Lecture 11 — Revelation of the Son

^1:18^ No man has ever seen God: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known. [n. 209]

208. Above, the Evangelist showed how the apostles received grace from Christ as its author; here he shows how they received it from him as a teacher.

About this he does three things.

First, he shows the need for this teaching: no man has ever seen God.

Second, the competency of the teacher: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.

Third, the teaching itself: has made him known.

209. The need for this teaching arose from the lack of wisdom among men, which the Evangelist implies by alluding to the ignorance concerning God which prevailed among men, saying: no man has ever seen God. And he does this fittingly, for wisdom consists properly in the knowledge of God and of divine things. Hence Augustine says that wisdom is the knowledge of divine things, as science is the knowledge of human things.

210. But this statement of the Evangelist, no man has ever seen God, seems to contradict many passages of divine Scripture. For it is said: *I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne (*Isa 6:1); and at the name of the Lord of hosts is invoked, who sitteth over it upon the cherubims (2 Sam 6:2). Again when the Lord says: blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8).

If someone were to answer this last statement by saying that it is true that in the past no one has seen God, but will see him in the future, as the Lord promises, the Apostle would exclude this, saying, he dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see (1 Tim 6:16).

Because the Apostle says, no man has ever seen, someone might say that if he cannot be seen by men, then at least he can be seen by angels; especially since God says, their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father (Matt 18:10).

But it cannot be taken in this way either, because it is said, the sons of the resurrection will be like the angels of God in heaven (Matt 22:30). If, therefore, the angels see God in heaven, then it is plain that the sons of the resurrection also see him: when he appears we shall be like him, and we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

211. How then are we to understand what the Evangelist says: no man has ever seen God?

To understand it we must know that God is said to be seen in three ways. First, through a created substitute presented to the bodily sight; as Abraham is believed to have seen God when he saw three and adored one (Gen 18:2). He adored one because he recognized the mystery of the Trinity in the three, whom he first thought to be men, and later believed to be angels. In a second way, through a representation in the imagination; and in this way Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne (Isa 6:1). Many visions of this sort are recorded in the Scriptures. In a third way, he is seen through an intelligible species abstracted from material things; and in this way he is seen by those who, considering the greatness of creatures, see with their intellect the greatness of the Creator, as it is said: from the greatness and beauty of creatures, their Creator can be seen accordingly (Wis 13:5); the invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made (Rom 1:20). In another way, God is seen through a certain spiritual light infused by God into spiritual minds during contemplation; and this is the way Jacob saw God face to face (Gen 32:30). According to Gregory, this vision came about through his lofty contemplation.

But the vision of the divine essence is not attained by any of the above visions: for no created species, whether it be that by which an external sense is informed, or by which the imagination is informed, or by which the intellect is informed, is representative of the divine essence as it is. Now man knows as to its essence only what the species he has in his intellect represents as it is. Therefore, the vision of the divine essence is not attained through any species.

The reason why no created species can represent the divine essence is plain: for nothing finite can represent the infinite as it is; but every created species is finite; therefore it cannot represent the infinite as it is. Further, God is his own existence and therefore his wisdom and greatness and anything else are the same. But all those cannot be represented through one created thing. Therefore, the knowledge by which God is seen through creatures is not a knowledge of his essence, but a knowledge that is dark and mirrored, and from afar. Everyone sees him, in one of the above ways, from afar (Job 36:25), because we do not know what God is by all these acts of knowing, but what he is not, or that he is. Hence Dionysius says, in his Mystical Theology, that the perfect way in which God is known in this present life is by taking away all creatures and every thing understood by us.

212. There have been some who said that the divine essence will never by seen by any created intellect, and that it is seen neither by the angels nor by the blessed. But this statement is shown to be false and heretical in three ways, First, because it is contrary to the authority of divine Scripture: we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2); this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). Second, because the brightness of God is the same as his substance; for he does not give forth light by participating in light, but through himself. And third, because it is impossible for anyone to attain perfect happiness except in the vision of the divine essence. This is because the natural desire of the intellect is to understand and know the causes of all the effects that it knows; but this desire cannot be fulfilled unless it understands and knows the first universal cause of all things, which is a cause that is not composed of cause and effect, as second causes are. Therefore, to take away the possibility of the vision of the divine essence by man is to take away happiness itself.

Therefore, in order for the created intellect to be happy, it is necessary that the divine essence be seen. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8).

213. Three things should be noted about the vision of the divine essence.

First, because it will never be seen with a bodily eye, either by sense or by imagination, since only senible bodily things are perceived by the senses, and God is not bodily: God is spirit (John 4:24).

Second, that as long as the human intellect is in the body it cannot see God, because it is weighed down by the body so that it cannot attain the summit of contemplation. So it is that the more a soul is free of passions and is purged from affections for earthly things, the higher it rises in the contemplation of truth and tastes how sweet the Lord is. Now the highest degree of contemplation is to see God through his essence; and so as long as a man lives in a body which is necessarily subject to many passions, he cannot see God through his essence. Man will not see me and live (Exod 33:20). Therefore, if the human intellect is to see the divine essence it must wholly depart from the body: either by death, as the Apostle says, we would prefer to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8); or by being wholly abstracted by rapture from the senses of the body, as is mentioned of Paul at and I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knows) (2 Cor 12:3).

