And whoever sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who sees me sees him who sent me.
- KJV And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
- NKJV And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
- NASB And the one who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
- NLT For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father who sent Him. It teaches that Christ is the perfect revelation of God.
Overview
Jesus claims to make the invisible God visible, so that to behold Him is to behold the Father (cf. 1:18; 14:9). This does not blur the persons but expresses their oneness in nature and purpose. He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), and saving knowledge of God comes only through Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- John 14:9–10Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
- 2 Cor 4:6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Col 1:15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- Heb 1:3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
- John 12:41Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.
- John 15:24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
- 1 Jn 5:20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 12:45 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.