(45) He that believeth on me, believeth not on me.—These words do not occur literally in any discourse of our Lord which we now have, but the thought has met us again and again. (Comp. John 5:36; John 7:16; John 7:29; John 8:19; John 10:38.) We are not to weaken the words “not on Me but,” into “not (only) on Me but,” as is often done. Jesus came not in His own name (John 5:43), but in that of the Father. The Son claimed no position independent of the Father. He was the representative of the Father, and those who believed in Him believed not in the representative as apart from, but in that He represented, the Sender. The same thought occurs in Mark 9:37. (Comp. Note there.)

(45) And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.—The word means to see, in the sense of “behold, contemplate, gaze upon.” Better, therefore, And he that beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me. The form of the expression is different from that of the previous verse, passing from the negative to the positive, in accord with the difference of thought. He that beholdeth Christ doth behold Him, and in Him beholds the impression of the substance of God. The same thought has occurred in the words of the Evangelist in John 1:14, and occurs in the words of our Lord in John 14:9.

12:44-50 Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.Seeth me ... - This verse is a strong confirmation of his equality with God. In no other way can it be true that he who saw Jesus saw him that sent him, unless he were the same in essence. Of no man could it be affirmed that he who saw him saw God. To say this of Paul or Isaiah would have been blasphemy. And yet Jesus uses this language familiarly and constantly. It shows that he had a consciousness that he was divine, and that it was the natural and proper way of speaking when speaking of himself. Compare John 5:17. 44-50. Jesus cried—in a loud tone, and with peculiar solemnity. (Compare Joh 7:37).

and said, He that believeth on me, &c.—This seems to be a supplementary record of some weighty proclamations, for which there had been found no natural place before, and introduced here as a sort of summary and winding up of His whole testimony.

No man hath seen God at any time; but he that by the eyes of his mind knows, and understands, and believeth in me, seeth him that sent me: or, he that seeth me in my works which I do, seeth also him that sent me, by whom I do these mighty works. Thus, afterward, John 14:9, he saith to Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; he that hath seen me, hath not indeed seen the Divine nature and essence, but hath seen that Person who is one with the Father; the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, as the apostle speaks, Hebrews 1:3.

And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. Not with bodily eyes, for there were many that saw Christ, who never saw the Father: they saw Christ as a mere man, and were offended at the meanness of his outward appearance; they saw nothing divine in him, nor the glory of the Father through him; but with the eyes of the understanding, whoever saw or perceived the glory of Christ in his miracles, saw the glory of God in them also, for the Father that dwelt in him did the works, John 2:11, and whoever truly sees Christ with an eye of faith, sees his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, as the brightness of his Father's glory, as having the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him, the same perfections as in the Father; so that he that hath seen the one, hath seen the other also, John 14:9. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.