Thomas Aquinas 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)

1. Previously, the Evangelist showed how the apostles received grace from Christ as its author; here he shows how they received it from him as a teacher.

   In this regard, he does three things.

   First, he shows the need for this teaching: no man has ever seen God.

   Second, he shows the competency of the teacher: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.

   Third, he shows the teaching itself: has made him known.

2. The need for this teaching arose from the lack of wisdom among humanity. The Evangelist implies this by alluding to the prevailing ignorance concerning God, saying, no man has ever seen God. He does this fittingly, for wisdom properly consists in the knowledge of God and divine things. Hence, Augustine says that wisdom is the knowledge of divine things, just as science is the knowledge of human things.

3. But this statement of the Evangelist, no man has ever seen God, seems to contradict many passages of divine Scripture. For it is said, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne (Isaiah 6:1), and that the name of the Lord of hosts is invoked, who sitteth over it upon the cherubims (2 Samuel 6:2). Again, the Lord says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

   If someone were to answer this last statement by saying that while no one has seen God in the past, they will see him in the future as the Lord promises, the Apostle would exclude this, saying, he dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:16).

   Because the Evangelist says, no man has ever seen, someone might argue that if God cannot be seen by men, then at least he can be seen by angels, especially since God says, their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father (Matthew 18:10).

   But it cannot be understood this way either, because it is said, the sons of the resurrection will be like the angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22:30). If, therefore, the angels see God in heaven, then it is plain that the sons of the resurrection also see him: when he appears we shall be like him, and we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

4. How then are we to understand what the Evangelist says: no man has ever seen God?

   To understand this, we must know that God is said to be seen in three ways. First, through a created substitute presented to the bodily sight, as Abraham is believed to have seen God when he saw three and adored one (Genesis 18:2). He adored one because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity in the three figures, whom he first thought to be men and later believed to be angels. Second, God is seen through a representation in the imagination; in this way Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne (Isaiah 6:1). Many visions of this sort are recorded in the Scriptures. Third, he is seen through an intelligible species abstracted from material things; in this way he is seen by those who, considering the greatness of creatures, see with their intellect the greatness of the Creator. As it is said, from the greatness and beauty of creatures, their Creator can be seen accordingly , and the invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made (Romans 1:20). In another way, God is seen through a certain spiritual light infused by God into spiritual minds during contemplation; this is how Jacob saw God face to face (Genesis 32:30). According to Gregory, this vision came about through his lofty contemplation.

   However, the vision of the divine essence is not attained by any of these visions. No created species—whether it informs an external sense, the imagination, or the intellect—is representative of the divine essence as it is. A person knows a thing in its essence only when the species he has in his intellect represents that thing as it is. Therefore, the vision of the divine essence is not attained through any created species.

   The reason no created species can represent the divine essence is plain: nothing finite can represent the infinite as it is. Since every created species is finite, it cannot represent the infinite as it is. Furthermore, God is his own existence; therefore, his wisdom, greatness, and everything else are identical with his being. But all of these attributes cannot be represented through one created thing. Therefore, the knowledge by which God is seen through creatures is not a knowledge of his essence, but a knowledge that is obscure, mirrored, and from a distance. Everyone sees him, in one of the ways mentioned above, from afar (Job 36:25). Through all these acts of knowing, we do not learn what God is, but rather what he is not, or that he exists. Hence, Dionysius says in his Mystical Theology that the perfect way God is known in this present life is by removing from consideration all creatures and everything we can understand.

5. Some have said that the divine essence will never be seen by any created intellect, and that it is seen neither by the angels nor by the blessed. But this statement is shown to be false and heretical in three ways.

   1. First, it is contrary to the authority of divine Scripture: we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2); this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3).
   2. Second, the brightness of God is the same as his substance, for he does not give forth light by participating in light, but is light itself.
   3. And third, it is impossible for anyone to attain perfect happiness except in the vision of the divine essence. This is because the natural desire of the intellect is to understand and know the causes of all the effects it perceives. This desire cannot be fulfilled unless the intellect understands and knows the first, universal cause of all things—a cause that is not composed of cause and effect, as secondary causes are. Therefore, to take away the possibility of seeing the divine essence is to take away happiness itself.

   Therefore, for the created intellect to be happy, it is necessary that the divine essence be seen. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

