Passage

John 14.9

"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, "Show us the Father"?'" (John 14:9, NASB95)

Jesus's reply to Philip's request "show us the Father" is one of the New Testament's strongest single-verse expressions of the deity of Christ. To see the incarnate Son is to see the Father, not because Jesus is identical to the Father in person, but because he is identical in nature, will, and revelatory function. The verse anchors classical Trinitarian Christology against modalist collapse on one side and Arian subordination on the other.

Book: John · NASB95

Immediate context (4 PD translations)

ASV (ASV)

"7. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."

"9. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?"

"10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." (John 14:7-11, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"7. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.” 8. Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”"

"9. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’"

"10. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake." (John 14:7-11, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"7. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us."

"9. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"

"10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." (John 14:7-11, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"7. if ye had known me, my Father also ye would have known, and from this time ye have known Him, and have seen Him.' 8. Philip saith to him, 'Sir, shew to us the Father, and it is enough for us;'"

"9. Jesus saith to him, 'So long time am I with you, and thou hast not known me, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how dost thou say, Shew to us the Father?"

"10. Believest thou not that I [am] in the Father, and the Father is in me? the sayings that I speak to you, from myself I speak not, and the Father who is abiding in me, Himself doth the works; 11. believe me, that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me; and if not, because of the works themselves, believe me." (John 14:7-11, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, speaking to Philip (one of the Twelve) during the Last Supper Farewell Discourse.
Audience: the inner circle of disciples on the night of the betrayal; through them, the whole later church.
Location: the Upper Room in Jerusalem, hours before the arrest in Gethsemane.
Time period: events Passover c. AD 30/33; Johannine composition c. AD 85-95 (traditional Ephesus).

Theological reading

The grammar matters. Jesus does not say "he who has seen Me has seen one like the Father" or "he who has seen Me has seen a representation of the Father." He says ho heōrakōs eme heōraken ton patera, the perfect tense in both verbs binding the seeing of the Son and the seeing of the Father into a single completed event. Philip's request assumes the Father is a separate object yet to be displayed; Jesus's answer denies the premise. The Father is not behind, beside, or above the incarnate Son as a further visible reality; the Father is fully revealed in him.

Classical Christology reads the verse alongside John 1.18 ("no one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him"), Colossians 1.15 ("He is the image of the invisible God"), and Hebrews 1.3 ("He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature"). The convergence yields the patristic formula: the Son is the eikōn, charaktēr, and exēgēsis of the Father. To know the one is to know the other, not by visual identity of persons (the Father is not the Son) but by perfect identity of divine nature shared between them.

The verse is correspondingly load-bearing in three doctrinal debates. Against Arianism, it precludes any reading in which Jesus is a lesser, created revealer; a creature, however exalted, cannot make the invisible God himself present to sight. Against Modalism and Oneness Pentecostalism, the verses immediately following ("I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me," v. 10-11) preserve the distinction of persons even as v. 9 affirms identity of nature; the Father and Son are not modes of one person but two persons in one Godhead. Against pluralist religious epistemology, the verse joins John 14.6 in claiming that the knowledge of God runs through Christ specifically, not through generic religious experience.

For the believer the verse is also pastoral. When Philip asks for a vision of God beyond what he already has, Jesus's reply is gentle reproach, then full disclosure: you have already been with God for three years; the seeking is over.

Key words

horao, horaō, "to see, perceive, look upon." The perfect-tense form heōrakōs / heōraken in v. 9 frames the seeing as a settled, completed perception, not a fleeting glance.
G1097 - ginosko, ginōskō, "to know" by experience and relationship. Jesus's reproach ("have you not come to know Me?") presupposes that genuine knowledge of the Son just is knowledge of the Father.
G3962 - pater, patēr, "Father." The defining relational term of the Fourth Gospel; appears over 100 times in John, anchoring the Father-Son relation as the structure of divine self-revelation.
G1510 - eimi, eimi, "to be." The grammar of identity throughout John's Christology, including the "I am" sayings.

Theological themes

Deity of Christ. The strongest visible-revelation form: to see Jesus is to see God himself.
Trinitarian distinction-in-unity. Identity of nature (v. 9) coupled with distinction of persons (v. 10-11).
Christ as the exegesis of the Father. Per John 1.18, the Son explains, narrates, exhibits the otherwise invisible God.
Exclusivity of christological knowledge of God. Knowledge of the Father is mediated through the Son, joining John 14.6, Matthew 11.27.

Cross-references

John 1.18, "no one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God... has explained Him." The conceptual partner of v. 9.
John 10.30, "I and the Father are one." Same theology, abbreviated.
Colossians 1.15, "the image of the invisible God." Pauline parallel.
Hebrews 1.3, "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature." Hebrews parallel.
John 14.6, Jesus as the way to the Father; immediate context.
Exodus 33.20, "no man can see Me and live." The OT background v. 9 transforms: in Christ the invisible God is now seeable.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.