Exegeting God the Father ∙

Exegeting God the Father ∙

He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen. – 1 Timothy 6:16

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his essence.

Humanity’s Eternal Question

For millennia, humans have asked one profound question with unrelenting curiosity: What is God like? Seeking answers, theologians have compiled lists of divine attributes, describing God as omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, righteous, and inherently good. While these traits portray God’s greatness, they can often feel distant and abstract. People yearn for more than philosophy. They want to know God personally.

What is God’s essence and character? What is He like as a person? Does He think, feel, and act in ways we can relate to? Is He approachable, welcoming, and kind? Or is He judgmental, harsh, and distant? These questions lie at the heart of the human experience. Moses himself wrestled with this and boldly asked for an answer.

Moses’ Bold Request

Moses, chosen by God to lead His people, desired to know more about Him—to see His glory in its fullness. He made a daring request in Exodus 33:18: “Show me your glory.”

God, in His kindness, partially granted Moses’ request. While humanity could not fully behold God’s glory and survive, the Lord revealed His goodness in a way Moses could comprehend.

God Reveals His Goodness

Exodus 33:19-23 describes this remarkable exchange of grace and awe: The LORD replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you . . .. But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” The LORD continued, “Look, stand near me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”

Father had a plan. God’s response reveals something profound. His “goodness” is central to His character, and even a glimpse of His glory is overwhelming and life-changing. Yet, God’s plan was much bigger than this moment. What Moses experienced was a foreshadowing of an even greater revelation to come.

The Ultimate Revelation

God’s ultimate plan was to make Himself fully known through His Son, Jesus Christ, who stepped into human history as both divine and human. Jesus wasn’t just a representative of God; He was God in the flesh.

John 1:18 captures this truth with clarity and wonder: “No one has seen God at any time; but the unique One, who is himself God, who is at the Father’s side, he has revealed him and made him known.”

Through Jesus, the invisible God became visible. The abstract became tangible, and the unknowable became knowable in ways humanity could understand.

God’s Character Revealed

The Greek term translated as “reveal,” “explain,” “unfold,” or “make known” is exegesato. It comes from the Greek verb exegeomai, which means to “lead out,” “explain,” “interpret,” “tell,” “report,” “describe,” or “make known.” Through every word He spoke, every miracle He performed, and every act of love He demonstrated, the Lord Jesus Christ “exegeted,” or “revealed,” the heart of the Father in a way no one else could.

If we want to know what God is like, we need only to look at Jesus. His compassion, mercy, and truth reflect the essence of the Father. His tenderness with the brokenhearted, His righteous anger against injustice, and His sacrificial love on the cross reveal the depth of God’s character.

REFLECT & PRAY

The very essence of the Father is fully revealed in the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ embodies the Father’s nature, character, and personality, making God knowable and accessible to humanity.

Father, thank You for unveiling Your essence and character through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, we see Your radiance and love clearly displayed.

INSIGHT

The Mystery of Unapproachable Light

Scripture reveals that the Father dwells in unapproachable light. This concept is beautifully described in 1 Timothy 6:16: “[He] alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see.”

The Greek word translated as unapproachable is aprositos. Aprositos is found only here in the entire New Testament. It comes from a – without and proseimi – to approach and “conveys something inaccessible or unattainable.” This unapproachable light represents the radiant, incomprehensible glory of God that human eyes, limited by their frailty, cannot endure.

A vivid example of God’s glory is found in Exodus 24:16-17: “And the glory of the LORD settled down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, the LORD called to Moses from inside the cloud. To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the LORD appeared at the summit like a consuming fire.”

This radiant glory, while mesmerizing, also serves a protective purpose. The purpose of the light is to make people unable to see the very face of God. Unapproachable light may then be alternatively expressed as “the light that prevents people from seeing God” (UBS).

It is not so much that the Father is evasive. Instead, He veils Himself, making it difficult for people to see and attempt to comprehend His essence. In doing so, He prevents people from harming themselves. An analogy would be the devastating effect of looking directly at the sun with unprotected human eyes, risking serious injury, even blindness.

Exodus 33:20 confirms this when God says, “But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” Just as staring at the sun with unprotected eyes would cause harm, gazing directly upon God’s unveiled glory would overwhelm and endanger mortal beings.

The Son is the Workaround

The workaround for this conundrum was to send the Son to represent Him. The Son was readily visible and knowable. God, in His infinite wisdom, provided a solution to this conundrum. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to reveal His nature in a tangible, approachable way. The Son became the visible representation of the invisible Father.

Hebrews 1:3 succinctly puts it: “The Son is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His essence.”

The Radiance of God’s Glory

The Greek word for “radiance” is apaugasma. Apaugasma connotes that “He is the effulgence, that is, the source of radiating light.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God’s glorious presence, the radiance of God’s glory. Through the Son, the light of the Father shines visibly and personally, allowing all to observe and comprehend it.

The Exact Representation of the Father

The term “exact representation” is translated from the Greek word character, another rare term used only here in the New Testament. Character was initially used “to denote the impression or mark stamped on coins, character came to mean an exact reproduction.”

The Son is not simply a reflection of the Father; He is an exact imprint of His nature. To see Jesus is to see the Father. As Barclay notes, “The Lord Jesus Christ is the character of God. When we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, we see exactly what the Father is like.” O’Brien adds, “Thus, the Son is the exact representation, the embodiment of God, as He really is.” His being is made manifest in Christ so that to see the Son is to see what the Father is like.”

Seeing the Father Through the Son

Jesus Christ serves as the ultimate revelation of God’s glory and essence. Through Him, the Father’s radiant light becomes visible and His nature approachable.

For those longing to understand the Father, there is no better way than to look to the Son. Everything about the Father—His love, righteousness, mercy, and glory—is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ. The Lord is the embodiment of God’s character, inviting us into a personal relationship with the One who dwells in unapproachable light.

To exegete, understand the Father, look at the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the apaugasma of God’s glory. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of the Father is manifested for all people to see. Through Him, the Father’s glory has shined among us. The Lord Jesus Christ is the character of God. When we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, we see precisely what the Father is like (Barclay).

¯_(ツ)_/¯3-16-2

© Dr. H 2025