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Selected Verse: John 1:18 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Joh 1:18	King James	No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
No man--"No one," in the widest sense. hath seen God--by immediate gaze, or direct intuition. in the bosom of the Father--A remarkable expression, used only here, presupposing the Son's conscious existence distinct from the Father, and expressing His immediate and most endeared access to, and absolute acquaintance with, Him. he--emphatic; As if he should say, "He and He only hath declared Him," because He only can.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

No man--"No one," in the widest sense.

hath seen God--by immediate gaze, or direct intuition.

in the bosom of the Father--A remarkable expression, used only here, presupposing the Son's conscious existence distinct from the Father, and expressing His immediate and most endeared access to, and absolute acquaintance with, Him.

he--emphatic; As if he should say, "He and He only hath declared Him," because He only can.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
No man hath seen God at any time - This declaration is probably made to show the superiority of the revelation of Jesus above that of any previous dispensation. It is said, therefore, that Jesus "had an intimate knowledge of God," which neither Moses nor any of the ancient prophets had possessed. God is invisible: no human eyes have seen him; but Christ had a knowledge of God which might be expressed to our apprehension by saying that he saw him. He knew him intimately and completely, and was therefore fitted to make a fuller manifestation of him. See Joh 5:37; Joh 6:46; Jo1 4:12; Exo 33:20; Joh 14:9. This passage is not meant to deny that men had witnessed "manifestations" of God, as when he appeared to Moses and the prophets (compare Num 12:8; Isa 6:1-13); but it is meant that no one has seen the essence of God, or has "fully known God." The prophets delivered what they "heard" God speak; Jesus what he knew of God as his equal, and as understanding fully nature. The only-begotten Son - See the notes at Joh 1:14. This verse shows John's sense of the meaning of that phrase, as denoting an intimate and full knowledge of God. In the bosom of the Father - This expression is taken from the custom among the Orientals of reclining at their meals. See the notes at Mat 23:6. It denotes intimacy, friendship, affection. Here it means that Jesus had a knowledge of God such as one friend has of another - knowledge of his character, designs, and nature which no other one possesses, and which renders him, therefore, qualified above all others to make him known. Hath declared him - Hath fully revealed him or made him known. Compare Heb 1:1, Heb 1:4. This verse proves that Jesus had a knowledge of God above that which any of the ancient prophets had, and that the fullest revelations of his character are to be expected in the gospel. By his Word and Spirit he can enlighten and guide us, and lead us to the true knowledge of God; and there is no true and full knowledge of God which is not obtained through his Son. Compare Joh 14:6; Jo1 2:22-23.

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]
hath seen God Compare (Gen 32:20); (Exo 24:10); (Exo 33:18); (Jdg 6:22); (Jdg 13:22); (Rev 22:4). The divine essence, God, veiled in angelic form, and especially as incarnate in Jesus Christ, has been seen of men. (Gen 18:2); (Gen 18:22); (Joh 14:8); (Joh 14:9). declared Literally, led him forth, that is, into full revelation. (Joh 14:9).

