No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
All Commentaries on John 1:18 Go To John 1
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
For God the Father none ever saw, and lived.
And has Himself unfolded "the Father's bosom.".
Behold, then, I find both in the Gospels and in the (writings of the) apostles a visible and an invisible God (revealed to us), under a manifest and personal distinction in the condition of both. There is a certain emphatic saying by John: "No man hath seen God at any time; ".
as it were: "No man hath seen God at any time.".
"Well, (I must again ask, ) what God does he mean? It is of course the Father, with whom was the Word, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and has Himself declared Him.
not, (observe, ) as of the Father. He "declared "(what was in) "the bosom of the Father alone; ".
His own bosom. For this is preceded by another statement: "No man hath seen God at any time."
