John 1:14, 18 (ESV)And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
No one has seen God? But, the Word is God (John 1:1), and John 1:14 says Jesus is the Word. How can this be?
I get questions like this more often than I would like to think. The two verses seem to contradict, but do they?
First, we can see from the writings of John he was not irrational or unintelligent. He would not have written a contradiction within five verses of each other even if he were not inspired. Secondly, there is a difference between a statement that is contrary (seems contradictory but isn’t) and an actual contradictory statement. Let’s look at this briefly.
“I have a monitor on my desk. I have no monitor on my desk.” So long as these two statements are speaking of the same time, place, and under the same conditions, the two statements are contradictory.
“I was in New York today. I was in California today.” These two statements at first seem contradictory, but they can both be true. Then they are contrary. How does this apply to “No one has ever seen God?” I’m getting there.
Jesus is God the Son Who has taken on the form of a man:
Phil 2:5-8 (ESV) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So, Jesus took on human form, but He was still God. If He stopped being God and became only a man, we would have a God who had changed His nature. God would only be two Persons: the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Son would no longer be God. God cannot cease to exist, and God doesn’t change (Mal. 3:6).
So, as Jesus walked the earth as a man, He was still fully God. He claimed this by calling God His Father (John 5:18) which made Him equal with God.
So, okay, Jesus is both God and man. How does that make any difference?
God is spirit. Jesus said so Himself: John 4:24 (ESV) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
We don’t see spirit individuals unless they manifest themselves as physical beings like the angels at Jesus’ empty tomb (Matt. 28:1-7)
Let me put this together now. Jesus is both human and divine. We cannot see the divine because the divine, the God nature, is invisible. His followers only saw the man, Jesus, not His divine nature. No one has seen God at any time.
Why is this important?
We face a lot of challenges to our faith from all sides. We need to be able to answer questions, put up a defense of our faith, whether the questions are easy or, as in this case, more difficult:
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV) but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Better understanding of Scripture is also a powerful weapon against doubt. The fewer questions we have of our faith, the more certain we understand it to be.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 