'No one has ever seen God' and the Old Testament appearances of God (John 1:18)

The question. Says John 1:18 says that no one has ever seen God. Scripture states the same axiom elsewhere (Exod 33:20; John 5:37; 6:46; 1 John 4:12; 1 Tim 6:16). Yet the Old Testament reports that people saw God. At Peniel (Hebrew פְּנִיאֵל, peni'el, "face of God"), Jacob says, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared" (Gen 32:30 [MT 32:31], BSB). Moses, Aaron, and the elders "saw the God of Israel" (וַיִּרְאוּ אֵת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, vayyir'u et elohe yisra'el) and "ate and drank" (Exod 24:10–11, BSB). Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord" (וָאֶרְאֶה אֶת־אֲדֹנָי, va'er'eh et-adonay) "seated on a throne" (Isa 6:1, BSB; cf. 6:5). See also Gen 16:13; Num 12:8; Judg 13:22. The Hebrew Scholar has linked these passages to John 1:18 (xref.John.1.18.Gen.32.30.heb; xref.John.1.18.Exod.24.9-Exod.24.11.heb; xref.John.1.18.Isa.6.1.heb; xref.John.1.18.Gen.16.7-Gen.16.13.heb; xref.John.1.18.Exod.3.2-Exod.3.6.heb; xref.John.1.18.Judg.13.21-Judg.13.22.heb).

What the Old Testament texts themselves say. Says The same texts describe what was seen: - At Peniel, the one who wrestles with Jacob is "a man" (Gen 32:24), whom Hosea calls "the angel" (Hos 12:4 [MT 12:5]; LXX 12:4 μετὰ ἀγγέλου, meta angelou, "with an angel"). Jacob says he saw God "face to face" and that his life was spared (Gen 32:30). The LXX names the place Εἶδος θεοῦ (eidos theou, "form of God"; Swete Gen 32:30–31). - At Sinai, the description goes no further than what was "under His feet" (Exod 24:10). The LXX reads "they saw the place where the God of Israel stood" (εἶδον τὸν τόπον οὗ ἱστήκει ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, eidon ton topon hou histēkei ho theos tou Israēl). - In one chapter the Lord speaks with Moses "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exod 33:11), and Moses is told "you cannot see My face" (33:20). He is granted only God's "back" (33:23; xref.John.1.18.Exod.33.11.heb; xref.John.1.18.Exod.33.23.heb). - Isaiah sees "the Lord seated on a throne," with seraphim calling to one another (Isa 6:1–5). At Horeb Israel "saw no form; there was only a voice" (Deut 4:12, BSB).

Implies The texts themselves qualify these sightings: - Gen 32:30 is a real claim to have seen God, and it sits in tension with Exod 33:20. The narrative qualifies it by the form in which God was met, "a man" (32:24) and, in Hosea, "the angel." Jacob's surprise that he lived assumes the danger that Exod 33:20 names (note.language.John.1.18.not-see-my-face). - Exod 33:11 and 33:20 stand in the same chapter, so the writer did not regard them as contradictory. "Face to face" in 33:11 therefore cannot mean the sight of the face withheld in 33:20; the comparison "as a man speaks to his friend" points to direct, personal speech. - Isa 6 does not call the experience a vision. Yet the book's heading calls Isaiah's prophecy "the vision" (חֲזוֹן, khazon, Isa 1:1), and the heavenly throne room with seraphim marks the scene as visionary. Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned, not God's unveiled being.

Reconciliation. Implies John 1:18 denies an unmediated sight of God as he is in himself, his "face" or unveiled glory. The Old Testament reports real appearances of God, but they were mediated and accommodated: in human form, in fire and cloud, in vision, or as his "back" and "glory." John does not mean that the Old Testament saints saw nothing. He means that no one has seen God so as to know him fully except the Son, who "has seen the Father" (6:46) and has made him known (1:18; 14:9). This mediated-appearance reading takes both Testaments at their word, and it is a common answer in historic Protestant interpretation (note.language.John.1.18.not-see-my-face).

Implies John himself connects at least one Old Testament vision with the Son. "Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him" (John 12:41, BSB; τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ). In context "his" and "him" refer to Jesus (12:37, 42). The glory John has primarily in view is Isaiah's throne vision (Isa 6:1–5), because 12:40 has just quoted Isa 6:10. The Servant passage quoted at 12:38 (Isa 53:1, the close of Isa 52:13–53:1, where the Servant is "exalted") is also in view, so the glory of the enthroned Lord and the glory of the exalted Servant belong together. SBLGNT reads ὅτι ("because") in 12:41, while Byz and TR read ὅτε ("when"). The sense is unaffected.

The Angel of the Lord and Christophany views. Uncertain The Angel of the Lord (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה, mal'akh YHWH) speaks as God and is identified with God in several passages, yet is also distinguished from him (Gen 16:7–13; 22:11–18; 31:11–13; 48:15–16; Exod 3:2–6; 23:20–21, "My Name is in him"; Judg 6:11–24; 13:21–22; cf. Zech 1:12). There are three main views: 1. Christophany. These and similar appearances were appearances of the pre-incarnate Son. The view has a long history, for example Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 56–62. Many Reformation and post-Reformation Protestant interpreters held it, e.g., Calvin, Institutes 1.13.10. It fits 1:18, since the one who makes the invisible Father known is the Son even before the incarnation (cf. 8:56–58; 12:41). A Christophany is not an incarnation; the Word "became flesh" once (1:14). 2. A created angel who represents God and speaks in his name, so that God is "seen" only through his messenger. 3. A theophany of the one God not assigned to a particular person.

This commentary's position: the mediated-appearance reconciliation is firm (Implies). The Christophany identification is the preferred view, probable in the light of John 1:18 with 12:41 and 8:56–58. Keep it Uncertain for any particular Old Testament passage, because those texts do not themselves name the Son.

A further line of inquiry (Heiser). Uncertain Michael Heiser (The Unseen Realm, chs. 16–17, cited by reference only) argues that the Old Testament presents YHWH both as invisible and as visibly, even bodily, present. In his reading that presence often takes the form of "the word of the Lord" that "came" in a vision (Gen 15:1) and by which the Lord "revealed Himself" (1 Sam 3:21), or of the Angel who bears God's Name (Exod 23:20–21). He calls this a "two Yahwehs" pattern, links it to later Jewish debate about "two powers in heaven," and presents it as an Old Testament anticipation of the Godhead revealed in John's Logos (summary in our words; note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.greek-logos). This is a line of inquiry, not established background. In its favor, it takes the Old Testament texts seriously and coheres with John 1:1, 18 and 12:41. Four cautions apply: - The "two powers" evidence comes largely from later rabbinic sources, and its relevance to the first century is debated. - Some of its readings, such as a visible "word" in Gen 15:1, rest on contested exegesis. - Its language must be read within biblical monotheism (Deut 6:4): orthodox theology confesses distinct persons in the one God, never two gods. - Heiser's wider divine-council framework lies outside this passage and is not adopted here.

The commentary does not build its exegesis on this proposal.