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
No man hath seen God at any time (Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε) God is first in the Greek order, as emphatic: "God hath no man ever seen." As to the substance of the statement, compare Joh 3:11; Exo 33:20; Jo1 4:12. Manifestations of God to Old Testament saints were only partial and approximate (Exo 33:23). The seeing intended here is seeing of the divine essence rather than of the divine person, which also is indicated by the absence of the article from Θεὸν, God. In this sense even Christ was not seen as God. The verb ὁράω, to see, denotes a physical act, but emphasizes the mental discernment accompanying it, and points to the result rather than to the act of vision. In Jo1 1:1; Jo1 4:12, Jo1 4:14, θεάομαι is used, denoting calm and deliberate contemplation (see on Joh 1:14). In Joh 12:45, we have θεωρέω, to behold (see on Mar 5:15; see on Luk 10:18). Both θεάομαι and θεωρέω imply deliberate contemplation, but the former is gazing with a view to satisfy the eye, while the latter is beholding more critically, with an inward spiritual or mental interest in the thing beheld, and with a view to acquire knowledge about it. "Θεωρεῖν would be used of a general officially reviewing or inspecting an army; θεᾶσθαι of a lay spectator looking at the parade" (Thayer). The only begotten son (ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς) Several of the principal manuscripts and a great mass of ancient evidence support the reading μονογενὴς Θεὸς, "God only begotten." Another and minor difference in reading relates to the article, which is omitted from μονογενὴς by most of the authorities which favor Θεὸς. Whether we read the only begotten Son, or God only begotten, the sense of the passage is not affected. The latter reading merely combines in one phrase the two attributes of the word already indicated - God (Joh 1:1), only begotten (Joh 1:14); the sense being one who was both God and only begotten. Who is in the bosom (ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον) The expression ὁ ὢν, who is, or the one being, is explained in two ways: 1. As a timeless present, expressing the inherent and eternal relation of the Son to the Father. 2. As interpreted by the preposition. εἰς, in, literally, into, and expressing the fact of Christ's return to the Father's glory after His incarnation: "The Son who has entered into the Father's bosom and is there." In the former case it is an absolute description of the nature of the Son: in the latter, the emphasis is on the historic fact of the ascension, though with a reference to his eternal abiding with the Father from thenceforth. While the fact of Christ's return to the Father's glory may have been present to the writer's mind, and have helped to determine the form of the statement, to emphasize that fact in this connection would seem less consistent with the course of thought in the Prologue than the other interpretation: since John is declaring in this sentence the competency of the incarnate Son to manifest God to mankind. The ascension of Christ is indeed bound up with that truth, but is not, in the light of the previous course of thought, its primary factor. That is rather the eternal oneness of the Word with God; which, though passing through the phase of incarnation, nevertheless remains unbroken (Joh 3:13). Thus Godet, aptly: "The quality attributed to Jesus, of being the perfect revealer of the divine Being, is founded on His intimate and perfect relation to God Himself." The phrase, in the bosom of the Father, depicts this eternal relation as essentially a relation of love; the figure being used of the relation of husband and wife (Deu 13:6); of a father to an infant child (Num 11:12), and of the affectionate protection and rest afforded to Lazarus in Paradise (Luk 16:23). The force of the preposition εἰς, into, according to the first interpretation of who is, is akin to that of "with God" (see on Joh 1:1); denoting an ever active relation, an eternal going forth and returning to the Father's bosom by the Son in His eternal work of love. He ever goes forth from that element of grace and love and returns to it. That element is His life. He is there "because He plunges into it by His unceasing action" (Godet). He (ἐκεῖνος) Strongly emphatic, and pointing to the eternal Son. This pronoun is used by John more frequently than by any other writer. It occurs seventy-two times, and not only as denoting the more distant subject, but as denoting and laying special stress on the person or thing immediately at hand, or possessing pre-eminently the quality which is immediately in question. Thus Jesus applies it to Himself as the person for whom the healed blind man is inquiring: "It is He (ἐκεῖνος) that talketh with thee" (Joh 9:37). So here, "the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father - He hath declared Him." Hath declared (ἐξηγήσατο) Or, rendering the aorist strictly, He declared. From ἐκ, forth, and ἡγέομαι, to lead the way. Originally, to lead or govern. Hence, like the Latin praeire verbis, to go before with words, to prescribe or dictate a form of words. To draw out in narrative, to recount or rehearse (see Act 15:14, and on Luk 24:35). To relate in full; to interpret, or translate. Therefore ἐξήγησις, exegesis, is interpretation or explanation. The word ἐξηγητής was used by the Greeks of an expounder of oracles, dreams, omens, or sacred rites. Thus Croesus, finding the suburbs of Sardis alive with serpents, sent to the soothsayers (ἐξηγητὰς) of Telmessus (Herodotus, i. 78). The word thus comes to mean a spiritual director. Plato calls Apollo the tutelary director (πατρῷος ἐξηγητής) of religion ("Republic," 427), and says, "Let the priests be interpreters for life" ("Laws," 759). In the Septuagint the word is used of the magicians of Pharaoh's court (Gen 41:8, Gen 41:24), and the kindred verb of teaching or interpreting concerning leprosy (Lev 14:57). John's meaning is that the Word revealed or manifested and interpreted the Father to men. The word occurs only here in John's writings. Wyc. renders, He hath told out. These words conclude the Prologue. The Historical Narrative now begins, and falls into two general divisions: I. The Self-Revelation of Christ to the World (1:19-12:50) II. The Self-Revelation of Christ to the Disciples (13:1-21:23)

