Did Jesus read minds or perceive them?

Question

In this passage, most English translations say "knowing their thoughts". In the footnote it says "perceiving" their thoughts. I feel like this is a pretty monumental difference as perceiving thoughts is something anyone can do but knowing thoughts, in the sense of reading someone's mind, is a purely divine ability.

Matthew 9:2-4 ESV And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Answer 1

The textual variants are ἰδὼν and εἰδώς. According to Tischendorf, ἰδών is the well attested variant.

ἰδών is a participle declined in the aorist tense, active voice, nominative case, masculine gender, and singular number. It is derived from the aorist tense verb εἶδον.

εἰδώς is a participle declined in the perfect tense, active voice, nominative case, masculine gender, and singular number. It is derived from the perfect tense verb οἶδα.

The present tense of both verbs is εἴδω/ἴδω. But, aorist versus perfect tense hardly changes the essential meaning of a verb/participle. So, why the difference among English translations? As Thayer (p. 172) notes in his lexicon,

So, the aorist εἶδον and perfect οἶδα, tenses derived from the obsolete present εἴδω/ἴδω, possess distinct meanings: "to see" and "to know," respectively.

Matt. 12:25 happens to use the same expression, εἰδὼς...τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις. However, like Matt. 9:4, there is a textual variant.

Here I believe the Codex Sinaitus favors εἰδώς (it has ϊδωϲ).

In any case, context seems to suggest εἰδώς since thoughts can't be perceived, but they can be known (well, read below).

There's a prophecy by the prophet Isaiah commonly accepted to be regarding the King Messiah.

In Isa. 11:1-3, it is written,

¹ And a shoot shall come forth from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall bear fruit from his roots. ² And the spirit of Yahveh shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of Yahveh, ³ and his smelling is with the fear of Yahveh, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor shall he decide after the hearing of his ears.

^א וְיָצָא חֹטֶר מִגֵּזַע יִשָׁי וְנֵצֶר מִשָּׁרָשָׁיו יִפְרֶה ^ב וְנָחָה עָלָיו רוּחַ יהוה רוּחַ חָכְמָה וּבִינָה רוּחַ עֵצָה וּגְבוּרָה רוּחַ דַּעַת וְיִרְאַת יהוה ^ג וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת יהוה וְלֹא לְמַרְאֵה עֵינָיו יִשְׁפּוֹט וְלֹא לְמִשְׁמַע אָזְנָיו יוֹכִיחַ

Translators vary diversely in their translation of וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת יהוה, but I believe i have translated it appropriately. The King Messiah smells (yes, this is what the verb means) with the fear of Yahveh. The previous clause states that the "spirit...of the fear of Yahveh" rests upon him. In other words, it is the spirit resting upon the King Messiah that enables him to smell with the fear of Yahveh.

Notice how the King Messiah functions as a judge (see also v. 4), but he is not limited to merely judging by the sight of his eyes or hearing of his ears. In other words, he has the ability to judge, well, supernaturally. How does he do this? With the spirit of the fear of Yahveh resting upon him. And, what does "smell" have to do with this?

In the Babylonian Talmud, Seder Nezikin, Tractate Sanhedrin, Folio 93b, it is written,

Raba said: He smells [a man] and judges, as it is written (Isa. 11:3-4), "and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor decide after the hearing of his ears, yet he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth."

רבא אמר דמורח ודאין דכתיב (ישעיהו יא) ולא למראה עיניו ישפוט (ישעיהו יא) ושפט בצדק דלים והוכיח במישור לענוי ארץ

Bar Koziba reigned two and a half years, and then he said to the Rabbis, "I am the Messiah." They said to him, "With the Messiah, it is written that he smells and judges. Let us see whether he smells and judges." As soon as they saw that he did not smell and judge, they killed him."

בר כוזיבא מלך תרתין שנין ופלגא אמר להו לרבנן אנא משיח אמרו ליה במשיח כתיב דמורח ודאין נחזי אנן אי מורח ודאין כיון דחזיוהו דלא מורח ודאין קטלוהו

So, with the Lord Jesus Christ, he didn't need to be a witness to one's deeds, or to hear testimony from witnesses. He already knew a man's thoughts and could judge with absolute certainty.

Answer 2

It apparently seems as though Christ could, indeed, "read people's minds," for this particular subject came up to me recently when I was studying through Matthew Chapter 9, particularly in reference to the Woman With The Issue of Blood, which begins in verse 20 of Chapter 9.

In verse 21, it reads:

"For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."

The key phrase there is "within herself," which of course implies and states clearly enough that she was essentially "thinking to herself." She didn't say it out-loud or merely speak it, or else it wouldn't say, 'within herself'.

Verse 22 is the implication that Christ 'read her mind', in essence:

"But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour."

Christ heard what the woman said, and then He turned around and answered her according to what He heard her say "within herself."

To me, that seems as clear as day and night!

Answer 3

Most commentary on this passage (and Mt 12:25) stumbles on the rather misleading translation of "ἐνθυμήσεις" into English as "thoughts". In ancient Greek philosophy, "thumos" was quite distinct from a person's intellect (nous, noeo, noema) or reason (logizomai). Thumos, according to Liddell and Scott, is "soul, spirit, as the principle of life, feeling and thought, esp. of strong feeling and passion". Wikipedia has a fine summary which says, in part, "used to denote emotions, desire, or an internal urge." Translating any of these as "thought" muddies them at best; they should instead be carefully distinguished to help modern people begin to grasp their subtle differences.

