John 1:18

There are many passages of Scripture that record various individuals seeing God (e.g., Exodus 33:21-23; Isaiah 6:1-5; Revelation 1:10-18). Those instances involved visions, theophanies, or anthropomorphic representations of God rather than encounters with His unveiled spiritual essence (cf. Exodus 33:20-23; Deuteronomy 4:12; Psalms 97:2; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12). The way we know what God is like is not by viewing His essence. No one can do that and live. God has sent His unique and only Son (monogenous, cf. John 1:14) from His own most intimate presence to reveal God to humankind.

"In the bosom of is a Hebrew idiom expressing the intimate relationship of child and parent, and of friend and friend (cf. xiii. 23)." [Note: Tasker, p. 49.]

In the system that Moses inaugurated, no one could "see" God, but Jesus has revealed Him now to everyone. Note also that John called Jesus God here again. Though some ancient manuscripts read "Son" instead of "God," the correct reading seems clearly to be "God."

Jesus "explained" (NASB) God in the sense of revealing Him. The Greek word is exegesato from which we get "exegete." The Son has exegeted (i.e., explained, interpreted, or narrated) the Father to humankind. The reference to Jesus being in the bosom of the Father softens and brings affection to the idea of Jesus exegeting the Father. The nature of God is in view here, not His external appearance.

"God is invisible, not because he is unreal, but because physical eyes are incapable of detecting him. The infrared and ultraviolet rays of the light spectrum are invisible because the human eye is not sensitive enough to register them. However, photographic plates or a spectroscope can make them visible to us. Deity as a being is consequently known only through spiritual means that are able to receive its (his) communications." [Note: Tenney, "John," p. 34.]

John ended his prologue as he began it, with a reference to Jesus’ deity. [Note: For an exposition of John 1:15-18, see David J. MacLeod, "The Benefits of the Incarnation of the Word," Bibliotheca Sacra 161:642 (April-June 2004):179-93.] He began by saying the Word was with God (John 1:1), and he concluded by saying that He was at the Father’s side. This indicates the intimate fellowship, love, and knowledge that the Father and the Son shared. It also gives us confidence that the revelation of the Father that Jesus revealed is accurate. John’s main point in this prologue was that Jesus is the ultimate revealer of God. [Note: See Stephen S. Kim, "The Literary and Theological Significance of the Johannine Prologue," Bibliotheca Sacra 166:644 (October-December 2009):421-35.]

". . . John in his use of Logos is cutting clean across one of the fundamental Greek ideas. The Greeks thought of the gods as detached from the world, as regarding its struggles and heartaches and joys and fears with serene divine lack of feeling. John’s idea of the Logos conveys exactly the opposite idea. John’s Logos does not show us a God who is serenely detached, but a God who is passionately involved." [Note: Morris, pp. 103-4.]

Later John described himself as reclining on Jesus’ bosom (cf. John 13:23). His Gospel is an accurate revelation of the Word because John enjoyed intimate fellowship with Him just as Jesus was an accurate revelation of God that came from intimate relationship with Him.