1. Judges 13:22
"We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"
2. John 1:18
No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten son who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
3. 1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
In order for there to be no contradiction in scripture, Judges 13:22 should have read (seen a god.) Scripture repeatedly says that person is a man. Our Holy God is not a man, but a Holy Spirit.
Yes, but Jesus also said, "
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how then can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
(John 14:9) Thus God can be seen in vieled form and men not die, but in his
full glory man would perish. This is why God hid himself in the cloud on Mount Sinai and told them no one can see Him and live, yet he can appear face to face with Abraham and Jacob (most likely in the form of an angel - the preincarnate Christ) where such glory was vieled, yet however that didn't stop them both (rightfully) from marveling that they had "seen the face of God
and lived". Jesus' glory peaked through at his transfiguration, and Paul even saw (as long as it lasted) the brilliance of Jesus' own glory such that it blinded him ("
brighter than the noonday sun" -
Acts 26:13). And when Isaiah caught the breifest of glimpses of God's glory he exclaimed "
Woe is me for I am undone!".
So I think the distinction here is that God can appear to men (in the flesh) when not revealed in His full glory, but that God
in His full glory man cannot see. Yet it is amazing that as a major theme of the Old Testament and which is carried into the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 6, of God being "their God" and them "being His people", and that he will "
dwell among them and walk among them", the ultimate goal of which is God desiring to dwell among us in his
full glory, and this is only possible by God giving us His Spirit and (in the future) our glorified bodies. But the most amazing part of all this is that those who are saved and sanctified are promised in the future that they will then be able to see God, "
for without holiness no one shall see God"
(Hebrews 12:14), but those who are holy and sanctified will see Him.
And yet, in part, Jesus has already shown the Father to us by coming in the flesh which is why he can saw if we have seen him we have seen the Father. This will ultimately be culminated and consumated in the future with Christ returning in all His glory, but we have had that fore-glimpse through Christ, and now which is conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit.
Do you agree with this? Is there some point of dialogue that we can discuss to bridge our two areas of concern. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this very interesting subject.
God Bless,
~Josh