Thomas Aquinas

Above, the Evangelist showed how the apostles received grace from Christ, by his doing; here he shows how they received it from him by his teaching it. And concerning this he does three things. First, he shows the necessity of this teaching, saying "No man hath seen God at any time"; second, the doctor's capacity for teaching it, there "the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father"; third, he sets forth the teaching itself, there "he hath declared." Now the necessity of this teaching was the lack of wisdom in men, which lack indeed the Evangelist implies through the ignorance of God that abounded among men, saying "No man hath seen God at any time." And this he does fittingly: for wisdom consists properly in the knowledge of God and of divine things. Whence Augustine says that wisdom is the knowledge of divine things, just as knowledge is of human things.

But what the Evangelist here says, "No man hath seen God at any time," seems to be contrary to several authorities of divine Scripture. For it is said in Isaiah 6:1: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated"; in 2 Kings 6:2 almost the same is found: "the name of the Lord sitting upon the Cherubim," etc.; Matthew 5:8, the Lord says: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." But if someone should answer to this last, saying that it is true that in the past no one saw him, but in the future he shall see, as the Lord promises, the Apostle excludes this, saying in 1 Timothy, last chapter, 16: "He dwelleth in light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor indeed can see." But because the Apostle says "no man hath seen," someone could say that if he cannot be seen by men, at least he is seen by the angels, especially since God says in Matthew 18:10: "Their angels in heaven always see the face of the Father." But neither in this way can it be said, because, as is said in Matthew 22:30: "The children of the resurrection shall be as the angels of God in heaven." If therefore the angels see God in heaven, it is manifest also that the children of the resurrection see him too; 1 John 3:2: "When he shall appear, we shall be like to him, and we shall see him as he is."

How then is this to be understood, that which the Evangelist says, "No man hath seen God at any time"? For the understanding of this, therefore, it must be known that God is said to be seen in three ways. In one way indeed through a subject creature, presented to bodily sight; as Abraham is believed to have seen God, when he saw three and adored one, Genesis 18; he adored one indeed, because the three, whom he had first reckoned to be men, and afterwards believed to be angels, he recognized the mystery of the Trinity. In another way through a represented imagination; and thus Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated. Many visions similar to this are found in the Scriptures. And in yet another way he is seen through some intelligible species abstracted from sensible things, by those who through the consideration of the magnitude of creatures behold in their intellect the magnitude of the Creator, as is said in Wisdom 13:5: "For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature the creator of them may be knowably seen," and Romans 1:20: "The invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the creature of the world through the things that are made." In another way through some spiritual light infused by God into spiritual minds in contemplation; and in this way Jacob saw God face to face, Genesis 32:30, which vision, according to Gregory, was accomplished through lofty contemplation.

But through none of these visions is the vision of the divine essence attained: for no created species, whether that by which the exterior sense is informed, or that by which the imagination is informed, or that by which the intellect is informed, is representative of the divine essence as it is. Now a man knows through its essence that thing which the species he has in his intellect represents as it is: therefore through no species is the vision of the divine essence attained. And that no created species represents the divine essence is clear: because nothing finite can represent the infinite as it is; but every created species is finite: therefore, and so on. Moreover, God is his own being; and therefore his wisdom and goodness, and whatever else, are the same; but through one created thing all these could not be represented: therefore the knowledge by which God is seen through creatures is not of his essence, but enigmatic and mirror-like, and from afar. Job 36:25: "All men see him," in some of the said ways, "but each one beholds afar off," because through all those knowledges it is not known concerning God what he is, but what he is not, or whether he is. Whence Dionysius says in the book on Mystical Theology, that the perfect mode by which God is known in the present life is through the removal of all creatures, and of the things understood by us.

Now there were some saying that the divine essence will never be seen by any created intellect, and that it is not seen even by the angels or the blessed. But this proposition is shown to be false and heretical in three ways. First indeed, because it is contrary to the authority of divine Scripture; 1 John 3:2: "We shall see him as he is"; and below, 17:3: "This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Second, because the brightness of God is nothing other than his substance: for it is not shining by participation of light, but through itself. Third, because it is impossible that anyone attain perfect beatitude, except in the vision of the divine essence: because the natural desire of the intellect is to know and understand the causes of all effects known by it; which cannot be fulfilled unless the first universal cause of all things is known and understood, which is not composed of effect and cause, as are the secondary causes. And therefore to take away the possibility of the vision of the divine essence from men is to take away beatitude itself. It is necessary therefore for the beatitude of the created intellect that the divine essence be seen, Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

