Charles Ellicott Commentary John 1:18

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him]." — John 1:18 (ASV)

No man hath seen God at any time.—The full knowledge of truth is one with the revelation of God, but no man has ever had this full knowledge. The primary reference is still to Moses (Exodus 33:23), but the words hold true for every attempt to bridge from the human standpoint the gulf between humanity and God. The world by wisdom knew not God (1 Corinthians 1:21), and systems which have resulted from attempts of the finite to grasp the Infinite are but as the vision of a dream or the wild fancy of a wandering mind.

The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.—The oneness of essence and of existence is made prominent by a natural figure, as necessary in Him who is to reveal the nature of God. The phrase is in is probably to be explained as referring to the return to, and presence with, the Father after the Ascension.

Some of the oldest manuscripts and other authorities read here, Only begotten God, which is in the bosom of the Father. It will be convenient to group together the passages of this Gospel where there are important various readings in one Note.

He hath declared him.—He, emphatically as distinct from all others (this being the chief office of the Word); declared, rather than hath declared. Him is not found in the original text, which means He was interpreter, He was expositor. The word was used technically for the interpretation of sacred rites and laws handed down by tradition.

Plato, e.g., uses it of the Delphian Apollo, who is the national expositor (Rep. iv. 427). The verse is connected, by a likeness of Greek words too striking to be accidental, with the question Jesus the son of Sirach asked some three centuries before: Who hath seen Him that he might tell us? .

The answer to every such question, whether dimly thought or clearly asked, is that no one has ever so known God as to be His interpreter; that the human conception of God as terrible, great, and marvellous is not that of His essential character; and that the true conception is that of the loving Father in whose bosom is the only Son, and that this Son is the only true Word, uttering to humanity the will, character, and being of God.