A long time back, a long-lasting commentator and Bible-rejecter answered to one of our Bible examinations, messaging the accompanying contention to me: "John 1:18 says, 'No man has seen God whenever;… .' Jesus was seen of men and the Bible says nobody has ever observed God. Along these lines, Jesus couldn't have been God." While I never did answer to him (it would one say one was of his many "stupid and unlearned inquiries," and those are dependably to be disregarded; 2 Timothy 2:23), by what means would it be advisable for us to answer? For those of us who genuinely need to know God's fact, who don't make finicky inquiries just to challenge God's Word, however who make inquiries exclusively for better understanding God's valuable Word, in what manner would it be advisable for us to see John 1:18?
We will first review the "Old Testament" Scriptures to take in the accompanying:
Beginning 17:1 says, "And when Abram was ninety years of age and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; stroll before me, and be thou culminate."
Beginning 32:30 says, "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God up close and personal, and my life is safeguarded." ("Peniel" is Hebrew for "the substance of God.")
Beginning 35:9 says, "And God showed up unto Jacob once more, when he left Padanaram, and favored him."
1 Samuel 3:21 says, "And the LORD showed up again in Shiloh: for the LORD uncovered himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the expression of the LORD."
1 Kings 3:5 says, "In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a fantasy by night: and God stated, Ask what I will give thee."
1 Kings 9:2 says, "That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had showed up unto him at Gibeon."
2 Chronicles 3:1 says, "At that point Solomon started to construct the place of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord showed up unto David his dad, in the place that David had arranged in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite."
There are different illustrations, however for space's purpose, we will just rundown their references (you may take a gander at them in your Bible). Attempt Genesis 18:1, Genesis 26:2, and 1 Kings 11:9. As these verses illustrate, individuals did without a doubt see "God" (or "the LORD") in the Old Testament economy. He truly appeared to them and they saw Him up close and personal as we would see someone else before us. Things being what they are, how could the Apostle John state, "No man hath seen God whenever?" Is the Bible mixed up? No, really, we require a sound meaning of the name "God" (the scoffers have no such working definition since they don't satisfactorily think about the Book they insult and repudiate).
More often than not, when God the Son is suggested, the Bible utilizes terms, for example, "the Lord Jesus Christ," "Jesus," "Jesus Christ," "the Lord Jesus," "the Lord," "Christ," "Christ Jesus," and so forth. The punctuation of John 1:18 characterizes "God" for us: "No man hath seen God whenever; the main conceived Son, which is in the chest of the Father, he hath proclaimed him." In this verse, "Child" is clearly God the Son, Jesus Christ. There would someone say someone is else said in the verse, and the Person is "God." Who might this Person be? The main coherent answer is this would be characteristic of God the Father. Not generally, but rather more often than not, in the "New Testament" Scriptures, the name "God" infers God the Father. John 1:18 is truly conveying that nobody has seen God the Father. Things being what they are, who were individuals—Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, David, Solomon, and so on—finding in the Old Testament when "God" or "the LORD" appeared to them? They would have seen God the Son, Jesus Christ, in a "theophany," a pre-manifest appearance!
While nobody can see God the Father (He is a Spirit being), they can see Jesus Christ His Son. Jesus Christ is such an ideal impression of Father God in the majority of His greatness and shrewdness and sacredness, to view Jesus Christ is as though you were taking a gander at Father God Himself. They are that firmly associated with each other! Henceforth, Jesus Christ is the best way to Father God, the one go between amongst God and men (1 Timothy 2:5). Whatever Jesus Christ was doing, to watch Him execute that work was to watch Father God working in and through Him to complete that work!
John 14:6-8 clarifies: "[6] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, reality, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, yet by me. [7] If ye had known me, ye ought to have known my Father additionally: and from consequently ye know him, and have seen him. [8] Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. [8] Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so lengthy timespan with you, but then hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou at that point, Shew us the Father? [10] Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I talk unto you I talk not of myself: but rather the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."
Jews 1:3 says that Jesus Christ is, "… the shine of [Father God's] magnificence, and the express picture of his individual." Colossians 2:9 says, "For in [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead substantial." And 2 Corinthians 4:6, "Christ, who is the picture of God." (As noted prior, it would be ideal if you watch how "God" in that last verse is demonstrative of the Father.)
Back to John 1:18: "No man hath seen God whenever; the main sired Son, which is in the chest of the Father, he hath announced him." Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father are so interlaced, so joined in adoration (John 17:24), Jesus Christ is talked about as being "in the chest of the Father." Jesus Christ is the specific dearest of all Father God knows! God the Father's association with Jesus Christ is the best all things considered. The energizing the truth is that, in Jesus Christ, we Christians are similarly as valuable to Father God as Jesus may be! "To the acclaim of the greatness of his elegance; wherein he hath made us acknowledged in the dearest" (Ephesians 1:6). Colossians 1:13 calls Jesus Christ "his dear Son"— Jesus is darling of Father God and in Christ we are adored of Father God, as well!
Since God the Father and God the Son are so firmly related, Father God proclaims Himself to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, by His activities and His words, makes the imperceptible Father God in the world. Once more, Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God the Father and men (1 Timothy 2:5). To all the more likely comprehend the connection between Jesus Christ and His Heavenly Father, we have to look no more remote than His supplication to His Father only preceding His double-crossing, capture, and demise on Calvary's pitiless cross (if it's not too much trouble note particularly the bolded explanations). Note the expressions of John part 17:
"[1] These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to paradise, and stated, Father, the hour is come; celebrate thy Son, that thy Son likewise may commend thee: [2] As thou hast given him control over all tissue, that he should give endless life to the same number of as thou hast given him. [3] And this is life endless, that they may know thee the main genuine God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. [4] I have celebrated thee on the earth: I have completed the work which thou gavest me to do."
"[5] And now, O Father, praise thou me with thine possess self with the brilliance which I had with thee before the world was. [6] I have showed thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. [7] Now they have realized that everything at all thou hast given me are of thee. [8] For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have gotten them, and have known without a doubt that I turned out from thee, and they have trusted that thou didst send me. [9] I appeal to God for them: I implore not for the world, but rather for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. [10] And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am celebrated in them."