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I. He is the NEAREST RELATION to the Great Father. The phrase "only-begotten" which occurs only here and John 1:14; John 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9, implies an essential relation perfectly unique as appears. —

1. From the interpretation which the Jews put upon it (chap. John 5:18).

2. From the extraordinary manifestation of Divine love which the sacred writers saw in His mission.

3. From several events of His history —

(1)  His miraculous conception;

(2)  His persistent self-assertion;

(3)  His wondrous miracles;

(4)  His atoning death;

(5)  His resurrection and ascension.

II. He is TENDEREST IN AFFECTION to the Great Father.

1. In His preincarnate life (Proverbs 8:30).

2. In prophecy (Isaiah 42:1).

3. At His baptism.

4. At His transfiguration (2 Peter 1:17, 18).

5. In the Epistles (Colossians 1:13). From this we learn —

(1)  That God loves; He is not mere infinite Intellectuality; He is infinite Sensibility too;

(2)  Christ is the highest object of His love. That love is not the love of pity, of gratitude, but of infinite complacency.

III. He is the MOST ACCURATE IN THE KNOWLEDGE of the Great Father.

1. He alone is intellectually qualified to know God. The highest created being only knows God in some of His aspects; Christ knows Him in all, in His being.

2. He alone is morally qualified to know God. He alone is —

(1)  Sufficiently pure: only the pure in heart can see God;

(2)  Sufficiently powerful: Moses, Isaiah, John could not stand a slight manifestation.

IV. He is THE MOST COMPLETE REVELATION of the Great Father (Matthew 11:27). He is the Logos, the only word which can express the Divine heart. He has revealed. —

1. God's Being: a Spirit, etc.

2. His relation: a Father. If Christ is the correct revelation of God —

(1)  All other revelations must be tested by His.

(2)  Much that is prevalent in religious society must be repudiated as un-Christ-like.

(3)  Christ alone must be held as the Master of seals.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

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KJV: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

WEB: No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.