Has Anyone Seen God?

On some occasions, for example in Exodus 33:20, 1 John 4:12, and John 1:18, the Bible claims God has never been seen, or can not be seen; however, we also see Exodus 33:11, Genesis 32:30, and John 1:29, then, of course, every time Jesus is seen by a man, God is seen by man. So, what is happening here? Well, let us take a quick look at some of these verses. We skipped some of the verses for the explanation is the same as others.

Verses-

Exodus 33:11 & Exodus 33:20 KJV:

In Exodus, it is said: "And the Lord spake(i.e. spoke) unto(i.e. to) Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend..." (Exodus 33:11 KJV). Firstly, it must be noted that the phrase, "face to face" means having close communion and is not necessarily literal(can be, but not always). It should also be noted that in this chapter, Moses and God are speaking to one another. Later on, God states, "And he said, Thou(i.e. Moses) canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen" (Exodus 33:20-23 KJV).

What is going on here is a Hebrew idiom. As one scholar writes: “The Lord spake(spoke) unto Moses face to face — Or, mouth to mouth, as in Numbers 12:8. Not that God hath a face or mouth, or that Moses could behold it; which is denied, Exodus 33:20; but the sense is, he spoke with him freely, familiarly, and immediately, and not as he did to other prophets, in dreams, or visions, or by an angel. As a man speaketh unto his friend —Which intimates not only that God revealed himself to Moses with greater clearness than to any other of the prophets, but also with greater expressions of particular kindness than to any other. He spake not as a prince to a subject, but as a man to his friend, whom he loves, and with whom he takes sweet counsel,” (Benson’s commentary). As the scholar notes, this is merely a Hebrew idiom as if to say God and Moses were close, speaking as if friends. The Bible does not claim Moses saw the Lord’s face, but that he spoke close to God.

As another scholar writes: "face to face, as a man talks with his friend" (Exodus 33:11); that is to say, not from the distance of heaven, through any kind of medium whatever, but "mouth to mouth," as it is called in Numbers 12:8, as closely and directly as friends talk to one another. "These words indicate, therefore, a familiar conversation, just as much as if it had been said, that God appeared to Moses in some peculiar form of manifestation. If any one objects to this, that it is at variance with the assertion which we shall come to presently, 'Thou canst not see My face,' the answer is a very simple one. Although Jehovah showed Himself to Moses in some peculiar form of manifestation, He never appeared in His own essential glory, but only in such a mode as human weakness could bear," (Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament).

John 1:18 NASB:

"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God, and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known." The point John is getting at is no one has seen God in his entirety, that is, they have not seen the Father; however, they have seen the son, who is God.

How is this possible then, that we can see the son even though he is God? Well, Paul explains this to us. "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross," (Philippians 2:5-8 NASB1995). Jesus set down some of his glory to allow us to see him as we did.

Genesis 32:30 ESV:

"So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” This is another verse people have used in an attempt to try and contradict the Bible. As Jacob(or Isreal) states, he claims he had seen God face to face, that he wrestled him. There are two perspectives on this verse, the primary one simply being that as in verse 24, "a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day" (Genesis 32:24 ESV). That just as Jesus did in the New Testament, so did God on this occasion. He likely humbled himself in the form of a man, setting down some of his glory.

Other people have quoted Hosea, where it says, "Yea, he(i.e. Jacob) had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us" (Hosea 12:4 KJV). In this passage, the man appears to be an angel, not God. That instead the angel was a representative of God. Settling this dispute, however, is for another day. An angel in Hebrew merely means messenger, so it is still possible this is God.