In Ether 3:15, the statement by the Lord, “Never have I showed myself unto man that I created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast,” raises a question as to what the Lord meant by this. He had shown himself to certain of the patriarchs such as Adam and Eve. Enoch and Noah had preceded the brother of Jared and spoken with God.
A BYU Studies article by Kent Jackson presented several different views for how this may be understood. Bruce R. McConkie interpreted the verse as, “Never have I showed myself in the manner and form now involved. … Never before has the veil been lifted completely so that a mortal man has been able to see my spirit body in the full and complete sense of the word.”
As another interpretation, Sidney Sperry thought that the word “man” might mean “an unbelieving man,” but “to the faithful, he had indeed shown Himself.”
Daniel Ludlow included Ether 3:19–20 in pointing out that the brother of Jared had gained a perfect “knowledge” so great that he “could not be kept from beholding from within the veil,” and thus, as verse 26 says, that the Lord could not withhold anything from him. Perhaps that was what distinguished the brother of Jared from others to whom the Lord (such as Adam) to whom the Lord had appeared.
Kent Jackson, rightly agreeing that these three views are not mutually exclusive, summarized by adding that this was the first recorded manifestation of Jehovah in which he particularly identified himself specifically in his roles as creator and redeemer. As the Savior said, in verse 14, “I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people.”
Kent P. Jackson, “‘Never Have I Showed Myself Unto Man’: A Suggestion for Understanding Ether 3:15a,” BYU Studies 30, no. 3 (1990): 71–76.