No man hath seen God at any time. And Jesus?

[TreesNTrees]

The scripture says that no man hath seen God at any time. It does not use any descriptive name for God like "the Spirit", but just plain and simple, God.

In the new testament, we read that people saw Jesus Christ.

Do you take those verses at face value, or supply an interpretation?

 

[Roadmap]

Not an expert here.... but I believe this is refering to God, the Father in His awesome glory. Remember Moses and the Ten Commandments.... Moses didn't actually see God during that time. God the Father is just so awesomely holy. Now Jesus is God, true.... but not the Father obviously. He was seen even before his physical birth.... as in Adam and Eve in the Garden hid from God due to there nakedness... (God walking in the garden)... so not the same aspect of the unseen God.
I know... I am a tad elementary, but like I said, I am no great scholar, and folks can shot me to pieces, I am sure. Nonetheless, I hope this makes some sense in its rudimentary form.
God bless you.

 

[TreesNTrees]

Not an expert here.... but I believe this is refering to God, the Father in His awesome glory. Remember Moses and the Ten Commandments.... Moses didn't actually see God during that time. God the Father is just so awesomely holy. Now Jesus is God, true.... but not the Father obviously. He was seen even before his physical birth.... as in Adam and Eve in the Garden hid from God due to there nakedness... (God walking in the garden)... so not the same aspect of the unseen God.
I know... I am a tad elementary, but like I said, I am no great scholar, and folks can shot me to pieces, I am sure. Nonetheless, I hope this makes some sense in its rudimentary form.
God bless you.

A few years back, that crossed my thoughts too. Then I realized that the Word clearly says "Father" when it means father.

Like, it would say "no man hath seen the Father at any time".

But then it seems that it means what it says - "God". No man hath seen God.

In that Moses and burning bush section, I found verses that say an angel appeared unto Moses and God spoke - called - to him, but is there a verse elsewhere that says that Moses actually "saw" "God"? New Testament maybe?

Has anyone seen any verses that use "God" to refer to portions of the one God?

 

[BigNorsk]

You don't need to go to the New Testament to see people seeing God and surviving.

Moses talked to God face to face. That changed with Joshua.

Deuteronomy 34:10 NET.
(10) No prophet ever again arose in Israel like Moses, who knew the LORD face to face.

Exodus 33:11 NET.
(11) The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

Exodus 24:9-11 NET.
(9) Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,
(10) and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.
(11) But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank.

Exodus 33:17-23 NET.
(17) The LORD said to Moses, "I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."
(18) And Moses said, "Show me your glory."
(19) And the LORD said, "I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the LORD by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy."
(20) But he added, "You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live."
(21) The LORD said, "Here is a place by me; you will station yourself on a rock.
(22) When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.
(23) Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen."

So Moses talked to God face-to-face, but he could not see God's face.

It is quite understandable if one looks at it through the understanding of the Trinity, then we can understand that when Moses would see God face to face that we are dealing with the preincarnate Jesus, but that one either cannot see the fulness of God in the face, or possibly the Father's face and survivie.

Marv

 

[ScottBot]

The scripture says that no man hath seen God at any time. It does not use any descriptive name for God like "the Spirit", but just plain and simple, God.

In the new testament, we read that people saw Jesus Christ.

Do you take those verses at face value, or supply an interpretation?

[bible]john 14:9[/bible]

 

[TreesNTrees]

[bible]john 14:9[/bible]

The verses are sure interesting when a concordance is checked.

In that verse with Phillip and Jesus, the word translated "seen" is not from the Greek word which means to see with the eyes.

That verse in John is referring to experiencing. Or to percieve as a result of what was seen.

In other words, it conveys that someone could understand God by observing Jesus life and ministry.

Now, the verses referring to Moses and God may be closer to actually seeing with the eyes. I'll check out the words in the verse and see if the tranlation fits. "Face to face" may be a figure of speech. E.W. Bullinger may have reference to that section in Figures of Speech used in the Bible.

Thanks.