John Calvin 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 ever seen God. This is most appropriately added to confirm the preceding statement. For the knowledge of God is the door by which we enter into the enjoyment of all blessings; and since it is by Christ alone that God makes Himself known to us, therefore it also follows that we should seek all things from Christ. This order of doctrine should be carefully observed. It seems no remark is more common than this: that each of us receives, according to the measure of his faith, what God offers to us. However, there are few who think that we must bring the vessel of faith and of the knowledge of God with which we draw.

When he says that no man hath seen God, we must not understand him to refer to the outward perception of the bodily eye. For he means generally that, as God dwells in inaccessible light (1 Timothy 6:16), He cannot be known except in Christ, who is His lively image.

This passage is usually explained in this way: that as the naked majesty of God is concealed within Himself, He never could be comprehended, except insofar as He revealed Himself in Christ. Therefore, it was only in Christ that God was formerly known to the fathers.

However, I rather think that the Evangelist here adheres to the comparison already stated, namely, how much better our condition is than that of the fathers. This is because God, who was formerly concealed in His secret glory, may now be said to have rendered Himself visible. For certainly, when Christ is called the lively image of God (Hebrews 1:3), this refers to the peculiar privilege of the New Testament.

Similarly, the Evangelist describes, in this passage, something new and uncommon when he says that the only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, has made known to us what was formerly concealed.

Therefore, he magnifies the manifestation of God, which has been brought to us by the gospel, in which he distinguishes us from the fathers and shows that we are superior to them, as Paul also explains more fully in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4. For he maintains that there is now no longer any veil, such as existed under the Law, but that God is openly beheld in the face of Christ.

If it is thought unreasonable that the fathers are deprived of the knowledge of God, who had the prophets daily going before them and holding out the torch, I reply that what is ascribed to us is not simply or absolutely denied to them. Instead, a comparison is made between the lesser and the greater, as it were, because they had nothing more than little sparks of the true light, the full brightness of which daily shines around us.

If it is objected that at that time God was also seen face to face (Genesis 32:30; Deuteronomy 34:10), I maintain that that sight is not at all to be compared with ours. But as God was accustomed at that time to exhibit Himself obscurely and, as it were, from a distance, those to whom He was more clearly revealed say that they saw Him face to face.

They say so with reference to their own time, but they did not see God in any other way than wrapped up in many folds of figures and ceremonies. That vision which Moses obtained on the mountain was remarkable and more excellent than almost all the rest; and yet God expressly declares,

thou shalt not be able to see my face, only thou shalt see my back (Exodus 33:23).

By this metaphor he shows that the time for a full and clear revelation had not yet come. It must also be observed that, when the fathers wished to behold God, they always turned their eyes towards Christ.

I do not only mean that they beheld God in His eternal Speech, but also that they attended, with their whole mind and with their whole heart, to the promised manifestation of Christ. For this reason, we find that Christ later said, Abraham saw my day (John 8:56), and that which is subordinate is not contradictory.

It is therefore a fixed principle that God, who was formerly invisible, has now made Himself visible in Christ.

When he says that the Son was in the bosom of the Father, the metaphor is borrowed from men, who are said to receive into their bosom those to whom they communicate all their secrets. The breast is the seat of counsel. He therefore shows that the Son was acquainted with the most hidden secrets of His Father, in order to inform us that we have the breast of God, as it were, laid open to us in the Gospel.