We Can’t Say it All
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him.” — John 1:18
I always note with a little chuckle the frustrations of the translators when they come to such passages [as John 1:18]. . . .
God’s Word is just too big for the translators. They come to this phrase in the Greek: The Son hath declared Him. In the English of the King James Version it is just declared. In other versions they skirt it, they go around it, they plunge through it. They use two or three words and then they come back to one. They do everything to try to say what the Holy Ghost said, but they have to give up. Our English just will not say it all.
When we have used up our words and synonyms, we still have not said all that God revealed when He said: Nobody has ever seen God, but when Jesus Christ came He showed us what God is like (paraphrase of John 1:18).
I suppose that our simple and everyday language is as good as any.
“He has revealed Him—He has shown us what God is like!”
He has declared Him. He has set Him forth. He has revealed Him. In these ways the translators shift their language trying to get at this wondrous miracle of meaning.
Lord, I am too limited to fully understand or express who You are. Fix my eyes on Jesus, that I might see you. Amen.
(by A.W.Tozer)
