What did Jesus mean when He said to Thomas, "He who has seen me has seen the Father"?
I and the Father are one.
Matthew 14:8
NKJV - 8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter.
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Asked December 06 2020
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Tony Railton
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
Because of Jesus' frequent references to His heavenly Father, as well as the fact that God the Father had spoken audibly at various points during Jesus ministry (such as at His baptism (Matthew 3:17), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and when Jesus told His Father to glorify His name (John 12:28)), I would say that the apostles predominantly thought of God the Father and God the Son as two separate Beings or Persons (which they are in a sense), which is what would have prompted Philip's request to Jesus in John 14:8 to show the Father to the apostles. However, the Father and the Son also (along with the Holy Spirit) have a divine nature that is so identically shared that it is a single essence, which is why -- as the Athanasian Creed (viewable at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasian_Creed) explains -- we do not worship three gods, but one God in three Persons who have different and distinctive roles and functions. Jesus was the visible, physical embodiment of that spiritual essence, which is why He could truly say that anyone who had seen Him had also seen the Father.
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
Great question, Tony! If Jesus said (and He did), "Anyone who has sen me has seen the Father," does this mean the Father has a physical body like Jesus does (John 14:9)? No. God is by nature spirit (John 4:24). But Jesus is God in the flesh.See Colossians 1:15, [He's "the image of the invisible God.” Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God. This is a very we often used when I was in Campus Crusade for Christ at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. (Now Cru). We used this verse in John 14:9 to prove that Jesus was God, and not just a man. "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus came as the ultimate revelation of the Father. The Dictionary of Bible Themes on biblehub has this: Titles relating to Jesus Christ's identity The exact image of God Hebrews 1:3 See also John 14:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15
James Marstaller
Supporter
"In Christ dwells the fullness of God in bodily form..." It is Jesus who has the body like ours. We often want to view God the Father as made in the image of man and not the other way around. I realize that Jesus sits at the Father's right hand and lives to intercede for us. But I think that in heaven the only one that we will see is Jesus for there is one 'What' and 3 'Who' in the tri-unity. If we see the Son we are also seeing the Father.
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