Third, no created intellect, however abstracted, either by death, or separated from the body, which does see the divine essence, can comprehend it in any way. And so it is commonly said that although the whole divine essence is seen by the blessed, since it is most simple and has no parts, yet it is not wholly seen, because this would be to comprehend it. For ‘wholly’ implies a certain mode. But any mode of God is the divine essence. Hence one who does not see him wholly does not comprehend him. For one is properly said to comprehend a thing through knowledge when he knows that thing to the extent that it is knowable in itself; otherwise, although he may know it, he does not comprehend it. For example, one who knows this proposition, that a triangle has three angles equal to two right angles, by a dialectical syllogism, does not know it as well as it is knowable in itself; thus he does not know it wholly. But one who knows this by a demonstrative syllogism does know it wholly. For each thing is knowable to the extent that it has being and truth; while one is a knower according to his amount of cognitive power. Now a created intellectual substance is finite; hence it knows in a finite way. And since God is infinite in power and being, and as a consequence is infinitely knowable, he cannot be known by any created intellect to the degree that he is knowable. And thus he remains incomprehensible to every created intellect. Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge (Job 36:26). He alone contemplates himself comprehensively, because his power to know is as great as his entity in being. O most mighty, great, powerful, your name is Lord of hosts, great in counsel, incomprehensible in thought (Jer 32:18).

214. Using the above explanations, we can understand, no man has ever seen God. First, no man has ever seen God, that is, the divine essence, with the eye of the body or of the imagination. Second, no man, living in this mortal life, has ever seen the divine essence in itself. Third, no man, man or angel, has ever seen God by a vision of comprehension.

So when it is said that certain ones have seen God with their eyes or while living in the body, he is not seen through his essence, but through a creature acting as a substitute, as was said.

And thus it was necessary for us to receive wisdom, because no man has ever seen God.

215. The Evangelist mentions the competent teacher of this wisdom when he adds, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. He shows the competence of this teacher in three ways: by a natural likeness, by a singular excellence, and by a most perfect consubstantiality.

216. By natural likeness, because a son is naturally like his father. Wherefore it also follows that one is called a son of God insofar as he shares in the likeness of his natural son; and one knows him insofar as he has a likeness to him, since knowledge is attained through assimilation. Hence it is said: *now we are sons of God (*1 John 3:2), and he immediately adds, when he comes, we will be like him, and we will see him as he is. Therefore, when the Evangelist says Son, he implies a likeness as well as all aptitude for knowing God.

217. Because this teacher knows God in a more special way than other sons do, the Evangelist suggests this by his singular excellence, saying, the only begotten. As if to say: he knows God more than other sons do. Hence, because he is the natural Son, having the same nature and knowledge as the Father, he is called the only begotten. The Lord said to me: ‘you are my Son’ (Ps 2:7).

218. Although he may know in a unique way, he would be lacking the ability to teach if he were not to know wholly. Hence he adds a third point, namely, his consubstantiality to the Father, when he says, who is in the bosom of the Father. Bosom is not to be taken here as referring to men in their garments but it indicates the secret things of the Father. For what we carry in our bosom we do in secret. The secret things of the Father refer to his unsurpassed power and knowledge, since the divine essence is infinite. Therefore, in that bosom, i.e., in the most secret things of the paternal nature and essence, which transcends all the power of the creature, is the only begotten Son; and so he is consubstantial with the Father.

What the Evangelist signifies by bosom, David expressed by ‘womb*,’* saying: from the womb, before the daystar, i.e., from the inmost secret things of my essence, incomprehensible to every created intellect, I begot you (Ps 109:3), consubstantial with me, and of the same nature and power, and virtue and knowledge. What man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:11). Therefore, he comprehends the divine essence, which is his own.

219. But the soul of Christ, which knows God, does not comprehend him, because this is attributed only to the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. So the Lord also says: no one knows the Father except the Son, and any to whom the Son wishes to reveal him (Matt 11:27); we should understand this as referring to the knowledge of comprehension, about which the Evangelist seems to be speaking here. For no one comprehends the divine essence except the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And so we have shown the competence of the teacher.

220. We should note that the phrase, who is in the bosom of the Father, rejects the error of those who say that the Father is invisible, but the Son is visible, though he was not seen in the Old Testament. For from the fact that he is among the hidden things of the Father, it is plain that he is naturally invisible, as is the Father. So it is said of him: truly, you are a hidden God (Isa 45:15). And so Scripture mentions the incomprehensibility of the Son: no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son (Matt 11:27); what is the name of his son, if you know? (Prov 30:4).

221. Then the Evangelist indicates the way in which this teaching is handed down, saying that it is the only begotten Son who has made him known. For in the past, the only begotten Son revealed knowledge of God through the prophets, who made him known to the extent that they shared in the eternal Word. Hence they said things like, the Word of the Lord came to me. But now the only begotten Son has made him known to the faithful: it is I who spoke; here I am (Isa 52:6); God, who in many and varied ways, spoke to the fathers in past times through the prophets, has spoken to us in these days in his Son (Heb 1:1).

And this teaching surpasses all other teachings in dignity, authority and usefulness, because it was handed on immediately by the only begotten Son, who is the first wisdom. It was first announced by the Lord, and confirmed to us by those who heard him (Heb 2:3).

222. But what did he make known except the one God? And even Moses did this: hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one (Deut 6:4). What did this add to Moses? It added the mystery of the Trinity, and many other things that neither Moses nor any of the prophets made known.