (1Thess. 2:4), searches them (Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23), strengthens them (1 Thess. 3:13), and reveals their motives (1 Cor. 4:5) (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Heart, page 328).
7. EDNT: On the one hand God is "in heaven" (Matt 6:9f. par.; 7:11; 11:25) and strictly distinguishable from everything that is of this world. On the other hand, however, he is present (Matt 6:1-18; Rev 1:8) and omniscient (Matt 6:8, 32; Acts 1:24; 15:8) (2:141, theos, G. Schneider).
8. Joel B. Greene: The Lord is addressed as "the one who knows the heart" (kardiognwsta). This is an expression used only twice in the New Testament (here and in Acts 15:8), but that points to a concept almost proverbial in biblical literature - that is, that God is omniscient, who knows the innermost being of humans and foreordains human destiny. In this prayer, there is the consciousness that the Lord is all-knowing and has already chosen Judas's replacement. This understanding is clearly bound up thematically with the prior choosing of the apostles by Jesus (cf. Luke 6:12-16; Acts 1:2) and the prescience of God involving these events, as presented in the interpretation of the Old Testament Psalms in Acts 1:16, 20 (Into God's Presence: Prayer in the New Testament, Editor: Richard N. Longenecker:; From Chapter 9, Persevering Together in Prayer: The Significance of Prayer in the Acts of the Apostles by Joel B. Greene, page 190).
The following passages will demonstrate that the Lord Jesus knows the totality of all the hearts of all people which proves that He is omniscient (God).
C. Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. (Matthew 16:27, NASB)
a. great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds (Jeremiah 32:19, NASB)
b. For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. (Jeremiah 16:17, NASB)
c. John Nolland: To reward each according to his or her works or deeds is a function regularly attributed to God. Here this function is taken on by the Son of Man. (The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew, page 694).
D. John 2:24-25
But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man (John 2:24, 25, NASB).
1. TDNT: the Joahannine Christ knows the hearts (Jn. 2:25; 21:17) (TDNT 3:613, kardiognwstes, footnote #1 Behm).
2. TDNT: He has the ability to search the innermost impulses of the human heart, Jn. 2:24 f. (6:844, prophetes, Friedrich).
3. NIDNTT: He sees Nathanael under the fig tree (1:48) and the thoughts and inner nature of man (2:25) (3:517, See, K. Dahn).
4. A.H. Leitch: Christ possesses the attributes of God: omniscience (Jn. 2:24-25) (The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible 2:94, deity of Christ).
5. Geneva Study Bible: Christ is the searcher of hearts, and therefore truly God. (John 2:25)
http://www.studylight.org/com/gsb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=2
E. John 5:22
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22, NASB).
1. Since the Lord Jesus is the Judge of all it necessitates that He knows the totality of all the hearts of all people (cf. Mathew 25:31 f.)
2. Barnes: Judgeth no man - Jesus in these verses is showing his “equality with God.” He affirmed John 5:17 that he had the same power over the Sabbath that his Father had; in John 5:19, that he did the same things as the Father; in John 5:21 particularly that he had the same power to raise the dead. He now adds that God has given him the authority to “judge” men. The Father pronounces judgment on no one. This office he has committed to the Son. The power of judging the world implies ability to search the heart, and omniscience to understand the motives of all actions. This is a work which none but a divine being can do, and it shows, therefore, that the Son is equal to the Father.
http://www.studylight.org/com/bnb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=5
3. Gill: For the Father judgeth no man,.... That is, without the Son; which is another proof of their equality: for that he does judge is certain; he is the Judge of the whole earth; he is God that judgeth in the earth, or governs the world with his Son, who works together in the affairs of providence: he judged and condemned the old world, but not without his Son, who by his Spirit, or in his divine nature, went and preached to the spirits now in prison, then disobedient in the times of Noah; he judged and condemned Sodom and Gomorrah, but not without the Son; for Jehovah the Son rained, from Jehovah the Father, fire and brimstone upon those cities, and consumed them; he judged the people of Israel, and often chastised them for their sins, but not without his Son; the angel of his presence that went before them; he judges all men, and justifies and acquits whom he pleases, but not without his Son; but through his justifying righteousness, which he imputes to them; in doing which he appears to he a just judge, and to do right; and he will judge the world in righteousness at the last day by his Son, whom he has ordained; so as the Son does nothing without the Father, the Father does nothing without the Son, which shows perfect equality.
http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=5
4. Gill: Jesus Christ; to whom all judgment is committed, who is ordained Judge of quick and dead, and is every way fit for that office, being God as well as man, and so both omniscient and omnipotent (Romans 2:16)
http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?bk=44&ch=2
5. The same author (Paul) to the same recipient (Timothy) applies the omniscience of God to the Lord Jesus (2 Timothy 4:8 with 1 Timothy 5:24-25, cf. Psalms 9:8; 50:6; 72:2; 96:10, 13; 98:9).
a. in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (NASB).
In 2 Timothy 4:8 Paul refers to the Lord Jesus as "the righteous Judge" in the context of His coming again/appearing. Three previous times in his letters to Timothy Paul used "appearing" in reference to the Lord Jesus (1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1).
b. The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed (1 Timothy 5:24-25, NASB).
In 1 Timothy 5:24-25 we read of the Omniscient God that no one can escape from.
Comment