Seeing God
'No one may see me and live' beside Moses speaking with Yahweh face to face (Exodus 33:11; Deuteronomy 34:10) — anthropomorphism, accommodation, or distinct modes of encounter (also John 1:18).
Exodus 33:11-23
11Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
12Moses said to Yahweh, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people;’ and you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.”
14He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here.
16For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
17Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
20He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
21Yahweh also said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock.
22It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by;
23then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
What each tradition says
Rabbinic / Midrashic
Shemot Rabbah explains that when God says, “I will remove My hand,” the Holy One tells Moses He will show him the reward of the righteous that He is destined to grant at the end of days. Thus “you will see My back” refers to Moses being shown that future reward.
Shemot Rabbah (Exodus Rabbah; anonymous midrash); English: The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, Shemot Rabbah (Exodus Rabbah) — Shemot Rabbah 45:6, on Exodus 33:23 ('you will see My back')
Rabbinic / Midrashic
Ginzberg says that when the older rabbis attributed humanlike actions to God, they used the term “as though it were possible.” They meant these expressions are not to be taken literally but only as a mode of speech accommodated to the average intellect.
Louis Ginzberg (1873-1953), signing 'L. G.' in The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 1, s.v. 'Anthropomorphism' (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1901-1906) — section 'Earlier Rabbinical Literature' (the device 'as though it were possible')
Patristic
Chrysostom holds that John's words, "No man hath seen God at any time," are not set aside by the instances he has been discussing. Those were instances of God's condescension, he says, not the vision of His Essence itself unveiled.
John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), Homilies on the Gospel of St. John, in NPNF ser. 1, vol. 14 (ed. Philip Schaff; T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1889) — Homily XV, on John 1:18 ('No man hath seen God at any time')
Catholic
Aquinas says that, just as God works miracles in corporeal things, He also does supernatural wonders above the common order, raising the minds of some living in the flesh beyond the use of sense, even to the vision of His own essence. Augustine says this of Moses and Paul.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologiae, Second and Revised Edition (trans. the Fathers of the English Dominican Province; New Advent online) — I, q. 12, art. 11, Reply to Objection 2 (whether anyone in this life can see God's essence)
Orthodox
John of Damascus says all statements about God that imply a body are symbols with a higher meaning, since the Deity is simple and formless. By God's eyes, eyelids, and sight, he says, we understand His power of overseeing all things and His knowledge, that nothing can escape. In us this sense makes knowledge more complete and certain.
John of Damascus (c. 675-749), An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (trans. S. D. F. Salmond), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ser. 2, vol. 9 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1898) — Book I, ch. 11 ('Concerning what is affirmed about God as though He had body')
Reformed / Protestant
Matthew Henry says a full discovery of God’s glory would overpower the faculties of any mortal man in this present state, even Moses himself. Man is mean and unworthy of it, weak and could not bear it, guilty and could not but dread it.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 1: Genesis to Deuteronomy (1706-1721) — Exposition of Exodus 33:20 ('Thou canst not see my face')
Evangelical
Albert Barnes states that this passage does not deny that men witnessed manifestations of God, as when he appeared to Moses and the prophets. It instead means that no one has seen God's essence or has fully known God.
Albert Barnes (1798-1870), Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical (enlarged ed. by Robert Frew; CCEL carries the Baker reprint) — Note on John 1:18