Monday, September 14, 2020

James White on 1 Timothy 6:16: What cannot be seen is not the divine person in view, but the "unapproachable light"

 In his 1999 debate against Muslim Hamza Adbul Malik, Reformed Baptist (and longstanding anti-Mormon) James R. White said the following about 1 Tim 6:16:

 

In 1 Timothy 6:16, it talks about no one has seen this unapproachable light, it doesn't say they haven't seen the person, but the unapproachable light, that passage may actually be about the Lord Jesus Christ in fact. (Beginning at the 1:09:20 mark)

 

This is important as many of his fellow Evangelical anti-Mormon activists (e.g., Matt Slick) have used 1 Tim 6:16 to teach that the person of the Father cannot be seen, but White notes that the text is not speaking of the person in view (whether it be the Father or even Jesus as he is open to in the above) but the light.

 

For more responses to this proof-text, see:


Andrew Malone on God being "Invisible" and 1 Timothy 1:17 and 6:16

James Stutz, Can a Man See God? 1 Timothy 6:16 in Light of Ancient and Modern Revelation
(cf. my post, Some Comments on Matt Slick's Attempt to Refute James Stutz on 1 Timothy 6:16 and Insights from D. Charles Pyle, "I Have Said Ye are Gods")


Robert Sungenis on 1 Timothy 6:16


The problem posed by Absolutising 1 Timothy 6:16 by Trinitarians who Use the Verse against Latter-day Saints


On the biblical evidence for divine embodiment (and responses to other proof-texts such as John 4:24 that are used against the LDS position), see:


Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment