John 1:18 (WEL) No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, declared him.
V18 No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, declared him.
The Gnostic tainted Egyptian/Alexandrian texts read: θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε· μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο. (the only begotten God). Though more modern translations put it as God.
Dr. Wilbur Pickering notes:
“Instead of “the only begotten son” (as in over 99.5% of the Greek manuscripts), some five manuscripts (of inferior quality, objectively so) have “an only begotten god,” while another two (also inferior) have “the only begotten god”. Since the absence of the definite article (in Greek) can have the effect of emphasizing the inherent quality of the noun, the second reading could be rendered “only begotten god”—this alternative has appealed to many evangelicals who see in it a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ. But if the God-part of the Christ was begotten in the womb of the virgin Mary, then He is not eternally pre-existent; and in that event Christ couldn’t be God the Son, one of the three persons of the Trinity. Notice the precision in Isa 9:6—“unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given.” Jehovah the Son was given, not born. But in any case, why follow seven manuscripts of demonstrably inferior quality against 1,700? The original and therefore true reading is certainly “the only begotten Son”.
In context, we must include John 1:14, thus, John 1:14-18. The Word became flesh and lived [literally, tabernacled] among us. We looked at his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about him and shouted, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” 16 Out of his abundance, all of us received grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, declared him.
Jesus is the only begotten Son, which refers to His virgin birth (Luke 1:31-35) and His resurrection (Psalm 2:7 with Acts 13:33-35).
No man has seen God the Father (Exodus 33:20 and Matthew 11:27) but will in the future (Revelation 22:4). The reason is that death is the punishment for sin and separates human beings from God.
Since the Lord Jesus, God the Son, is so dearly beloved by God the Father that it is said that He is in the bosom of His Father. The Greek word for bosom is G2859 κόλπος kólpos, which means (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged – Little Kittel)) “kólpos has the senses ‘bosom,’ ‘fold’ (of a garment), and ‘arch’ or ‘hollow,’ e.g., the floor of a valley or bosom of the sea. The LXX uses it to express marital fellowship (Deuteronomy 13:7), for the fold of a garment (Exodus 4:6-7), and for the bottom of a chariot (1 Kings 22:35) or the altar (Ezekiel 43:13). In the NT the beloved disciple takes the place of honor by reclining on Jesus’ ‘breast’ (John 13:25; cf. the Son and the Father in John 1: ). ‘Fold’ of a garment is the sense in Luke 6:38 and ‘bay’ of the sea in Acts 27:39. In Luke 16:22-23 the point may be that Lazarus has the place of honor on Abraham’s ‘bosom,’ but it is also possible that what is expressed is loving fellowship. Both ideas are present in rabbinic Judaism.”
The closeness of the relationship is the reason that the Son knows the Father better than anyone, thus is able to speak about Him regarding His beliefs, His character, His plans, His worldview, His rules, His kingdom, etc.
We learn:
- About the relationship between God the Son, Jesus, and His Father, God the Father.
- Jesus is the only qualified person to tell and explain all about the Father.
Questions:
- How is your relationship with God?
- Do you trust Jesus Christ’s messages?