My question is on 1 John 4:12 where it states no man has seen God… but how do we reconcile this with what Jesus told Philip in John 14:9. This is how I interpret or understand this seemingly contradiction. 1 John 4 is a chapter that speaks to having love for one another and for God, verse 7 states that “beloved let us love one another for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God”.
This is conjecture but could John have meant here that the un-regenerated man void of the love of God has never seen Him. I feel that every time I look at one of my brothers or sisters I should see God/Christ in them. Remember to be re-born by the Spirit is to return to the original image that God created us to reflect and that is His image.
Thank God for you Jack, that people like my self can ask questions and get Spirit filled answers in return
In John 14:8 Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father and Jesus replied that if they had seen Him they had seen the Father. That’s because the Father dwelt in the Son. But no one on Earth has seen God the Father because we could not survive it. Remember, Moses had to hide in the cleft of the rock and could only see the Lord’s back (Exodus 33:21-23)
In 1 John 4:7 we’re told that by loving one another we would come to know God because it’s God’s love channeled through us that allows us to love each other. No unbeliever can be such a channel. I think the image of God you speak of is a spiritual image, not a physical one. The image is of His love, not of His being.