"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."
1 John 4:12
Part 1
“No man hath seen God at any time.”
This is the second time that John has written this statement. The other time that he made this comment was in his Gospel (1:18).
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” (John 1:18).
The Greek phrase is literally translated, “God, no one has ever seen.”1 John’s meaning is that no one has ever seen God with the naked eye, for God is invisible.
“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live,” (Exodus 33:20).
“And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice,” (Deuteronomy 4:12).
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen,” (1 Timothy 1:17).
The reason that no human can see God the Father is that He has no physical body.
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:24).
So that God could identify with man. and that He might be able to give Himself to die for man’s sin, He became a man, “put on human flesh.”
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth,” (John 1:14).
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,” (1 John 1:1-3).
God the Father, although we worship and fellowship with Him, He has not ever been seen by man, but His Son, Jesus, has been witnessed by man for 33 years as He lived among men during His life here on earth. We will be with Him eternally. He is the Bridegroom, and we, His Church are His Bride.
If we are going to understand Biblical love, we need to understand these truths about God.
Come back tomorrow and let’s see what God will do with love in the believer.
1. A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.