Perhaps one of the best modern introductions to the concept of "thumos" is Got thumos? by Brett & Kate McKay, where thumos is shown to be the actor when one hears stirring music, or cries out in grief. It is also tied directly to ambition and competitive honor. For example,

Thumos is most closely associated, however, with anger. In Greek writings thumos “seethes,” “rages,” and “boils.” It is a special kind of anger – activated when a man’s honor is violated, when his reputation is on the line, when his family and property are threatened. It drives a man to stand up for himself, for his country, for his loved ones.

The scribes felt (not thought) in their chests that they needed to defend God's honor, or their own, from Jesus. They were visibly indignant. And how does someone else "see" someone's emotion? Bodily! Their stance, expression, shaking hands, etc. There is no need for supernatural perception in these verses.

Therefore, here's a better translation of Mt 9:3-4:

3 And look, some of the theologians said among themselves; this one slanders! 4 And Jesus, having seen their emotions, said; to what purpose do you all feel malignant things in your hearts?

and Mt 12:24-25:

24 But when the separatists heard they said; this one does not throw out the demons except in Beelzebul, ruler of the demons! 25 But having seen their emotion he said to them, "every kingdom divided against itself is deserted, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand."

Note here that Jesus does not need to read their minds; they have just spoken what they're thinking. Instead, he sees their passion.

Now, if you really want a rendition of the same scene with "thought" (dianoema), you can look at Luke 11:17:

but he, having seen their deduction, said to them...

or, for a place where "having seen" is used with "reason" (dialogismos), there is Luke 9:47:

but Jesus, having seen the deliberation of their heart...

However, both of these are prefixed with "dia" which indicates the process more than the result or a point event. Jesus "saw their wheels turning" on the outside like anyone else did; however, nobody else was the subject of their deliberations or had the authority over them as he did, so he spoke up.

Did Jesus read minds? Probably not. Did he use divine abilities to perceive? Probably not in these passages. Was he in a unique position to spark the emotions and engage with the thoughts of the people around him? Most definitely.

Answer 4

Your question immediately brought to my mind a verse in John's Gospel which precedes what is perhaps the most famous chapter in the Bible, save perhaps for Psalm 23. Here is the verse in context:

"Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people. He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man. Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, came to Jesus at night . . ." (2:25-3:2a NET).

The way John segues from the end of chapter 2 to the beginning of chapter 3 was deliberate on his part, I believe. John focuses first on the crowds of people at the feast of Passover in Jerusalem, implying they believed in Jesus' name simply because of the many miracles he performed. To them, Jesus was an entertaining--perhaps even spellbinding--novelty act. When Jesus began making some "difficult statements" about his flesh being true food and his blood being true drink, however, many of his fair weather friends withdrew from him (see John 6:52 ff., esp. v.66).

Even after explaining to his disciples, including those he knew who would not walk with anymore, that his words were not to be taken literally but spiritually, John inserts a parenthetical remark into his narrative which is remarkably similar to his statement in John 2:24-25,

"(Jesus knew from the beginning who wouldn't believe and the one who would betray him.), John 6:64b CEB).

Putting just the two passages together, we can see that Jesus could in fact read people's minds, and perhaps more importantly he could read their hearts!

A question which might naturally arise in some people (as it does in mine), "Well, doesn't it make sense that the God-Man, Jesus, could read people's minds? If he was indeed God in the flesh, then wouldn't his omniscience simply "kick in" whenever he needed it, much like Superman's super powers? Frankly, I do not have a simple answer to that question!

Yes, Jesus was God in human form (see Philippians 2:7-8). His self-emptying (< Gk. kenosis), however, involved his refusal to hold onto or grasp some of the attributes of God which were rightfully his from eternity past. Instead, he veiled them, as it were, so that his life as a flesh-and-blood-man would include such things as "increasing in wisdom." God, of course, cannot increase in wisdom. The God-Man, however, could--and did! (see Luke 2:40 and 52).

In conclusion, as to how far Jesus' natural learning process contributed to his knowing what was in man (see supra) is probably indeterminable. That he did is really incontestable. Where his human intuition and discernment left off and his divine intuition and discernment took up, however, is part and parcel of what theologians call the hypostatic union of God and man in the man Christ Jesus.

Answer 5

In fact, both are true: on the one hand He knows in His feature of "knower of hearts"/καρδιογνώστης (Acts 1:24), which is exclusively the divine feature, for even the highest of angels cannot know human heart, but only God; however, on the other hand, He knows that after Him authoritatively forgiving sins - which also is an exclusive feature and authority belonging to God only - such thoughts would most definitely arise in their minds, and most probably their bewildered faces also revealed that those thoughts indeed came to them. But Jesus can know human hearts also directly, for He can know who comes to Him with a good heart and who not, when outwardly it is impossible to guess, and thus He entrusts Himself only to those who come with good heart, but not to those who came with a crooked heart (cf. John 2:24-25).

To conclude: a) He can know human thoughts as God in His divine feature of καρδιογνώστης; and b) since He is also fully human, He can discern the thoughts of men in a given context as the most penetrative psychologist would do.