Apophatic theology and cataphatic theology both occur in the
When reading the Bible the reader becomes confused about the references to the visibility or invisibility of God. In both Testaments there are text references to both.
In the light of this dichotomy, the question that arises is how the readers
In order to obtain clarity on the meaning of this phrase in 1 John 3:2 and how and what kind of spiritualities it could evoke in the lives of the first readers, I will follow the following modus operandi: firstly, I determine who is the ‘object’ of seeing in 1 John 3:2 and secondly, what is meant by ‘seeing’ him. Thirdly, I look into the mechanisms used by the elder in the text to create spiritualities in the readers. Finally, I try to discover the possible ‘lived experiences’ (spiritualities) of the early Christian readers when they read this text (3:2).
Before I plunge into investigating the early Christian spirituality of ‘seeing him as he is’ and how it is prompted by the text, I must first determine who is the ‘object’ who shall be seen and what is meant by ‘shall see’. What did the elder envisage?
The two personal pronouns, αὐτῷ/αὐτὸν [him] in 1 John 3:2, are the focal point. The question that arises is: ‘To whom do the personal pronouns αὐτῷ/αὐτὸν refer: to Jesus, the Son of God or to God, the Father?’ Scholars are divided, for the object of vision is not clearly stated in 1 John 3:2.
Arguments in favour of Jesus are: The personal pronouns αὐτῷ/αὐτὸν are assumed to be references to Jesus (see 1 Jn 13:13–17, especially 17:24; cf. Col 3:4). Verse 2:28 refers to the coming of Jesus, which was also referred to in 3:2. In 2:1 and 2:29 the elder refers to Jesus as ‘righteous’. Thus the person referred to in 2:28–29 is the same person and object implied in 3:2. What we have here is a phrase referring to Christ in a passage dealing with God as Father (see 2:29–3:2a; cf. Schnackenburg
John 17:24 refers to where Jesus asks the Father if his disciples would see his glory. This is in line with the statements that nobody has seen God (Jn 1:18). Three other texts from the New Testament verify this point of view: 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:21; 3:4 (similar vocabulary [revealed] occurs and all three have Jesus as subject).
Arguments in favour of the Father are:
This diversity of opinions, and the arguments in favour of both, lead to a
Because of this uncertainty and the interwovenness and intimate relationship between Jesus and God in 1 John,
Throughout 1 and 2 John, Jesus is mentioned in association with the Father, predominantly with the connotation ‘the Father of Jesus Christ’.
When the author of 1 John refers to Jesus as τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ (his Son, 1 Jn 1:3, 7) or μονογενῆ (only, 1 Jn 4:9), it is in close conjunction with ‘God’ (ὁ θεὸς): πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει, ὁ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει (no-one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father, 2:23; see also 1:3; 4:14). A repeated parallelism occurs, effectively putting the Father and the Son on an equal level (1:3; 2:23; 4:15; 5:11, 12; Edwards
The second uncertainty to be addressed in the phrase ‘for we shall see him as he is’ is what the elder could have meant by ‘seeing’. What kind of seeing will believers after the parousia experience? The notion of ‘seeing Jesus (God)’ in all his fullness (καθώς ἐστιν, ‘just as he is’) and consequently ‘becoming like him’ (ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα) is not a new creation or a new thought coming from the elder. It already occurred in Hellenistic mysticism (Smalley
Conversely, the notion that believers will ‘see God’ (ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν) is also present in the Old Testament (see Ps 11:7; 17:15; cf. 42:105). The Hebrew Bible does not contain an abstract word meaning ‘presence’.
An even greater possibility and more immediate setting would have been the fourth Gospel itself. The meaning of the elder’s statement ‘we shall see (ὀψόμεθα) him as he is’ may, according to Thomas (
Every time the Gospel of John refers to the seeing or not seeing of God, the author uses the verb ὁράω (cf. Jn 1:18; 6:46; 11:40; 14:7, 9).
