Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
Parallel Translations
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Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
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Not that eny man hath sene the father save he which is of God: the same hath sene the father.
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Not that any man hath seene the Father, saue hee which is of God, hee hath seene the Father.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to John 6:46 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- John 7:29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
- Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
- Luke 10:22 Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”
- 1 Timothy 6:16 He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
- 1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
- John 14:9-10 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
- John 5:37 The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.
- John 8:19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
- John 8:55 You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.
- John 15:24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father.…
46. Not that any man hath seen the Father. As he has hitherto magnified the grace of his Father, so now he earnestly directs believers to himself alone. For both must be joined together; that no knowledge of Christ can be obtained, until the Father enlighten by his Spirit those who are by nature blind; and yet that it is in vain to seek God, unless Christ go before; for the majesty of God is so lofty, that the senses of men cannot reach him. Nay, more, all that knowledge of God which men may think that they have attained out of Christ will be a deadly abyss. When he says that he alone hath known the Father, he means that it is an office which belongs peculiarly to himself, to manifest God to men, who would otherwise have been concealed.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If the son only hath seen the Father, then…
If the son only hath seen the Father, then it is he only that can teach and instruct us truly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father,…
46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Ver. 46. He hath seen the Father] And hath it in commission to manifest him to all his, by working faith (either actual, or, at least, virtual, as in infants) in their hearts, whereby they see him that is invisible, being well seen in Moses’ optics.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain None must dream that the Father should visibly appear…
None must dream that the Father should visibly appear in the world to teach men; for the essence of God is invisible, none hath seen it at any time, saving he alone who is the only begotten Son of the Father; he hath seen the essence of the Father, he knoweth his will, and most secret counsels.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... This is a…
Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... This is a certain truth, and to be depended on:
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life; not only he may have it, as in Joh 6:40, and shall have it, but he has it; he has it in Christ, his head and representative; he has it in the covenant of grace; he has it in faith and hope; he has a right unto it, and a meetness for it; he has the earnest of it, the grace and Spirit of God; and he has the beginning and foretastes of it in his soul, and shall certainly enjoy it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not that any one - Must expect him to…
Not that any one - Must expect him to appear in a visible shape. He who is from or with God - In a more eminent manner than any creature.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the…
Verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father] He does not teach men by appearing personally before them, or by any other outward voice than that of his word and messengers; but he teaches by his Spirit. This teaching from God implies:
1. That they shall have proper instruction.
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2. That they shall comprehend it; for, when God teaches, there is no delay in learning. And,
3. That this teaching should be by the influence of the Holy Ghost upon their minds.
He which is of God] That is, Christ alone: neither Moses nor any of the prophets had ever seen God: Jesus, who lay in the bosom of the Father, HE saw and revealed him, Joh 1:18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Not that any man hath seen the Father -…
Not that any man hath seen the Father - Jesus added this, evidently, to guard against mistake. He had said that all who came to him were taught of God. The teacher was commonly seen and heard by the pupil; but, lest it should be supposed that he meant to say that a man to come to him must see and hear God, visibly and audibly, he adds that he did not intend to affirm this. It was still true that no man had seen God at any time. They were not, therefore, to expect to see God, and his words were not to be perverted as if he meant to teach that.
Save he which is of God - Jesus here evidently refers to himself as the Son of God. He had just said that no man had seen the Father. When he affirms that he has seen the Father, it implies that he is more than man. He is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, Joh 1:18; the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3; God over all, blessed forever, Rom 9:5. By his being of God is meant that he is the only-begotten Son of God, and sent as the Messiah into the world.
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Hath seen - Hath intimately known or perceived him. He knows his nature, character, plans. This is a claim to knowledge superior to what man possesses, and it cannot be understood except by supposing that Jesus is equal with God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Not that any man hath seen, &c.--Lest they should…
Not that any man hath seen, &c.--Lest they should confound that "hearing and learning of the Father," to which believers are admitted by divine teaching, with His own immediate access to Him, He here throws in a parenthetical explanation; stating, as explicitly as words could do it, how totally different the two cases were, and that only He who is "from God" hath this naked, immediate access to the Father. (See Joh 1:18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 46. Not… seen the Father—From the phrase hath heard…
46. Not… seen the Father—From the phrase hath heard the Father, his opponents might represent him as teaching the visibility, of God to men. He, therefore, guards his language by limiting the true vision, or seeing of God, to himself.
He which is of God—Rather from God, referring to himself.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 46. Not that any man hath seen] To be…
46. Not that any man hath seen] To be enlightened and taught by the Father it is not necessary to see Him. “That is a privilege reserved for a later stage in the spiritual life, and is only to be attained mediately through the Son (comp. Joh_1:18).” S. p. 129.
he which is of God] Or, He which is from God, with whom He was previous to the Incarnation; Joh_1:1; Joh_1:14, Joh_8:42, Joh_16:27.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (46) But this hearing and learning of the Father…
(46) But this hearing and learning of the Father was the preparation for, not the substitute for, the fuller revelation in the person of the Son. Once again He declares that “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath been the interpreter.” (See Note on Joh_1:18; and comp. Joh_3:13; Joh_8:38.) Every man, in proportion as he had been taught of God, would feel how little he knew of God, and there would be in him the yearning desire and the trained faculty to see Him who is of God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Not that any one hath seen the Father, save…
Not that any one hath seen the Father, save he who is from God, he hath seen the Father. "Hearing" and "learning do not amount to the beatific vision. "No one (as John said, Joh_1:18) hath seen Godat any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, (pron , Joh_1:1; eiv tolpon , Joh_1:18) he hath declared him". (cf. Mat_11:27) The full revelation of the Father is alone possible to one who is (para tou Yeou) "forth from God," yet evermore standing in close association with God. Cyril and Erasmus here suggest the fact that Christ distinguishes himself from Moses, and some suggest that Christ protests against the supposition which would make the spiritual "inner Christ" of modern speculation of more value than the historical personality. But para in association with wn indicates more than mission from God, and obviously stands in indissoluble relation with the teaching of the prologue, viz. the eternal pre-existence of the personal Logos the identity of the Person who was made flesh with the Christ of this discourse. These words bring our Lord"s teaching back to a full justification or reassertion of the statement that he had come down from heaven.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 46. Not that any man hath seen. They are…
46. Not that any man hath seen. They are drawn by hearing the word, not by seeing.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus now continues speaking to the crowd and the Jewish leaders.
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Truly, truly
See how you translated this in John 1:51.
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God
Although no human who is alive on earth has seen God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God, has seen the Father.
Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
he who believes has eternal life
God gives "eternal life" to those who trust in Jesus, the Son of God.
translationWords
amen
believe
eternity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.