Seen God, Unseen Father, and Divine Simplicity

Question #35: How can the God who appears in the Old Testament (e.g., “El Shaddai” seen by the patriarchs) be the same Father whom Jesus says no one has ever seen (John 1:18), if Catholic theology also insists on one undivided divine essence and three distinct Persons?

(Context: please see Questions #11, #12, #27, & #32.)

The paradox of this question is that the Old Testament portrays “El Shaddai” as visibly appearing to the patriarchs, yet the New Testament (John 1:18) declares that no one has ever seen the Father, raising the issue of how a single, tri-personal God can be both “unseen” and “seen” without contradicting divine simplicity.

Catholic theology upholds one simple divine essence shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This means the God of the Old Testament, described as “El Shaddai,” is the same one God the Church names the Father in the Creed. However, per Question #11, the Church teaches that the three Persons are really distinct by relation of origin (Father, Son, Spirit) while remaining one in being. Thus, the “seeing” in Old Testament theophanies does not necessarily equate to seeing the Father in His own Person.

Building on Question #12 (each Person is fully God but not each other), Catholic tradition often interprets these Old Testament appearances as mediated by the pre-incarnate Son (or via an angelic manifestation), rather than by the Father directly. In that way, God truly does appear, yet the Father remains invisible in Himself. This avoids fragmenting God’s essence into multiple “parts” and honors John 1:18–that no one has seen the Father.

Question #27 helps us steer clear of modalism or tritheism: the Father is not replaced by the Son, nor are there multiple gods. Instead, the single divine essence can be made manifest through the Son’s self-revelation without confusing the distinct Persons. Finally, Question #32 shows how Old and New Testament testimonies converge: the God of Abraham is indeed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet made known fully through the Son, preserving the Father’s transcendence while upholding the unity of the one God.

This avoids both modalism and tritheism because the Father is not replaced by the Son, nor are there multiple gods; it upholds John 1:18 by attributing direct divine appearances to the preincarnate Son, thus preserving the Father’s own unseen nature; and it situates the Old Testament’s “El Shaddai” within the unified Trinity revealed in Christ, as demonstrated in the one God worshiped by Israel, fully realized and made visible through the Son, yet remaining one undivided essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

From a theological perspective, this is a valid question because it explores how the same God is portrayed both as “seen” in the Old Testament (as El Shaddai) and as “unseen” in the New Testament (the Father). It might feel convoluted because it pushes us into the subtle distinctions of Trinitarian doctrine and the varied ways Scripture portrays divine manifestations. Yet, it’s these very subtleties that make it a fruitful question: it forces us to clarify what “seeing God” really means, how different Persons of the Trinity are involved, and how the Church avoids either dividing God’s essence or collapsing the distinct Persons. It’s complex–but that complexity can lead to clearer insights when worked through carefully.

2 Timothy 2:15

side note:

In classical and contemporary Catholic thought—especially in the vein of someone like Jean-Luc Marion—God is never merely an “object” among others to be fully grasped. That dovetails with “no one has ever seen the Father” (John 1:18), since seeing in a purely objective sense would reduce God to a finite phenomenon. Instead, whether in the Old Testament theophanies or the Son’s incarnation, God’s self‐manifestation always transcends creaturely categories.

This means that even when God appears (e.g., as “El Shaddai”), it is never a complete “objectification” of His essence; the Father remains beyond all direct object‐like visibility. Thus, yes, the principle of non‐objectifiability helps clarify how the Son truly reveals the one God without violating the Father’s transcendence or fragmenting the divine essence. It underscores that any instance of “seeing God” in Scripture is ultimately God’s free self‐disclosure, never a finite capture of His infinite reality.