The saying "nobody has seen God… but the Son has made Him known" can be interpreted as expressing a necessary condition. In this context, the idea would be that seeing or knowing God is predicated on the Son making Him known. Here’s a closer look at how this works logically and theologically:
John 1:18 states: "No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself Divinity and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known."
Interpreting this as a necessary condition:
The first clause, "No one has ever seen God," establishes the premise that direct knowledge or vision of God is unattainable by humans on their own.
The second clause, "but the one and only Son... has made him known," provides the necessary condition for knowing God: it is only through the Son that God can be made known or seen.
Thus, the structure implies:
Seeing or knowing God is impossible unless the Son makes Him known.
So, in logical terms:
If a person sees or knows God, then it must be because the Son has made Him known.
Therefore, the condition here is:
Knowing God is contingent upon the Son making Him known.
So this saying can be interpreted to mean that seeing or knowing God is contingent upon the Son’s revelation of God, establishing the Son as the necessary mediator for this divine knowledge.
This kind of construct Jesus used in his saying ”no man comes to the Father but by me”. It has a similar meaning. It follows that it is possibly incorrect to think that John’s gospel states without qualification that nobody has ever seen God.
