John 6:46 kjv
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
John 6:46 nkjv
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
John 6:46 niv
No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.
John 6:46 esv
not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.
John 6:46 nlt
(Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)
John 6 46 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exo 33:20 | But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." | God's unseeable essence. |
| Deu 4:12 | The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire...you saw no form. | Emphasizes God's invisibility to humanity. |
| Jdg 13:22 | Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!" | Human fear of seeing God directly. |
| Isa 6:1 | In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne... | Vision of God's glory, not His full essence. |
| Jn 1:18 | No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. | Jesus as the ultimate revealer of God. |
| Jn 5:19 | The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do... | Jesus' actions flow from divine observation. |
| Jn 7:29 | I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me. | Jesus' claim of divine origin and knowledge. |
| Jn 8:42 | Jesus said to them, "...I proceeded forth and came from God..." | Jesus' pre-existence and source. |
| Jn 14:7-9 | If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also... He who has seen Me has seen the Father. | Jesus embodies the Father; seeing Him is seeing the Father. |
| Jn 16:27-28 | ...for you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God... | Disciples' belief in Jesus' divine origin. |
| Jn 17:5 | And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. | Jesus' pre-existent glory with the Father. |
| Jn 17:24 | Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory... | Disciples' future sight of Jesus' glory, hinting at a mediated knowledge of God. |
| 1 Tim 1:17 | Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise... | God's invisibility and ultimate wisdom. |
| 1 Tim 6:16 | who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. | God dwells in inaccessible light. |
| 1 Jn 4:12 | No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us... | Reinforces the invisibility of God. |
| Matt 11:27 | All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father... | Exclusive knowledge between Father and Son. |
| Lk 10:22 | No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. | Reciprocal and exclusive knowledge of the Son and Father. |
| Heb 1:3 | who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person... | Jesus is the exact representation of God's essence. |
| Php 2:6 | who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. | Jesus' divine nature and equality with God. |
| Col 1:15 | He is the image of the invisible God... | Jesus perfectly represents the invisible God. |
| Jn 3:13 | No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. | Emphasizes Jesus' unique origin and heavenly connection. |
| Jn 8:38 | I speak what I have seen with My Father... | Jesus' words are based on direct observation of the Father. |
John 6 verses
John 6 46 Meaning
John 6:46 declares that no human being has directly perceived or comprehended the essence of God the Father, with the sole and absolute exception of Jesus Christ. Jesus, being uniquely "from God" (meaning of divine origin and continuous existence with the Father), possesses intimate, inherent knowledge and direct vision of the Father's being. This verse establishes Jesus as the exclusive revealer of the Father, emphasizing His singular identity and unparalleled relationship with God.
John 6 46 Context
John 6:46 is part of Jesus' discourse on the "Bread of Life," delivered after feeding the five thousand and walking on water. The preceding verses (Jn 6:35-45) describe Jesus as the true bread from heaven, sent by the Father, and the one whom the Father draws people to believe in. The Jewish listeners murmured and questioned Jesus' claims of having "come down from heaven," because they knew His earthly parents. Jesus responds by reiterating that only those drawn by the Father will come to Him, implying a spiritual revelation. Verse 46 directly addresses this incredulity, asserting Jesus' unique qualifications for understanding and revealing God the Father, in contrast to their limited human perception and inherited understanding of God based solely on the Law or the prophets. It challenges their assumptions about direct knowledge of God and re-emphasizes that authentic access to God is exclusively through Him.
John 6 46 Word analysis
- Not: Greek ouch (οὐχ). An absolute negation. It firmly refutes any notion of human ability to see the Father on their own terms.
- that anyone: Greek hina tis (ἵνα τις). Refers to any human individual, emphasizing the universal limitation of mankind regarding direct vision of God.
- has seen: Greek heōraken (ἑώρακεν). Perfect tense of horaō (ὁράω). Implies more than mere physical sight; it means to have seen fully, intimately, and with complete comprehension. It denotes a direct, essential knowledge or apprehension of being.
