contradictions

Bible Contradiction: Has Anyone Seen God?

Contend For Faith

Contend For Faith

Claim:

The Bible appears to contradict itself on whether a human has ever seen God. In Genesis Jacob says that he saw God “face to face”. However, the Gospel of John says that “no one has seen God”.

The Issue

Has any human being seen God? The Bible seems to give two different answers to this. In Genesis we read this:

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Genesis 32:30

However, in the Gospel of John we read this:

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John 1:18

It sounds like the Bible is saying that no one has seen God, and yet Jacob very clearly says that he has seen God. Isn’t this a contradiction? Two things are going to help us understand this contradiction. First, let’s look at the word “see”.

Understanding “See”

Just like in English, we can use the word “see” in two different ways. It can mean to literally see something. Like, “I see this microphone in front of me” or, “I see this camera”. However, it can also mean to understand.

Say, for instance, that my friend is explaining something to me and I respond with, “Oh, I see”. I’m not literally seeing what he’s saying, but I understand what he’s saying. This same principle can apply when John writes that no one has “seen” God. He could mean no one has literally seen God. He might also mean that nobody has understood God. That definition would change the meaning of this verse.

So how do we know which one he’s referring to? Well, let’s plug both of those definitions of “see” into John 1:18 and see which one makes the most logical sense. We could say:

No one has ever [literally seen] God, but Jesus has revealed God to us.

This doesn’t really make a lot of sense because Jesus doesn’t spend any time talking about what God literally looks like. However, if we translate it as:

No one has ever [understood] God, but Jesus has revealed God to us.

This is a much more reasonable interpretation, because Jesus spends a lot of time helping us understand who God is.

So if it’s reasonable to assume that John is talking about understanding instead of literally seeing, what does the Bible say about us literally seeing God?

Moses “Face to Face” with God

One of the best answers to this is found Exodus 33. Starting in verse 11 we read this:

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend…

Exodus 33:11a

I just love thinking about this verse. What would it be like to have a literal conversation with God? It must be an amazing thing, and I would love to experience it one day. But if you read this, you might be tempted to think that Moses is physically looking at God as he is saying this, because of the phrase “face to face”. However, we know that can’t be true because of the verses that come after it:

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Exodus 33:18

Moses is talking to God “face to face”, but still asks God to show himself. It wouldn’t make sense for Moses to be asking this if he had already been literally looking at God face to face. God drives this home in the following verses:

“But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Exodus 33:20-23

God makes it clear that man cannot see God and live. This confirms that in Exodus 33:11, Moses was not literally looking at God when he spoke to him “face to face”. The emphasis of Exodus 33:11 is the fact that God and Moses were having a back and forth conversation the same way two friends would talk to each other.

God does not have a face or a hand or a back, but he uses this human language to help us understand things about Him. So what is God saying when he’s referring to his face? Well, if you think about humans for a second, if you just saw a picture of somebody’s arm or maybe even their back, you might not know who that person is.

However, if you see a picture of somebody’s face, you will immediately know who they are. The face is the most distinguishable part about a person. When God says that “you cannot see my face”, he’s saying that nobody can see Him in his entirety. Nobody can really, truly see Him. At best, we can only get a glimpse of him, or His “back”.

Back to Jacob

Going back to the first verse we read:

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Genesis 32:30

Here we have another account of someone seeing God “face to face”, does this contradict what we just read in Exodus 33? To answer that, let’s take a look at the verses right before this verse:

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

Genesis 32:24

This verse gives us an important piece of information to help us understand Genesis 32:30, God appears to Jacob as a man. God isn’t actually a man, which means he has not appeared in His fullness when He appears to Jacob.

How is God able to do this? I have no idea. But what we do know is that Jacob is not seeing the fullness of God, because we’re told if he did see the fullness of God, he would not live. Similar to God allowing Moses to see His “back”, but not His “face”. God appears to Jacob as a man, not in His fullness.

Because of this, Jacob saw God, but not the fullness of God.

Conclusion

Genesis 32:30 and John 1:18 do not contradict each other because:

  1. When John 1:18 uses the word “see”, it is referring to understanding God.
  2. In Exodus 33 we learn that man can see small glimpses of God, but if someone were to see God’s face (or His fullness), they would die.
  3. In Genesis 32, God appears to Jacob as a man, meaning Jacob did “see” God, but not in His fullness.

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.