Exodus 33:20

John 5:37

Verse 37. The Father himself--hath borne witness of me. This God had done,

1st. By the miracles which Jesus had wrought, and of which he was conversing.

2nd. At the baptism of Jesus, where he said, "This is my beloved Son," Mt 3:17.

3rd. In the prophecies of the Old Testament. It is not easy to say here to which of these he refers. Perhaps he has reference to all.

Ye have neither heard his voice. This difficult passage has been interpreted in various ways. The main design of it seems to be clear--to reprove the Jews for not believing the evidence that he was the Messiah. In doing this he says that they were indisposed to listen to the testimony of God. He affirmed that God had given sufficient evidence of his divine mission, but they had disregarded it. The first thing that he notices is that they had not heard his voice. The word hear, in this place, is to be understood in the sense of obey or listen to. Jn 5:25. The voice of God means his commands or his declarations, however made; and the Saviour said that it had been the characteristic of the Jews that they had not listened to the voice or command of God. As this had been their general characteristic, it was not wonderful that they disregarded now his testimony in regard to the Messiah. The voice of God had been literally heard on the mount. See De 4:12: "Ye heard the voice of the words." At any time. This has been the uniform characteristic of the nation that they have disregarded and perverted the testimony of God, and it was as true of that generation as of their fathers.

Nor seen his shape. No man hath seen God at any time, Jn 1:18. But the word shape, here, does not mean God himself. It refers to the visible manifestation of himself; to the appearance which he assumed. It is applied in the Septuagint to his manifesting himself to Moses, Nu 12:8: "With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently;" in Greek, in a form or shape--the word used here. It is applied to the visible symbol of God that appeared in the cloud and that rested on the tabernacle, Nu 9:15,16. It is the same word that is applied to the Holy Spirit appearing in bodily shape like a dove, Lk 3:22. Jesus does not here deny that God had appeared in this manner, but he says they had not seen--that is, had not paid attention to, or regarded, the appearance of God. He had manifested himself, but they disregarded it, and, in particular, they had disregarded his manifestations in attestation of the Messiah. As the word hear means to obey, to listen to, so the word see means to pay attention to, to regard (2Jn 1:8, 1Jn 3:6), and thus throws light on Jn 14:9: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." "I am a manifestation of God--God appearing in human flesh, as he appeared formerly in the symbol of the cloud; and he that regards me, or attends to me, regards the Father."

(m) "Ye have neither heard" De 4:12, 1Timm 6:16

John 6:46

Verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father. Jesus added this, evidently, to guard against mistake. He had said that all who came to him were taught of God. The teacher was commonly seen and heard by the pupil; but, lest it should be supposed that he meant to say that a man to come to him must see and hear God, visibly and audibly, he adds that he did not intend to affirm this. It was still true that no man had seen God at any time. They were not, therefore, to expect to see God, and his words were not to be perverted as if he meant to teach that.

Save he which is of God. Jesus here evidently refers to himself as the Son of God. He had just said that no man had seen the Father. When he affirms that he has seen the Father, it implies that he is more than man. He is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, Jn 1:18; the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3; God over all, blessed for ever, Rev 9:5. By his being of God is meant that he is the only-begotten Son of God, and sent as the Messiah into the world.

Hath seen. Hath intimately known or perceived him. He knows his nature, character, plans. This is a claim to knowledge superior to what man possesses, and it cannot be understood except by supposing that Jesus is equal with God.

(f) "Not that any" Jn 5:37 (g) "save he which is of the God" Lk 10:22

John 14:9

Verse 9. So long time. For more than three years Jesus had been with them. He had raised the dead, cast out devils, healed the sick, done those things which no one could have done who had not come from God. In that time they had had full opportunity to learn his character and his mission from God. Nor was it needful, after so many proofs of his divine mission, that God should visibly manifest himself to them in order that they might be convinced that he came from him.

He that hath seen me. He that has seen my works, heard my doctrines, and understood my character. He that has given proper attention to the proofs that I have afforded that I came from God.

Hath seen the Father. The word Father in these passages seems to be used with reference to the divine nature, or to God represented as a Father, and not particularly to the distinction in the Trinity of Father and Son. The idea is that God, as God, or as a Father, had been manifested in the incarnation, the works, and the teachings of Christ, so that they who had seen and heard him might be said to have had a real view of God. When Jesus says, "hath seen the Father," this cannot refer to the essence or substance of God, for he is invisible, and in that respect no man has seen God at any time. All that is meant when it is said that God is seen, is that some manifestation of him has been made, or some such exhibition as that we may learn his character, his will, and his plans. In this case it cannot mean that he that had seen Jesus with the bodily eyes had in the same sense seen God; but he that had been a witness of his miracles and of his transfiguration--that had heard his doctrines and studied his character --had had full evidence of his divine mission, and of the will and purpose of the Father in sending him. The knowledge of the Son was itself, of course, the knowledge of the Father. There was such an intimate union in their nature and design that he who understood the one understood also the other. Mt 11:27 Lk 10:22; Jn 1:18.

(k) "he that hath seen me" Col 1:15

1 John 4:12

Verse 12. No man hath seen God at any time. Jn 1:18, where the same declaration occurs. The statement seems to be made here in order to introduce a remark to show in what way we may know that we have any true knowledge of God. The idea is, "He has never indeed been seen by mortal eyes. We are not then, to expect to become acquainted with what he is in that way. But there is a method by which we may be assured that we have a true knowledge of him, and that is, by evidence that we love another, and by the presence of his Spirit in our hearts. We cannot become acquainted with him by sight, but we may by love." If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. Though we cannot see him, yet there is a way by which we may be assured that he is near us, and that he even dwells in us. That way is by the exercise of love. Comp. Jn 14:23, Jn 14:24.

And his love is perfected in us. Is carried out to completion. That is, our love for each other is the proper exponent of love to him reigning in our hearts. The idea here is not that we are absolutely perfect, or even that our love is perfect, whatever may be true on those points, but that this love to others is the proper carrying out of our love towards him; that is, without this our love to him would not have accomplished what it was adapted and designed to do. Unless it produced this effect, it would be defective or incomplete. Compare 1Jn 4:17. The general sense is this: "We claim to have the love of God in our hearts, or that we are influenced and controlled by love. But however high and exalted that may seem to be as exercised toward God, it would be defective; it would not exert a fair influence over us, unless it led us to love our Christian brethren. It would be like the love which we might profess to have for a father, if it did not lead us to love our brothers and sisters. True love will diffuse itself over all who come within its range, and will thus become complete and entire." This the it passage, therefore, cannot be adduced to demonstrate doctrine of sinless perfection, or to prove that Christians are ever absolutely perfect in this life. It proves only that love to God is not complete, or fully developed, unless it leads those who profess to have to love each other. Job 1:1. On the meaning of the Greek word here used, (τελειοω,) Php 3:12. Heb 2:10.

(f) "No man" 1Timm 6:16 (g) "perfected" 1Cor 13:13
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