- John 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time."
- Exodus 33:20 "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live."
- John 6:46 "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God [Jesus], he hath seen the Father."
- I John 4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time."
vs.
- Genesis 32:30 "For I have seen God face to face."
- Exodus 33:11 "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend."
- Isaiah 6:1 "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple."
- Job 42:5 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee."
- http://www.ffrf.org/books/lfif/?t=contra
So has anyone?
< There is more than one person in the Godhead, so the doctrine of the Trinity can be an explanation for the apparent contradiction. This means that at no given time has anyone ever seen all three.
If the people of the Old Testament were seeing God, the Almighty God, and Jesus said that no one has ever seen the Father (John 6:46), then they were seeing God Almighty, but not the Father. It was someone else in the Godhead.
If God is a Trinity, then John 1:18 is not a problem either because in John chapter one, John writes about the Word (Jesus) and God (the Father). In verse 14 it says the Word became flesh. In verse 18 it says no one has seen God. Since Jesus is the Word, God then, refers to the Father. This is typically how John writes of God: as a reference to the Father. We see this verified in Jesus own words in John 6:46 where He said that no one has ever seen the Father. Therefore, Almighty God was seen, but not the Father. It was Jesus before His incarnation. There is more than one person in the Godhead and the doctrine of the Trinity must be true.
http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/genesis-deuteronomy/has-anyone-seen-god-or-not
>> But this sounds a little preachy... it ignores a possible contradiction by a play of words.
[need explanation]
< STRONG No man can see the face of God in His full glory.
The verses “No man shall see Me, and live,” (Ex 33:20) and “He who is…the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see,” (1 Tim 6:15) make it clear that no man can see God and live.
However, in Ex 33:20, Moses had asked God to show him His glory, to which He replied no one could see Him and live. This is because God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). He dwells in unapproachable light, which no man can behold (1 Tim 6:15). Other scriptures on His glory include 1 John 1:5 “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all,” and Acts 26:13 “At midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me.”
>> STRONG How do you explain the verses in Revelation and Isaiah 6, where God is clearly seen, in His glory?
Take Rev 1:13-17, where John describes God while in His glory:
“And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sowrd and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.”
< STRONG They could see God in His glory only while in the Spirit.
Only while in the Spirit did John the apostle see the Lord in His glory: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice…” (Rev 1:10). The same is true in Isaiah 6. They looked upon Him with their spirit, not while in their natural bodies. If they had seen Him while in their human bodies, they would have died.
< STRONG God could be seen when His glory was concealed.
God concealed His glory in order for man to behold Him. This is evidenced in Ex 40:34, when a cloud covered the tabernacle, and in Deut 5:22, when a cloud and thick darkness was on Mt. Sinai. The people at Mt. Sinai exclaimed,
“Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire…Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us...” (Deut 5:24-25).The people were actually frightened; His glory was so great, even through the thick darkness of the cloud.
"God hides Himself in the cloud. He is too magnificent for mankind to behold. If the cloud did not screen out His countenance, all around Him would be consumed and immediately die."
- John Bevere in “The Fear of the Lord”
>> What about those who claim to see Jesus’ face in a vision? What about the disciples who saw Him after He rose from the dead?
2 Cor 4:6 says the glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus. The disciples saw Jesus several times after He rose (i.e. John 21:9).
< He concealed His glory.
The disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus had their “eyes restrained” (Luke 24:16). Jesus did not fully display His glory. Paul wrote in 1 Cor 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” His glory is veiled by darkened glass, in essence, concealing the glory.
< God wasn’t literally seen face to face. It was a figurative expression.
“In Exodus 33, face to face is a figurative expression, meaning free and open fellowship. Moses had not - and could not - see the actual face of God the Father in His glory. This is the sense in which John says No one has seen God at any time (1 John 4:12). In the spiritual sense which Moses had a face to face relationship with God, we can have a free and open relationship with God. But in the ultimate sense, it will wait until then, when we are united with Jesus in glory.”
– David Guzik
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