John 1:18

John 1:18. No one hath seen God at any time; One who is only begotten God, he that is in the bosom of the Father, he declared him. It is not possible in a commentary such as this to defend the reading which we here adopt, ‘God' instead of ‘Son.' But the passage is so extremely important that we may be permitted for once to depart from our usual practice of not referring to other writers, and to commend to our readers one of the finest critical Dissertations ever published in any language upon a reading of the New Testament. We refer to that by Dr. Hort of Cambridge upon this text (Macmillan, 1876). We add only that by thus reading we preserve an important characteristic of the structural principles of our Evangelist, that which leads him at the close of a section or a period to return to its beginning. The word ‘God' here corresponds to ‘God' in John 1:1.

‘No one hath seen God at any time.' The contrast is to ‘we beheld' in John 1:14, and the words describe God in His nature as God; He dwelleth in light that is inaccessible. The soul longs to see Him, but this cannot be. Is then its longing vain, its cry unheard? The Evangelist answers, No. One has ‘declared' Him, has, as the Word, unfolded and explained Him. And the glorious fitness of the Word to do this is pointed out in three particulars, all showing how fitly He could do that which none other could do. (1) He is ‘only begotten,' Son among all other sons in His own peculiar sense, who is fully able to represent the Father, to whom all the perfections of the Father flow. (2) He is God not only Son, but, as Son, God, Himself divine, not in a metaphorical sense, but possessing all the attributes of true and real divinity. (3) It is He who ‘is in the bosom of the Father.' The climax of thought, and the consideration that here are mentioned the conditions which make it possible for Jesus to be the complete Interpreter of the Father, preclude our taking these words as referring to the state which succeeded the resurrection and ascension, in the sense, ‘He that hath returned to the bosom of the Father.' He of whom the Evangelist speaks is more than ‘only begotten,' more than ‘God.' He is ‘in the bosom of the Father.' In Him God is revealed as a Father; without Him He can be revealed only as God. The words thus include more than ‘with God' in John 1:1, more than the Divine self communion, the communion of God with God. The fatherly element, the element of love, is here. Out of that element of love, or of grace and truth, the Son comes; into it He returns. It is of the very essence of His being so to do. He did so from eternity. He did so in time. He shall do it in the eternity to come. Not less does it belong to the profoundest depths of His nature to do so, than to be ‘only begotten,' to be ‘God.' Therefore is He fully qualified to declare the Father, whom to know as thus made known in Jesus Christ (John 1:17) is that ‘eternal life' after which the heart of man feels, and in the possession of which alone is it completely blessed (comp. John 17:3; John 20:31).

One remark has still to be made upon a point which may seem at first sight to interfere with the correctness of that view of the structure of the Prologue which (as we have seen) is not only a matter of interest, but also a guide in the interpretation. There is no mention of the rejection of the Word in John 1:14-18. But this fact when rightly considered rather confirms what has been said. It illustrates that progress which in this Gospel always accompanies parallelism.

In John 1:1-5, the first section of the Prologue, we have seen that rejection is implied.

In John 1:6-13, the second section, it is fully brought out.

In John 1:14-18, the third section, it is overcome.

Thus also, taking the Gospel as a whole, it is implied in the section immediately preceding the Conflict (chaps, John 2:12 to John 4:54). It is fully brought out in the section of Conflict (chaps, John 5:1 to John 12:50). It is overcome in the section following (chaps, John 13:1 to John 17:26).

How unique, how wonderful is the plan of the Gospel! How much light does the whole cast upon each part, how much each part upon the whole!