With this verse (Jn 3:2) the elder tries to show his readers what believers can expect to experience
It seems that we shall have to concur with Painter and Michaelis. Painter states (2002:221) that what is clear is that a transformation has already taken place in believers – ‘we are children of God now’ (1 Jn 3:1‒2) – but the Parousia is going to bring more change. According to Michaelis (
Waaijman (
These spiritualities are created through the composition of images,
When the early Christians read these texts their imagination composed images of the text. The reader subjectively and selectively composes the images out of the multifarious aspects of the text as well as the metaphors and imagery embedded in the text (Iser
The reader himself, in constituting the meaning, is also constituted (Iser
In the reading process – various perspectives of parts of the text move into focus and take on their actuality in their comparison with preceding segments – the reader forms a sequence of these images in which the successive images gradually constitute a certain configuration: a field of meaning and experience (Iser
In the pericope of 1 John 2:28–3:10 the elder writes about the relationship between God and the Johannine Christians in terms of family metaphor
But, opposed to this
Thus the pictures of opposite images of family life not only constituted in the mind of the reader the environment for ‘we shall see him as he is’, but would also have created lived experiences of tension in their lives. Gradually, during the reading process, an ideational world is evoked. This is the result of the fact ‘that textual perspectives contrast with each other’ (Waaijman
Reading is a continuous dialogical negotiation of meaning between text and reader that evokes varied experiences. According to Iser (
In 2:28–3:10 we can discern the following formal and informal strategies of the elder, which occur in the text to generate particular spiritualities and conduct. Three formal strategies are:
Some informal strategies to generate the dynamic interaction between the reader and the text also occur and complement the formal strategies. They consist of the following (also cf. Van der Merwe
The first paragraph (2:28-3:3) is saturated with various groups of semantically related words, concepts and themes. The first semantic network refers to two references (τεκνία/ἀγαπητοί, 2:28; 3:2) the elder uses to indicate the intimate relationship that exists between him and his adherents. The second network refers to the revelation or
The coming of Jesus – φανερωθῇ [revelation]/παρουσίᾳ [coming], cf. 4:17, which is semantically related, referred to as τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως [‘the day of judgment’].
To conform to Jesus’ identity – μένετε ἐν αὐτῷ ([abide in him], 2:28); ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ([do what is right], 2:29); ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα ([we shall be like him], 3:2); ἁγνίζει ἑαυτόν ([purify themselves], 3:3) and ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ([love one’s brother], 3:10).
The dominant motif of the first paragraph is to be a child of God in the present and also in the future.
When reading a text the reader is extremely active. The reading of a text phrase evokes in the reader an image that appears against a background of what has already been read and also against what still remains to be read. Thus the text unfolds at every moment of reading, which creates various ‘lived experiences’. This unfolding takes place against ‘the combined background of memory and expectation’ (Waaijman
Husserl (cited in Waaijman
This dialectic of retention and pretension is also applied to time (past, present, future) and space (‘here’ and ‘there’) in this article. In 3:2 the elder anticipates and depicts a threefold sequence of future eschatological events which hold serious requirements for present conduct: ‘[
The phrase ‘when he is revealed’ (ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, (3:2), referring to the firsteschatological event, alludes to the future παρουσίᾳ, of ‘Jesus Christ in glory at the end of time’ (Smalley
ἵνα ἐὰν φανερωθῇ
ὅτι ἐὰν φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν (3:2)
ἵνα ……….…………
(Van der Merwe
The elder gives this proclamation a special tone, for he has already referred to another ‘revelation’ of Christ, namely his incarnation (1:2; cf. 3:5, 8). This seems to be part of a continuous ‘manifestation’ of the Son of God. This manifestation, which started at the incarnation (1:2) and which is still effective at present (3:5, 8), will be consummated in the future (2:28; 3:2; Smalley
These two events (incarnation and Parousia) converge through the use of the same verb φανερωθῇ [to make visible]. For the elder, the tension-filled union of present and future eschatology is especially clear at this point; whilst φανεροῦν is a
Thus the elder wants to depict these two events (incarnation and Parousia) as a single, all-embracing manifestation or epiphany of God. In both these events the identity of God becomes visible through Jesus Christ. The first coming was an epiphany of God’s love (4:9), of his redemptive involvement (3:5; 4:9, 10, 14) and to destroy the works of the devil (3:8), whereas, in the Parousia, Christ will again appear as an epiphany of the identity of God where his righteousness (1:9; 2:29; also 2:1 (Christ appears as judge)) will be experienced (cf. Schnackenburg
The verb ἐφανερώθη [to make visible or, to reveal] appears thrice in the paragraph 2:28–3:3 (see also 3:8). This high frequency seems to rule the whole line of the thought of the elder (cf. Westcott
The ‘not yet’ (οὔπω) will be much greater than the ‘now’ (νῦν) (Akin
The second eschatological event is that at Jesus’ παρουσίᾳ all genuine believers will be revealed as ὅμοιοι
Kruse (
This exhortation to ‘correct ethical conduct’ runs parallel with the Parousia
This relationship between Christ and the believer is not yet fully apparent (Rom 8:29; Phil 3:21; Col 3:3–4; even Stott
The third eschatological event, ‘because we shall see him as he really is’ (3:2), refers to a specific moment when the believer will see ‘him’ (the divine) as he really is. Some light can be cast on what the elder means with this eschatological ‘seeing’ when the phrase ‘we shall be like him’ (3:2, retention) is considered. From this verse it is clear that the manifestation of Jesus at his Parousia will cause a transformation (consequentially) of the believers who lived pure lives (provisionally);
The believer will see (experience) the divine in his heavenly glory; and the sight (experience) of him, according to the elder, will be enough to make the believer pure like him (cf. 1 Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18; cf. Kruse
Kistemaker and Hendriksen (
The spirituality of ‘seeing him as he is’ lies embedded in the continuous reading, understanding and embodiment of the text and is mobilised through the three effects which is created when the text is read:
The composition of images of family life help the readers to see and experience themselves as part of this family of God.