Now as regards the vision of the divine essence, three things must be attended to. First, because it will never be seen by the bodily eye, or by any sense, or by the imagination, since through the senses nothing is perceived except corporeal sensible things; but God is incorporeal; below, 4:24: "God is a spirit." Second, because the human intellect, so long as it is joined to the body, cannot see God, because it is weighed down by the corruptible body, so that it cannot reach to the summit of contemplation. And thence it is that the soul, the more it is free from the passions, and purged from the affections of earthly things, so much the more does it ascend into the contemplation of truth, and taste how sweet the Lord is. Now the highest degree of contemplation is to see God through his essence; and therefore, so long as man lives in the body subject of necessity to many passions, he cannot see God through his essence. Exodus, chapter 33:20: "Man shall not see me and live." For this therefore, that the human intellect may see the divine essence, it is necessary that it totally forsake the body; either through death, as the Apostle says, 2 Corinthians 5:8: "We are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present to the Lord"; or that it be totally abstracted through rapture from the bodily senses, as is read of Paul, 2 Corinthians, chapter 12:3. In the third way, that no created intellect, however much abstracted, whether through death, or separated from the body, seeing the divine essence, can in any way comprehend it. And therefore it is commonly said that, although the whole divine essence is seen by the blessed, since it is most simple and lacking parts, nevertheless it is not seen totally, because this would be to comprehend it. For this that I say, "totally," expresses a certain mode. Now any mode of God is the divine essence; whence he who does not see him totally does not comprehend him. Now someone is properly said to comprehend some thing in knowing it, who knows that thing as far as it is knowable in itself; otherwise, although he knows it, nevertheless he does not comprehend it. As he who knows this proposition, "a triangle has three angles equal to two right angles," by a dialectical syllogism, does not know it as far as it is knowable, and therefore does not know it totally; but he who knows it by a demonstrative syllogism knows it totally. For each thing is knowable to the extent that it has of being and truth; but the knower himself knows to the extent that he has of cognitive power. Now every created intellectual substance is finite: therefore it knows finitely. Since therefore God is of infinite power and entity, and consequently infinitely knowable, he cannot be known by any created intellect as far as he is knowable; and therefore to every created intellect he remains incomprehensible; Job 36:26: "Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge." But he alone, by comprehending, contemplates himself, because his power in knowing is as great as his entity in being. Jeremiah 32:18: "Most strong, great, powerful, the Lord of hosts is thy name, great in counsel, incomprehensible in thought."

Thus therefore, according to the premises, is understood "No man hath seen God at any time." First thus: "no man," that is, no man, "hath seen God," that is, the divine essence, with the bodily and imaginary eye. Second, "no man" living in this mortal life has seen the divine essence in itself. Third, "no man," man or angel, "hath seen God," with the vision of comprehension. But what is said of certain ones, that they saw God with the eye, or while living in the body, is understood not through his essence, but through a subject creature, as has been said. Thus therefore it was necessary that we receive wisdom, because "No man hath seen God at any time."

Now a sufficient doctor of this wisdom is proposed to us by the Evangelist, when he adds "the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father," in which he shows us the capacity of the doctor himself through three things. Namely through natural likeness, and through singular excellence, and through most perfect consubstantiality. Through natural likeness, because the Son naturally has the likeness of the Father. And thence it is also that someone is called a son of God to the extent that he participates in the likeness of the natural Son; and to the extent that he knows, to the extent that he has of his likeness: because knowledge comes about through assimilation. 1 John 3:2: "Now we are the sons of God," and there follows: "When he shall appear, we shall be like to him, and we shall see him as he is." And therefore in this that the Evangelist says "Son," there is implied likeness, and aptitude for knowing God. But because this doctor knows God more specially than the other sons, therefore the Evangelist implies this through singular excellence, when he says "only begotten"; as if to say: this one knows God before the other sons. Therefore he is called "only begotten," because he is the natural Son, having the same nature and knowledge with the Father; Psalm 2:7: "The Lord said to me: Thou art my Son."

But although he might know singularly, nevertheless the capacity of teaching could still be lacking to him, if he did not know totally; and therefore he adds a third thing, namely his consubstantiality with the Father, when he says "in the bosom of the Father": so that "bosom" is not taken as it is customarily said among men girded with a garment, but for the hidden place of the Father. For that we bear in secret which we carry in the bosom. Now the secret of the Father is because he exceeds every power and knowledge, since the divine essence is infinite. In that bosom therefore, that is, in the most hidden place of the paternal nature and essence, which exceeds every power of a creature, is the only begotten Son; and therefore he is consubstantial with the Father. And what the Evangelist here signified through "bosom," this David expressed through "womb," saying in Psalm 109:3: "From the womb before the day star," that is, from the innermost and hidden place of my essence, incomprehensible to every created intellect, "I begot thee," and consubstantial to me, and of the same nature and power and might and knowledge; 1 Corinthians 2:11: "The things that are of man, no man knoweth, but the spirit of man (...) and the things that are of God, no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God." He comprehends therefore the divine essence, which is his own. But the soul of Christ, in knowing God, does not comprehend him, because this is said only of the only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father. Whence also the Lord says in Matthew 11:27: "No one knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall be willing to reveal him"; so that both are understood of the knowledge of comprehension, of which the Evangelist here seems to speak. For no one comprehends the divine essence, except God the Father alone, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus therefore is clear the capacity of the doctor for teaching.

It is also to be noted, that through this that he says "who is in the bosom of the Father," is excluded the error of certain ones, saying that the Father is invisible, but the Son visible, and that he was not seen in the Old Testament. For, from this that he is in the hidden place of the Father, it is manifest that he is naturally invisible, just as the Father. And on account of this Isaiah 45:15 said of him: "Thou art truly a hidden God." And therefore in divine Scripture mention is made of the incomprehensibility of the Son; Matthew 11:27: "No one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither doth any one know the Father but the Son"; Proverbs 30:4: "What is the name of his son, if thou knowest?"

Consequently the Evangelist implies the manner of handing down the teaching itself, when he says "he hath declared." For of old the only begotten Son manifested the knowledge of God through the prophets, who announced him to the extent that they were partakers of the eternal Word. Whence they said: "The word of the Lord was made," and so on. But now the only begotten himself, the Son, has declared it to the faithful. Isaiah 52:6: "I myself that spoke, behold I am here"; Hebrews 1:1: "God, who at sundry times and in many ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us by his Son." And this teaching therefore surpasses all other teachings in dignity, authority and usefulness, because it was handed down immediately by the only begotten Son, who is the first wisdom. Hebrews 2:3: "Which having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." But what did he narrate except one God? This same thing Moses also declared, Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one Lord." What therefore more than Moses? Much in every way, because the mystery of the Trinity, and many other things, which neither Moses, nor any of the prophets narrated.