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]

No man hath seen God at any time (Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε)

God is first in the Greek order, as emphatic: "God hath no man ever seen." As to the substance of the statement, compare Joh 3:11; Exo 33:20; Jo1 4:12. Manifestations of God to Old Testament saints were only partial and approximate (Exo 33:23). The seeing intended here is seeing of the divine essence rather than of the divine person, which also is indicated by the absence of the article from Θεὸν, God. In this sense even Christ was not seen as God. The verb ὁράω, to see, denotes a physical act, but emphasizes the mental discernment accompanying it, and points to the result rather than to the act of vision. In Jo1 1:1; Jo1 4:12, Jo1 4:14, θεάομαι is used, denoting calm and deliberate contemplation (see on Joh 1:14). In Joh 12:45, we have θεωρέω, to behold (see on Mar 5:15; see on Luk 10:18). Both θεάομαι and θεωρέω imply deliberate contemplation, but the former is gazing with a view to satisfy the eye, while the latter is beholding more critically, with an inward spiritual or mental interest in the thing beheld, and with a view to acquire knowledge about it. "Θεωρεῖν would be used of a general officially reviewing or inspecting an army; θεᾶσθαι of a lay spectator looking at the parade" (Thayer).

The only begotten son (ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς)

Several of the principal manuscripts and a great mass of ancient evidence support the reading μονογενὴς Θεὸς, "God only begotten."

Another and minor difference in reading relates to the article, which is omitted from μονογενὴς by most of the authorities which favor Θεὸς. Whether we read the only begotten Son, or God only begotten, the sense of the passage is not affected. The latter reading merely combines in one phrase the two attributes of the word already indicated - God (Joh 1:1), only begotten (Joh 1:14); the sense being one who was both God and only begotten.

Who is in the bosom (ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον)

The expression ὁ ὢν, who is, or the one being, is explained in two ways: 1. As a timeless present, expressing the inherent and eternal relation of the Son to the Father. 2. As interpreted by the preposition. εἰς, in, literally, into, and expressing the fact of Christ's return to the Father's glory after His incarnation: "The Son who has entered into the Father's bosom and is there." In the former case it is an absolute description of the nature of the Son: in the latter, the emphasis is on the historic fact of the ascension, though with a reference to his eternal abiding with the Father from thenceforth.

While the fact of Christ's return to the Father's glory may have been present to the writer's mind, and have helped to determine the form of the statement, to emphasize that fact in this connection would seem less consistent with the course of thought in the Prologue than the other interpretation: since John is declaring in this sentence the competency of the incarnate Son to manifest God to mankind. The ascension of Christ is indeed bound up with that truth, but is not, in the light of the previous course of thought, its primary factor. That is rather the eternal oneness of the Word with God; which, though passing through the phase of incarnation, nevertheless remains unbroken (Joh 3:13). Thus Godet, aptly: "The quality attributed to Jesus, of being the perfect revealer of the divine Being, is founded on His intimate and perfect relation to God Himself."

The phrase, in the bosom of the Father, depicts this eternal relation as essentially a relation of love; the figure being used of the relation of husband and wife (Deu 13:6); of a father to an infant child (Num 11:12), and of the affectionate protection and rest afforded to Lazarus in Paradise (Luk 16:23). The force of the preposition εἰς, into, according to the first interpretation of who is, is akin to that of "with God" (see on Joh 1:1); denoting an ever active relation, an eternal going forth and returning to the Father's bosom by the Son in His eternal work of love. He ever goes forth from that element of grace and love and returns to it. That element is His life. He is there "because He plunges into it by His unceasing action" (Godet).

