Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 14:9

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?" — John 14:9 (ASV)

Jesus was both pleased and saddened by Philip’s request: pleased by his earnestness and saddened by his obtuseness. His union with the Father was so natural that he was astonished that Philip had not observed it. “I am in the Father, and... the Father is in me” (v.10) was his description of the relationship both in instructing the public and in his final prayer to the Father (cf. 10:38; 14:20; 17:21). For this reason he could say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” No material image or likeness can adequately depict God. Only a person can give knowledge of him since personality cannot be represented by an impersonal object.