No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. (John 1:18)Most versions say "the only begotten Son." This one (ESV) says "the only God." Which is it? The Greek is monogenēs Theos. The "Theos" is clear enough: "God." And the "monogenēs" is precisely the Greek that we see translated as "only begotten," as in "the only begotten Son." And this provides us with a problem which, if answered, solves another one. If we translate "monogenēs" as "only begotten," in what sense is God "the only begotten God"? Well, our problem here is with the concept of "begotten." The dictionary says that it refers to the process of reproduction. You know. "Adam begat Seth, and Seth begat Enos, and ..." You get that. So "begotten" in English refers to reproduction specifically, but also "to bring about" in general. But that's not what's behind "monogenēs." Instead, the term is more accurately rendered "one of a kind." And it makes much more sense to refer to "the one of a kind God" than "the God who was brought into being." Note, by the way, that this solves another problem. If the term refers to the Son being "begotten" as certain heretical groups suggest, then we have a crazy Bible in which the created Son created Himself (John 1:3). We don't have to go there anymore.
In all of this, though, there is another problem. In what sense is it true that "No one has ever seen God"? I mean, didn't Isaiah see the Lord (Isa 6:1)? Didn't Moses speak to God face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Exo 33:11)? Aren't there multiple references to people seeing God? But Jesus Himself said that no one has seen the Father (John 6:46). So how do we reconcile these two?
Most people go to the concept of a "theophany" or a "Christophany," where what they saw was a pre-incarnate Christ. Maybe so, although it's not written in Scripture as such. I think we can get a decent answer from that section about Moses speaking to God face to face. In that passage, "The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exo 33:11) Seems clear, but just 7 verses later we get into that "Please show me Your glory" story (Exo 33:18-23). In that passage God promises to make His goodness pass before Moses, but says, "you cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live." (Exo 33:20) Clearly there is a difference between speaking to God "face to face as a man speaks to his friend" and actually seeing God's face. Either that or God is mistaken here. God Himself declares that the full exposure of God's face produces death to humans. So whatever was going on -- Moses, Isaiah, all the other examples -- what was not going on was a full exposure of the face of God. That is, no human can survive a full dose of God's unmitigated glory. The only human that has ever done it is the Son, the Word, the One who was with God and was God, the One who now reveals God to us.
So now it makes sense. No one has seen God in His unmitigated glory. We have Him revealed to us in the one-of-a-kind Son of God. And there is, apparently, glory left to be revealed. Sounds good to me.
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