The language features and rhetoric pull the readers into the text and the text into the readers to constitute dynamic interactions between these readers and the text.
A dialectic is experienced between ‘not yet’ versus ‘will be’, ‘now’ versus ‘then’ and ‘here’ versus ‘there’.
The elder makes three promises to these Johannine Christians. This implies that they would have lived in hope that Jesus ‘will come again’, they ‘shall be like
This is a dynamic process of continuously changing to become like Jesus. They can only achieve it when they abide in Jesus (2:28). Thus, the spirituality embedded in the declaration of the elder ‘for we shall see him as he is’ (ὅτι ὀψόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν) was for the early church an expectation that lies in the future but also an existential experience in the present νῦν [now]. These early Christians already experienced the past and future of time in the present in the reading of the text and to live accordingly. Of course the early Christians would have longed to see the divine, as is also the case with Christian believers today. This implies that in the repetitive reading of the text and their continuous obedient response to it they would already have an embryonic experience of this character and identity of God in Jesus, that what they will experience after the Parousia will result in the ability to ‘see him as he is’. The culmination of their identity and character in future is that they ‘shall be like him’ (ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, 3:2). The spiritualities that these two promises generate will not only keep their faith alive but also strengthen their desire to be with Christ.
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
In his discussion of the
The references to ‘readers’ imply in this essay also the ‘hearers’ who listened to the reader.
In order to define ‘spirituality ‘I first have to look briefly at the notion of spirituality in consulting, according to my opinion, the works of three influential scholars in this field. Philip Sheldrake (2000:40) defines [
Farrell (1992a:5; 1992c:314) asserts that the idea that one could ever see the divine is not clear or typical of Johannine thought.
Although for Thomas (2004:151) the primary reference seems to be Jesus, God can also be a secondary referent of the pronoun ‘him’.
Farrell (1992a:5; 1992c:314) points out that ‘the object of vision is not clearly stated in 1 Jn 3:2’.
The vision of God and Christ occurs in Matthew 5:8; John 1:18; John 14:7, 9; 17:24; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:8; Revelation 1:7, 22:4.
The third eschatological reference in 1 John.
Haas, De Jonge and Swellengrebel (1994:83) point out, from a grammatical perspective, two objections to a reference to Christ. (1) Two Greek forms occur in the verb, which are identical except for the mood. The first form refers to a situation and the second form to a person. There is not even any explicit indication of a shift of subject. (2) There is the assumption that the Elder’s implication of Christ in 3:3 (‘he is pure’) also implies Christ in 3:2b. Although both suppositions are possible, they are improbable, according to Haas
The object (person) in the parallelism of the exhortation in 3:3 to purify themselves is unclear.
According to Van der Merwe (2014b:1) the writers of the New Testament never felt free to withdraw from the heritage of faith in the Scriptures of the Hebrews. Roth (1987:8) is convinced that the narrative code of the Gospel of John lies hidden in the Old Testament. See also Rivkin (1984:11) and Westermann (1994:7), who states: ‘[
‘The idea that one could ever see God is not typical of Johannine thought’ (Farrell 1992a:5; 1992b:314). Contrary to the rest of the New Testament, the Gospel of John never uses the passive mode of the verb ὁράω (Farrell 1992a:4). See Otto (1975:12–24) on the
Cf. for example schools of Hellenistic mysticism, which possess technical language to express their versions of the seeing of God. Gnosticism desires to attain perfect knowledge of God on earth and total union by means of ecstasy (Schnackenburg 1968:278). The mystery religions emphasise that the vision of a god will include the divinisation of the seer (Farrell 1992a:5).
Also due to the relationship between Jesus and the Father according to the Gospel of John.
We must also bear in mind the role and function of the Paraclete (Holy Spirit) according to John 14–16.
