The Importance of John 1:18 - "No One Has Seen the Father"

 

“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” – John 1:18

The Gospel of John is my favorite book of the Bible for a couple of reasons. First, it gives us more glimpses of the life and teaching of Christ than are found in the other three gospels, and second, it’s explanatory in a way that the other gospels are not. All four gospels have theological content, but John is especially rich. This is to be expected given that John was the last gospel to be written. After decades in which Christianity had spread far and wide, and persons of all nationalities and backgrounds had been brought into the faith, issues had arisen that needed to be addressed authoritatively, particularly concerning the person and work of Christ. In a real sense, I would call John an apostolic “commentary” on the gospel, illustrated with examples.

One of the challenges to understanding this gospel is noting the nuanced ways in which John repeats himself in order to convey emphasis and provide explanation. Connected references are scattered all throughout the book, and are sometimes expressed in slightly different terms. There are also some passages that are explanatory narration but are usually treated as dialogue.

One of John’s points of emphasis and explanation is found in chapter one, verse eighteen, where he tells us that “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son [Christ], who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” Taken by itself, this reference may seem rather vague and disconnected from the context, but its importance becomes clearer when considered in light of other passages in the gospel, such as the following:

 

“If I told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” – John 3:12-13

 

“He who comes from above is above all, he who is from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who is from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for he gives the Spirit without measure.” – John 3:31-34

As these passages illustrate, John 1:18 establishes the authority of Jesus Christ as the unique messenger sent from God, and thus uniquely bearing the authority of God. No one has seen the Father (God) except the Son. No one else has ascended into heaven (that is to receive a message from God), or descended from heaven (that is, to relay a message from God). Christ has come down from above, from God with the truth of God, and is thus supremely authoritative in what he says about God.

“And He was saying to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” – John 8:23

 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” – John 5:19

 

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:15

What Christ did before men, he had seen the Father doing. What he said to men, he had heard the Father saying. This is what John is referring to when he says of Christ, “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies.” In relation to this testimony, John tells us that “no one receives it,” but he does not mean no one at all, for he immediately follows this with: “Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.” When John says that “no one receives his testimony,” he means no one who is “of the earth.” Those who are Christ’s he considers to be “not of this world,” and it is they who receive the testimony concerning Christ, as evidenced by the fact that they keep his word:

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” – John 15:18-19

 

“I have manifested Your Name to the men whom you gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word…I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” – John 17:6, 14

This is the purpose of John’s repeated declarations concerning Christ and the Father, as attested to by Christ’s miracles, which were performed by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1, Acts 10:38), for as John tells us, “the one whom God sends speaks the very words of God.” And how do we know who it is whom God has sent and who thus speaks his words? “For he [God] gives the Spirit without measure.” The power of God—and thus the authentication of Christ as God’s son and his message as God’s message—was confirmed in the miracles of Christ, some of which were unique in scripture and were even reluctantly acknowledged as authentic even by his enemies.

So when you read John’s gospel in the future, look for these phrases and note how often they’re repeated. These are John’s way of explaining why the word spoken to men through Christ is the uniquely authoritative word of the Father.

“These things been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ [the one true Son of God who has come from God with the word of God]; and that believing [keeping his word] you may have life in His Name” (John 20:31).

*All scriptures are taken from the NASB.

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