- the Father: Greek ton Pateron (τὸν Πατέρα). Refers to God the First Person of the Trinity.
- except: Greek ei mē (εἰ μή). A strong adversative conjunction meaning "unless" or "but only." It establishes an singular and absolute exclusion, indicating Jesus is the one and only exception.
- he who is from God: Greek ho ōn para tou theou (ὁ ὢν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ). This phrase emphasizes Jesus' divine origin, not just that He was sent by God, but that He fundamentally exists from God and belongs to God's sphere. It points to His pre-existence and inherent, unique relationship with the Father, sharing the divine nature. It conveys a constant state of being.
- he has seen: Greek houtos heōraken (οὗτος ἑώρακεν). Repetition of heōraken strengthens the unique claim. "He" explicitly refers back to "he who is from God," reiterating that this particular person (Jesus) is the sole possessor of this profound and direct knowledge of the Father's essence.
- the Father: Greek ton Pateron (τὸν Πατέρα). Again, refers to God the First Person of the Trinity, highlighting the subject of Jesus' unique sight.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "Not that anyone has seen the Father": This clause sets the foundational premise: no human being, regardless of their piety, knowledge, or experience (even prophets in the Old Testament), has ever gazed upon or comprehended the full, unmediated essence of God the Father. This contrasts with common misconceptions or aspirations within some religious traditions of directly accessing God. It also indirectly confronts claims that traditional Mosaic law or ritual offered such unmediated sight.
- "except he who is from God": This introduces the exclusive qualification. "From God" is more profound than "sent by God." It speaks to Jesus' divine source, nature, and continuous communion with God before His incarnation. It means that Jesus derives His very being and existence from the Father, making His understanding and vision of the Father intrinsic and perfect. This highlights Jesus' divinity.
- "he has seen the Father": This emphatically restates the unique privilege of the Son. His "seeing" is not a mystical vision but an inherent, perfect, and comprehensive knowledge of God's essence and plan, arising from His co-existence and shared nature with the Father. This perfect vision allows Jesus to perfectly reveal the Father to humanity.
John 6 46 Bonus section
The Jewish audience often believed that figures like Moses had seen God "face to face" (Exo 33:11, Num 12:8), though Old Testament accounts also carefully qualify such encounters, suggesting mediated visions or glimpses of God's glory, not His unapproachable essence. Jesus' statement here serves as an implicit polemic against such an interpretation, asserting that even Moses' experience was fundamentally different and inferior to His own inherent, complete vision of the Father. He clarifies that what Old Testament figures "saw" was a manifestation of God's presence or glory, but not His full, unclouded being. Only the One "from God" can possess that complete and direct knowledge, thus making Jesus the unique bridge to the invisible God, challenging their pre-existing understanding of revelation and access to the divine. This underscores Jesus' supremacy over all prior revelations and mediators.
John 6 46 Commentary
John 6:46 stands as a crucial assertion of Jesus' unique identity and divine authority within His "Bread of Life" discourse. In a world accustomed to the idea that God is unseen and unknowable in His fullness, Jesus declares Himself the sole exception. He possesses an intimate, unmediated knowledge of the Father's very being, a vision that no prophet, no priest, and no ordinary human could ever achieve. This unparalleled relationship empowers Him to be the perfect revealer of God. Therefore, to truly know God, one must come to know Jesus, as He embodies and unveils the Father's character and will. This verse emphasizes the profound spiritual truth that human understanding of God is not self-derived but is entirely dependent on Christ's divine revelation.
Examples:
- A person seeking a true understanding of God should not rely solely on philosophical reasoning but on the words and life of Jesus, for He alone truly "saw" the Father.
- When struggling to comprehend God's love, justice, or sovereignty, turning to Jesus' teachings and actions offers the clearest possible insight because His knowledge of the Father is perfect.
- It counters any belief that personal piety or adherence to religious laws can grant full access to God's essence apart from Jesus.