The Holy Trinity 9
IX. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE FATHER
A. God the Father is Invisible, and Can’t be Seen
1) EXODUS 33:20,23 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live . . . (23) And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. {cf. Jud 13:22}
2) JOHN 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time . . .
3) JOHN 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
4) JOHN 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
5) COLOSSIANS 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
6) 1 TIMOTHY 1:17 . . . the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, . . .
7) 1 TIMOTHY 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: . . .
8) 1 JOHN 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time . . .
B. Jesus Reveals, and is the Image of, the Father
1) JOHN 1:18 . . . the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared {him}. {RSV,NIV: “made him known”}
2) JOHN 12:45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
3) JOHN 14:7-9 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (8) Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. (9) Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou {then}, Shew us the Father?
4) 2 CORINTHIANS 4:4 . . . Christ, who is the image of God, . . .
5) COLOSSIANS 1:15 . . . the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
6) HEBREWS 1:3 Who being the brightness of {his} glory, and the express image of his person, . . .
7) REVELATION 22:1,3-4 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb . . . (3) And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (4) And they shall see his face; . . .
8) The “Seen”/”Unseen” Paradox The seeming contradiction of God being “seen” (as in the theophanies above, and in other passages such as Gen 17:1, 33:11, Num 12:7-8, Deut 34:10, Jud 13:22, Is 6:5), and “not seen” (in passages such as Ex 33:20, 1 Tim 6:16, and 1 Jn 4:12), has been explained variously. One can take the position that all or some of the theophanies and appearances of the Angel of the Lord (as God Himself) are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ, which would solve the paradox.
The Apostle John (Jn 12:41) appears to interpret Isaiah’s vision of God (Is 6:1-8) as precisely such an appearance. Or, it is possible to maintain that God created visual manifestations of Himself which were not identical with Himself. In these instances what is being seen are the effects of God’s unmediated presence.
Theophanies, in any event, are not always personal appearances of God. For example, non-personal theophanies include the burning bush (Ex 3:1-6), the pillars of cloud and fire (Ex 13:21-22), the cloud and fire of Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:16-18), and the Shekinah glory cloud (Ex 40:34-38). No one would hold that the non-personal appearances represent a direct experience of God’s essence. In the same fashion, the personal theophanies can be considered as manifestations one step removed from the actual Father Himself. But, on the other hand, for those who deny the incarnation of Christ, theophanies do show that the notion of God becoming a man is not altogether incomprehensible or impossible, but rather, somewhat plausible (based strictly on the existence and function of theophanies alone). As such, theophanies might be considered precursors (along with verses such as Is 9:6 and Mic 5:2) of the incarnation of the Messiah Jesus, the Son of God (and literally so, if it is believed that these theophanies are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ).
Whenever God is seen, it must either be in the sense of one of these manifestations, or else a beholding of the Son, Jesus, who reveals the Father, as in the verses directly above. In this way, the passages about the invisible God are explained in a non-contradictory manner. Jesus’ role as the “image” (Greek, eikon) of the Father also is harmonious with the biblical trinitarian view of the nature of God, while contrary views encounter insuperable logical problems with many biblical passages which appear at first to be contradictory. Not only in this area, but in hundreds of analogous texts, as illustrated above, will the non-trinitarian be hard-pressed to explain rationally the biblical picture of the theology of God (assuming he accepts the validity of the inspired Bible itself). Only trinitarianism can make sense out of, and harmonize all the biblical material, and this is proven beyond refutation in the above copious and comprehensive biblical evidences.