He (ἐκεῖνος)

Strongly emphatic, and pointing to the eternal Son. This pronoun is used by John more frequently than by any other writer. It occurs seventy-two times, and not only as denoting the more distant subject, but as denoting and laying special stress on the person or thing immediately at hand, or possessing pre-eminently the quality which is immediately in question. Thus Jesus applies it to Himself as the person for whom the healed blind man is inquiring: "It is He (ἐκεῖνος) that talketh with thee" (Joh 9:37). So here, "the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father - He hath declared Him."

Hath declared (ἐξηγήσατο)

Or, rendering the aorist strictly, He declared. From ἐκ, forth, and ἡγέομαι, to lead the way. Originally, to lead or govern. Hence, like the Latin praeire verbis, to go before with words, to prescribe or dictate a form of words. To draw out in narrative, to recount or rehearse (see Act 15:14, and on Luk 24:35). To relate in full; to interpret, or translate. Therefore ἐξήγησις, exegesis, is interpretation or explanation. The word ἐξηγητής was used by the Greeks of an expounder of oracles, dreams, omens, or sacred rites. Thus Croesus, finding the suburbs of Sardis alive with serpents, sent to the soothsayers (ἐξηγητὰς) of Telmessus (Herodotus, i. 78). The word thus comes to mean a spiritual director. Plato calls Apollo the tutelary director (πατρῷος ἐξηγητής) of religion ("Republic," 427), and says, "Let the priests be interpreters for life" ("Laws," 759). In the Septuagint the word is used of the magicians of Pharaoh's court (Gen 41:8, Gen 41:24), and the kindred verb of teaching or interpreting concerning leprosy (Lev 14:57). John's meaning is that the Word revealed or manifested and interpreted the Father to men. The word occurs only here in John's writings. Wyc. renders, He hath told out. These words conclude the Prologue.

The Historical Narrative now begins, and falls into two general divisions:

I. The Self-Revelation of Christ to the World (1:19-12:50)

II. The Self-Revelation of Christ to the Disciples (13:1-21:23)

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
No man hath seen God - With bodily eyes: yet believers see him with the eye of faith. Who is in the bosom of the Father - The expression denotes the highest unity, and the most intimate knowledge.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
No man hath seen God at any time - Moses and others heard his voice, and saw the cloud and the fire, which were the symbols of his presence; but such a manifestation of God as had now taken place, in the person of Jesus Christ, had never before been exhibited to the world. It is likely that the word seen, here, is put for known, as in Joh 3:32; Jo1 3:2, Jo1 3:6, and Jo3 1:11; and this sense the latter clause of the verse seems to require: - No man, how highly soever favored, hath fully known God, at any time, in any nation or age; the only begotten Son, (see on Joh 1:14 (note)), who is in the bosom of the Father, who was intimately acquainted with all the counsels of the Most High, he hath declared him, εξηγησατο, hath announced the Divine oracles unto men; for in this sense the word is used by the best Greek writers. See Kypke in loco. Lying in the bosom, is spoken of in reference to the Asiatic custom of reclining while at meals; the person who was next the other was said to lie in his bosom; and he who had this place in reference to the master of the feast was supposed to share his peculiar regards, and so be in a state of the utmost favor and intimacy with him.

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²² Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
²³ Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

⁴ Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

¹ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

⁶ And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

¹ In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
⁹ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
¹¹ Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
¹² And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
¹³ But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

⁸ With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

⁹ Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

²⁰ And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

¹² No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

⁴⁶ Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

³⁷ And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

⁹ Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

⁸ Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

²² And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

² And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

⁴ And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

²² And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

²² And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

¹⁸ And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

¹⁰ And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

²⁰ And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

⁵⁷ To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

²⁴ And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

⁸ And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

³⁵ And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

¹⁴ Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

³⁷ And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

¹² Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

⁶ If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

¹³ And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

¹⁸ And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

¹⁵ And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

⁴⁵ And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

¹⁴ And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

¹² No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

²³ And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

¹² No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

²⁰ And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

¹¹ Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

⁶ Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

² Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

³² And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.