Homilies on the Gospel of John

“No man has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

1. God will not have us listen to the words and sentences contained in the Scriptures carelessly, but with much attention. This is why the blessed David has prefixed in many places to his Psalms the title “for understanding,” and has said, “Open Thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.” And after him his son again shows that we ought to “seek out wisdom as silver, and to make merchandise of her rather than of gold.” And the Lord when He exhorts the Jews to “search the Scriptures,” the more urges us to the enquiry, for He would not thus have spoken if it were possible to comprehend them immediately at the first reading. No one would ever search for what is obvious and at hand, but for that which is wrapt in shadow, and which must be found after much enquiry; and so to arouse us to the search He calls them “hidden treasure.” These words are said to us that we may not apply ourselves to the words of the Scriptures carelessly or in a chance way, but with great exactness. For if any one listen to what is said in them without enquiring into the meaning, and receive all so as it is spoken, according to the letter, he will suppose many unseemly things of God, will admit of Him that He is a man, that He is made of brass, is wrathful, is furious, and many opinions yet worse than these. But if he fully learn the sense that lies beneath, he will be freed from all this unseemliness. The very text which now lies before us says, that God has a bosom, a thing proper to bodily substances, yet no one is so insane as to imagine, that He who is without body is a body. In order then that we may properly interpret the entire passage according to its spiritual meaning, let us search it through from its beginning.

“No man has seen God at any time.” By what connection of thought does the Apostle come to say this? After showing the exceeding greatness of the gifts of Christ, and the infinite difference between them and those ministered by Moses, he would add the reasonable cause of the difference. Moses, as being a servant, was minister of lower things, but Christ being Lord and King, and the King's Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually; wherefore He says, “No man has seen God at any time.” What then shall we answer to the most mighty of voice, Esaias, when he says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up”; and to John himself testifying of Him, that “he said these things when he had seen His glory”? What also to Ezekiel? For he too beheld Him sitting above the Cherubim. What to Daniel? For he too says, “The Ancient of days did sit” What to Moses himself, saying, “Show me Your Glory, that I may see You so as to know You.” And Jacob took his name from this very thing, being called “Israel”; for Israel is “one that sees God.” And others have seen him. How then says John, “No man has seen God at any time”? It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since that is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines. It sits not, nor stands, nor walks: these things belong all to bodies. But how He Is, He only knows. And this He has declared by a certain prophet, saying, “I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets”, that is, “I have condescended, I have not appeared as I really was.” For since His Son was about to appear in very flesh, He prepared them from old time to behold the substance of God, as far as it was possible for them to see It; but what God really is, not only have not the prophets seen, but not even angels nor archangels. If you ask them, you shall not hear them answering anything concerning His Essence, but sending up, “Glory to God in the Highest, on earth peace, good will towards men.” If you desire to learn something from Cherubim or Seraphim, you shall hear the mystic song of His Holiness, and that “heaven and earth are full of His glory.” If you enquire of the higher powers, you shall but find that their one work is the praise of God. “Praise Him,” says David, “all His hosts.” But the Son only Beholds Him, and the Holy Ghost. How can any created nature even see the Uncreated? If we are absolutely unable clearly to discern any incorporeal power whatsoever, even though created, as has been often proved in the case of angels, much less can we discern the Essence which is incorporeal and uncreated. Wherefore Paul says, “Whom no man has seen, nor can see.” Does then this special attribute belong to the Father only, not to the Son? Away with the thought. It belongs also to the Son; and to show that it does so, hear Paul declaring this point, and saying, that He “is the Image of the invisible God.” Now if He be the Image of the Invisible, He must be invisible Himself, for otherwise He would not be an “image.” And wonder not that Paul says in another place, “God was manifested in the Flesh”; because the manifestation took place by means of the flesh, not according to (His) Essence. Besides, Paul shows that He is invisible, not only to men, but also to the powers above, for after saying, “was manifested in the Flesh,” he adds, “was seen of angels.”

2. So that even to angels He then became visible, when He put on the Flesh; but before that time they did not so behold Him, because even to them His Essence was invisible.

“How then,” asks some one, “did Christ say, 'Despise not one of these little ones, for I tell you, that their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven'? Hath then God a face, and is He bounded by the heavens?” Who so mad as to assert this? What then is the meaning of the words? As when He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”, He means that intellectual vision which is possible to us, and the having God in the thoughts; so in the case of angels, we must understand that by reason of their pure and sleepless nature they do nothing else, but always image to themselves God. And therefore Christ says, that “No man knows the Father, save the Son.” What then, are we all in ignorance? God forbid; but none knows Him as the Son knows Him. As then many have seen Him in the mode of vision permitted to them, but no one has beheld His Essence, so many of us know God, but what His substance can be none knows, save only He that was begotten of Him. For by “knowledge” He here means an exact idea and comprehension, such as the Father has of the Son. “As the Father knows Me, even so know I the Father.”