6. Three things should be noted about the vision of the divine essence.

   1. First, it will never be seen with a bodily eye, either by sense or by imagination, since only physical, sensible things are perceived by the senses, and God is not a physical being: God is spirit (John 4:24).
   2. Second, as long as the human intellect is in the body, it cannot see God, because it is weighed down by the body and cannot attain the summit of contemplation. Thus, the more a soul is free of passions and is purged of attachments to earthly things, the higher it rises in the contemplation of truth and tastes how sweet the Lord is. The highest degree of contemplation is to see God in his essence. Therefore, as long as a person lives in a body that is necessarily subject to many passions, he cannot see God in his essence. Man will not see me and live (Exodus 33:20). For the human intellect to see the divine essence, it must wholly depart from the body, either by death, as the Apostle says, we would prefer to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), or by being completely abstracted from the bodily senses in a state of spiritual transport, as is mentioned of Paul: and I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knows) (2 Corinthians 12:3).
   3. Third, no created intellect, however abstracted from the body (either by death or by spiritual transport), that sees the divine essence can comprehend it in any way. It is commonly said that although the whole divine essence is seen by the blessed—since it is most simple and has no parts—it is not seen wholly, because this would be to comprehend it. For “wholly” implies a certain mode, but any mode of God is the divine essence itself. Hence, one who does not see him wholly does not comprehend him. One is properly said to comprehend a thing through knowledge when he knows that thing to the extent that it is knowable in itself; otherwise, although he may know it, he does not comprehend it. For example, one who knows the proposition that a triangle has three angles equal to two right angles by a dialectical syllogism does not know it as well as it is knowable in itself; thus, he does not know it wholly. But one who knows this by a demonstrative syllogism does know it wholly. Each thing is knowable to the extent that it has being and truth, while a person knows according to the capacity of his cognitive power. A created intellectual substance is finite; hence, it knows in a finite way. And since God is infinite in power and being, and consequently is infinitely knowable, he cannot be known by any created intellect to the degree that he is knowable. Thus, he remains incomprehensible to every created intellect. Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge (Job 36:26). He alone contemplates himself comprehensively, because his power to know is as great as his reality in being. O most mighty, great, powerful, your name is Lord of hosts, great in counsel, incomprehensible in thought (Jeremiah 32:18).

7. Based on the explanations above, we can understand no man has ever seen God in three ways.

   1. First, no man has ever seen God—that is, the divine essence—with the eye of the body or of the imagination.
   2. Second, no man, living in this mortal life, has ever seen the divine essence in itself.
   3. Third, no man, whether human or angel, has ever seen God with a vision of comprehension.

   So when it is said that certain people have seen God with their eyes or while living in the body, he was not seen in his essence, but through a created substitute, as was explained.

   And thus, it was necessary for us to receive wisdom, because no man has ever seen God.

8. The Evangelist mentions the competent teacher of this wisdom when he adds, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. He shows the competence of this teacher in three ways: by a natural likeness, by a singular excellence, and by a most perfect consubstantiality.

9. He shows competence by natural likeness, because a son is naturally like his father. Therefore, it also follows that a person is called a son of God insofar as he shares in the likeness of the natural Son. One knows God insofar as one has a likeness to him, since knowledge is attained through assimilation. Hence it is said, now we are sons of God (1 John 3:2), and he immediately adds, when he comes, we will be like him, and we will see him as he is. Therefore, when the Evangelist says Son, he implies a likeness as well as a full aptitude for knowing God.

10. Because this teacher knows God in a more special way than other sons do, the Evangelist suggests this by his singular excellence, saying, the only begotten. It is as if to say: he knows God more than other sons do. Hence, because he is the natural Son, having the same nature and knowledge as the Father, he is called the only begotten. The Lord said to me: ‘you are my Son’ (Psalms 2:7).

11. Although he may know in a unique way, he would lack the ability to teach if he did not know completely. Hence, the Evangelist adds a third point: his consubstantiality with the Father, when he says, who is in the bosom of the Father. The word “bosom” should not be taken here to mean the folds of a garment; rather, it indicates the secret things of the Father, for what we carry in our bosom we hold in secret. The secret things of the Father refer to his unsurpassed power and knowledge, since the divine essence is infinite. Therefore, in that bosom—that is, in the most secret reality of the paternal nature and essence, which transcends all power of any creature—is the only begotten Son. And so he is consubstantial with the Father.

    What the Evangelist signifies by bosom, David expressed by “womb,” saying, from the womb, before the daystar—that is, from the inmost secret reality of my essence, incomprehensible to every created intellect—I begot you (Psalms 110:3), consubstantial with me, and of the same nature, power, virtue, and knowledge. What man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). Therefore, the Son comprehends the divine essence, which is his own.

12. But the soul of Christ, which knows God, does not comprehend him, because comprehension is attributed only to the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. So the Lord also says, no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him (Matthew 11:27). We should understand this as referring to the knowledge of comprehension, about which the Evangelist seems to be speaking here. For no one comprehends the divine essence except the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    And so we have shown the competence of the teacher.

13. We should note that the phrase, who is in the bosom of the Father, rejects the error of those who say that the Father is invisible, but the Son is visible, though he was not seen in the Old Testament. From the fact that he is in the Father’s bosom, it is clear that he is naturally as invisible as the Father. So it is said of him, truly, you are a hidden God (Isaiah 45:15). And so Scripture mentions the incomprehensibility of the Son: no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27); what is the name of his son, if you know? (Proverbs 30:4).

14. Then the Evangelist indicates the way this teaching is delivered, saying that it is the only begotten Son who has made him known. In the past, the only begotten Son revealed knowledge of God through the prophets, who made God known to the extent that they shared in the eternal Word. Hence, they said things like, The Word of the Lord came to me. But now the only begotten Son has made him known to the faithful: it is I who spoke; here I am (Isaiah 52:6); God, who in many and varied ways, spoke to the fathers in past times through the prophets, has spoken to us in these days in his Son (Hebrews 1:1).

    And this teaching surpasses all other teachings in dignity, authority, and usefulness, because it was delivered directly by the only begotten Son, who is the first wisdom. It was first announced by the Lord, and confirmed to us by those who heard him (Hebrews 2:3).

15. But what did he make known, other than the one God? Even Moses did this: hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). How did this add to what Moses taught? It added the mystery of the Trinity, and many other things that neither Moses nor any of the prophets made known.