Verse 12
No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:
No man hath seen God at any time ... Blaney was probably correct in seeing this as a warning to Christians against "trying to know God in any other way than the one he is describing."[35] Some have sought, outside of Christianity, to know more about God, hoping for a clearer perception; but this apostolic warning declares all such attempts to be futile. However, "John is not here discounting the visions of God reported in the Old Testament, but meaning that those visions were partial and incomplete. It is in Christ that we see God (John 14:9)."[36]
If we love one another ... Love of the brethren is the primary meaning of this. The humanistic philosophy that reads this "love of all mankind" is an inadequate conception. "Our love toward God is perfected and brought to maturity by the exercise of love towards our brethren in him (Christ)."[37]
The warning in this verse to the effect that the revelation of God is available to people only in Christ is widely needed. All such things as astrology, spiritism, witchcraft and Satanism are basically ways of finding a so-called "reality" apart from Biblical revelation. This apostolic injunction states unequivocally that there is nothing out there which might enlighten or bless people. The true revelation has already been given through people who is "the way, the truth, and the life." Despite this basic truth, the spectacle of a high ranking ecclesiastic losing his life in a desert while trying to communicate with spirits, only recently, was spread on the pages of the newspapers.
God abideth in us ... Why make excursions into deserts or dark rooms, or explore the mysteries of esoteric cults, or plunge into the abyss through drugs or alcohol? when all the while God himself will take up residence in the very soul of one who will through loving open up room for Him who is love.
[35] Harvey J. S. Blaney, op. cit., p. 391.
[36] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 1268.
[37] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 104.
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