1:18 How can John say that no man has seen God at any time when scriptures clearly teach that He was seen by many in the Old Testament?

(CP also 1Jn 4:12). Those who saw God in the Old Testament did not see Him face to face in His glory, which is what John is referring to in Jn 1:18 (CP Gen 32:24-30; Ex 24:9-11; 33:9-11; Judg 13:21-22; Isa 6:1-5).

In Gen 32:24-30 while scriptures record that Jacob saw God face to face, He did not see God face to face in His glory, as God had assumed human form. In Exodus 24:9-11 the seventy-four saw God also, but not face to face in His glory. In 33:11 scripture records that God spoke to Moses face to face but it was out of the cloudy pillar in V9. The phrase, "God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to His friend" in V11 simply means that God spoke to Moses with great familiarity.

Moses was God's intimate friend - a chosen vessel to fulfill God's purpose for the Israelites. But V11 does not mean that God and Moses were literally looking into each other's face as they spoke. In Judg 13:21-22 Manoah and His wife also saw God in human form, not face to face in His glory (CP V2-11, 19-21).

And in Isa 6:1-5 Isaiah saw God in a vision sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple, but again it was not face to face in His glory. No man has seen, nor can see God face to face in His glory, because scriptures teach that God dwells in the light so bright no man can approach it (CP Ex 24:17; 33:18-23; 1Ti 6:13-16). In Ex 24:17 the glory of the Lord as seen with human eyes was like a consuming fire devouring highly inflammable material (CP Ex 40:34-35; Nu 20:6; 1Ki 8:10-11; 2Chr 5:13-14; 7:1-2; Eze 1:28; 3:22-23; 43:2-3; 44:4).

We learn from these scriptures that no one could literally look at God's face in His glory. In Ex 33:18-23 Moses wanted to see God face to face in His glory, but could not and live, so God showed Moses part of His glory from behind while protecting Him from the brightness of it. In 1Ti 6:16 God dwells in the light so bright that no man can approach it. We learn from all these scriptures that the reason no man has seen God is because no one could endure the spectacular purity of his essential nature, which is what Jn 1:18 teaches.

Only Jesus has seen God face to face in His glory, and it is only through Jesus that one can see God's essential nature (CP V17). The phrase, "He hath declared Him", in Jn 1:18, means all that Jesus is and does, interprets and explains all that God is and does. Jesus is the manifested glory of God (CP Jn 14:7-11). See also comments on Jn 14:7.

1:29-34 See comments on Mt 3:11.

1:35-51 See comments on Mt 10:1-4

John:-