1:2, 3; 3:1, 22-24; 4:14; 2 John 3, 9; cf. also 4:2, 3, 10; 5:10.
Farrell points out that as Israel’s faith evolves, the radical notion of a ‘face-to-face’ vision of the divine is avoided (cf. Ex 9, 33, 18-34). According to Michaelis (1981:331–333) expressions such as ‘glory’ and ‘angel of God’ have often been used to substitute more direct types of seeing the divine. Farrell continues that when sight of God is retained, the form of the verb ‘seeing’ has then often been changed. In the Septuagint in numerous cases the seeing of God has been substituted with references to an ‘appearance’: ‘And the Lord appeared (ὤφθη) to Abraham’ (Gen 12:7a; cf. 17:1; 18:1);‘And the Lord appeared (ὤφθη) to [Isaac] that night’ (Gen 26:24; cf, 26:2); ‘And the Lord appeared (ὤφθη) to Jacob in Liza’ (Gen 35:9; cf. 26:2). Michaelis (1981) in Farrell 1992a:4) states in his essay that ‘this use of the passive voice of the verb does not refer to a vision apparition, but rather to an experience of God’s (invisible) presence’. Michaelis (1981:329–330) points out that visionary-Ecstatic Prophetic Seeing is not that God is seen by the prophet. What he heard was God Himself, who gives his word to the prophet in a vision. In no theophany was God seen (1982:331–333). He was only heard. The verb ὤφθη constitutes the beginning of his revelation by word. This indicates the presence of God. He reveals himself in his word. In the Old Testament there is also no attestation of a promise that man will see God after death (Michaelis 1981:334).
5:30; 8:28; 12:50; 14:31; 17:2; also cf. 17:18; 20:21. Also see Van der Merwe (2001:131–149).
See the work of Thompson (2001:117–121) on ‘The work of the Father in the work of the Son’.
The Greek noun παρουσίᾳ (see 1 Jn 2:28) has a meaning of ‘presence’ (see 2 Cor 10:10; Phil 2:12). Danker (2000:780) translates it as ‘the state of being present at a place,
This Hebrew noun has been translated in Exodus 33:14 as ‘presence’ and in verse 23 as ‘face’.
See Von Rad (1977:119–125) on ‘The day of Jahweh’ as the very heart of prophetic eschatology.
It can further be noted that Farrell published three outstanding essays in the same year on
Michaelis (1981:340) refers to 19 occurrences of ὁράω in the Gospel. In most cases it occurs in the perfect mode ‘to show the effect of seeing on the subject’. According to Farrell (1992a:4) the Gospel of John, contrary to the rest of Scripture, never uses the passive of ὁράω. This deliberate choice, according to Farrell, implies that the author disassociates himself ‘from ancient references to certain “appearances”’ of God’. Danker (2000:719) defines ὁράω as ‘to perceive by the eye,
See Farrell (1992c:315) for a brief discussion of how the author of the Gospel of John uses the future tense of the verb ὁράω. See also Farrell (1992c:315–321) for her discussion on ‘eschatological seeing and Jesus’ seeing of the Father’ (cf. 6:46).
This thought of ‘seeing God/Christ’ has influenced the Christian tradition, especially the mystical tradition. According to Dodd (1953:71) the Elder’s ‘serene certainty that we shall see our Lord and be like Him, is the model for all our thinking about the life to come’. For the vision of God and Christ elsewhere in the New Testament, see 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:8; Revelation 1:7 (cf. further 1 Jn 3:6
During the time of Jesus’ ministry, the physical seeing, hearing and touching of Jesus created a specific ‘lived experience’ of him (e.g. his teaching in parables and his performance of miracles). That is what the elder tries to communicate when he refers three times (1:1−3) to the physical experience of seeing Jesus (Van der Merwe 2013:9).
The disciples saw Jesus physically (cf. Synoptics) and some people saw the image of God in him spiritually.
With his multiple uses of the personal pronoun (ἡμῖν, ἡμᾶς) and first person plural in verbs (ἐσμέν, ἐσόμεθα), the elder pulls the reader into the text to become part of the events described in the text.
This also happens today when we read Scripture. Over the years believers have constructed a theological framework that lies latent in the subconscious. When they read scripture or listen to the gospel then this theological framework is called up into the conscious to help cognitively understand the gospel.
In Christianity ‘divine’ can refer to ‘God the Father’, ‘the resurrected Christ’ or ‘the Holy Spirit’.
Cf. terminology referring to the senses (see him), events (revealed) and cognitive (like him).
