No man hath seen (θεαομαι) God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1
John 4:12)
Commenting on the meaning of the verb θεαομαι ("to see/behold"),
Spiros Zodhiates wrote:
to behold, view attentively, contemplate,
indicating the sense of a wondering regard involving a careful and deliberate
vision which interpets its object. It involves more than merely seeing (Mt.
6:1; 11:7; 22:11; 23:5; Mk. 16:11, 14; Lk. 5:27; 7:24; 23:55; Jn. 1:14, 32, 38;
4:35; 6:5; 8:10; 11:45; Acts 1:11; 8:18; 21:27; 22:9; Rom. 15:24; 1 Jn. 1:1;
4:12, 14). (Spiros
Zodhiates, Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study
Bible [Chattanooga, Tenn.: AMG Publishers, 1984, 1990], 1839)
As
Latter-day Saints have not claimed to have seen God the Father in this way, this
and other similar “proof-texts” critics often use against the First Vision are
based on eisegesis.
For more, see, for example, my friend James Stutz's article: