Mormonism and the nature of God/No man has seen God

John 1:18 is used most commonly in arguing this point. It reads “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Irenaeus said in 180 A.D. that this scripture should be read “For "no man," he says, "hath seen God at any time," unless "the only-begotten Son of God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared [Him]." (Ante-Nicene Fathers 1:427, Irenaeus Against Heresies, chap. 6) The "unless" makes all the difference. He knew that righteous men had seen God in the past (see Acts 7:55-56, Gen. 32:30, Gen. 17:1, Gen. 18:1, Acts 7:2, Ex. 3:6, Ex. 19:11, Ex. 33:11, Num. 12:7-8, 1 Kings 9:2, 1 Kings 11:9, Is. 6:1,5, Ex. 24:10-11, Deut. 34:10, Deut. 5:4, Judges 13:22, Gen. 3, Heb. 11:27, Job, 42:5, Job 33:26, Job 19:26, Ez. 1:1, Ez. 8:1-4, Joshua 5:12-15, Rev. 22:4) and his view on John 1:18 was now in line with the rest of the Bible and it's requirements to see God. The requirements are: 1: Must be "of God" “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.” (John 6:46) 2: Must have "peace and holiness" within you "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which, no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14) 3: Must be pure in heart "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mat. 5:8)

Philo the Jew taught that the name Israel was compounded of 3 words “ish” “rah” “El”, which means “man seeing God”.