See also Robbins (2008:1–26) on his discussion and explanation on rhetography and rhetology.
The reference ‘the divine’ is used to refer to the dualistic ‘seeing’ of God in the resurrected Jesus.
The interrogative pronoun τί (‘what’) in the phrase τί ἐσόμεθα [‘what we will be’] asks about identity or quality and can be rendered as ‘what we shall be like’, or even ‘what kind of persons we shall be’ (Haas et al. 1994:83). It also stresses the continuity between the present state of believers and their future states, as well as the quality that lies in store for them as the children of God.
2:28; 2:29; 3:1-2; 3:6; 3:8; 3:9.
3:2-3; 3:4; 3:5; 3:7; 3:8.
Abide (2:28; 3:6); right(eous) (2:29; 3:7, 10); revealed (2:28; 3:2); love (3:1, 10); children of God (3:1, 2, 10); born of God (2:29; 3:9[2x]); children of the devil (3:8, 10).
‘Seed of God’, ‘born of God’, ‘children of God’, ‘Father’ and ‘brothers’. See also the previous discussion on the “First effect – family metaphor”.
Cf. 2:7; 3:21; 4:11; at 4:1, 7 it introduces a new section. See also the use of ‘my dear children’ (Τεκνία [μου]) and ‘little children’ (Παιδία) at 2:1, 18, 28.
This tension is strengthened by the dialectic of ‘now’ versus ‘not yet’ and ‘are’ versus ‘will be’. With certainty comes uncertainty.
Haas et al. (1994:83) propose alternative semantically related meanings such as ‘to appear’, ‘to be revealed’, ‘to become visible’, ‘to be seen’, ‘to become clear’.
According to this analysis, it is apparent that verses 2:28 and 4:17 form a parallelism, constituted by the phrases σχῶμεν παρρησίαν and παρρησίαν ἔχωμεν, and the two references concerning Jesus’ future appearance, although differently formulated. The phrases σχῶμεν παρρησίαν and παρρησίαν ἔχωμεν form a chiasm to emphasise the ‘confidence’ believers can have at the
Danker (2000:706) translates it as ‘of the same nature, like, similar’. For Friberg et al. (2000:281) it means ‘as introducing similarity, usually with the dative following; (1) of the same nature or kind as, like to, resembling’. Louw and Nida (1996:616, §64.1) interpret it as ‘pertaining to being similar to something else in some respect –“like, such as, likewise, similar”’.
‘When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory’ (Col 3:4).
Haas et al. (1994:83) also point out a reference to similarity and not identity.
This is confirmed in 1 John 3:5, that Christ ‘was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin’.
The verb abide (μένειν) occurs 21 times in this epistle to indicate the importance the Elder attaches to it. Other themes that prepare the reader for the statement in 3:2, ‘we shall see him as he is’ are: ‘abide in’, ‘fellowship’, ‘to live in the light’, ‘to do right’, ‘to love’, ‘to confess sins’, ‘to obey his commandments’ and ‘to confess that Jesus is the Christ’.
The seeing of the glory of God through Jesus can also be included here, although not explicitly mentioned in the text.
What has been explained here would certainly have been clearly understood by the readers. For readers today, this text presents some difficulties in interpretation. Scholars are divided whether the ὅτι particle should be interpreted conditionally or consequentially. There is uncertainty about what verb the last ὅτι [‘that, because’] clause in 3:2 refers to. The phrase qualifies either οἴδαμεν [‘we know’] or ἐσόμεθα (‘we shall be’). In the case of οἴδαμεν it would mean that seeing him will prove that the children of God will be like him. This implies that their future resemblance to Christ is based on the fact that ‘we shall see him just as he is’. If the phrase qualifies ἐσόμεθα, then ‘being like him’ will be the direct result or outcome of seeing him. Hence, ‘we shall be like him’ because ‘we shall see him just as he is’ (cf. Law 1909:122; and Marshall 1978:172–173). This is not a case of either or, rather that both seems to be complementary to one another. See Brown (2006:395–396) for a thorough discussion.
This phrase reveals mysteries about how the believers ‘shall be’ and even what the ‘be like him’ (likeness of Jesus) shall be.
The verb
Only this knowledge and insight concur that no human being, not even Christians, will be able to see God.
In the writings of John, the concept
For Danker (2000:319) ἐλπίδα means ‘the looking forward to some[thing] with some reason for confidence respecting fulfillment, hope, expectation’.
Consult Hauck (1979:123) for the use of ἁγνίζω in the New Testament.
See Van der Merwe (2001:131–148) for a more detailed characterisation of Jesus.