Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 1:17
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
17. honour and glory ] This combination by itself is only found here. St Paul uses ‘glory’ with the article generally.
Such an ascription is with St Paul a most characteristic close of passages which are the evident outburst of strong warm feeling excited by some particular train of thought.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now unto the king eternal – This ascription of praise is offered to God in view of the mercy which he had shown to so great a sinner. It is the outbreak of that grateful emotion which swelled his bosom, and which would not be denied expression, when Paul recalled his former life and the mercy of God to his soul. It somewhat interrupts indeed the train of his remarks, but the heart was so full that it demanded utterance. It is just an instance of the joy and gratitude which fill the soul of a Christian when he is led along in a train of reflections which conduct him to the recollections of his former sin and danger, and to the fact that he has obtained mercy and has now the hope of heaven. The apostle Paul not unfrequently, in accordance with a mode of writing that was common among the Hebrews, interposes an expression of praise in the midst of his reasonings; compare Rom 1:25; 2Co 11:31. God is called King here, as he is often in the Scriptures, to denote that he rules over the universe. A literal translation of the passage would be, To the King of ages, who is immortal, etc. The meaning of this expression – the King of ages – basilei ton aionon – is, that he is a king who rules throughout all ages. This does not mean that he himself lives for ever, but that his dominion extends over all ages or generations. The rule of earthly monarchs does not extend into successive ages; his does. Their reign is temporary; his is enduring, and continues as one generation after another passes on, and thus embraces them all.
Immortal – This refers to God himself, not to his reign. It means that he does not die, and it is given to him to distinguish him from other sovereigns. All other monarchs but God expire – and are just as liable to die at any moment as any other people.
Invisible – 1Ti 6:16; see the notes on Joh 1:18.
The only wise God – notes, Rom 16:27. The word wise is missing in many mss., and in some editions of the New Testament. It is omitted by Griesbach; marked as doubtful by Tittman, and rejected in the valuable edition of Hahn. Erasmus conjectures that it was added against the Arians, who maintained that the Father only was God, and that as he is here mentioned as such, the word wise was interpolated to denote merely that the attribute of perfect wisdom belonged only to him. Wetstein regards the reading as genuine, and suspects that in some of the early manuscripts where it is missing it was omitted by the transcriber, because it was regarded as inelegant for two adjectives to be united in this manner. It is not easy to determine as to the genuineness of the reading. The sense is not materially affected, whichever view be adopted. It is true that Yahweh is the only God; it is also true that he is the only wise God. The gods of the pagan are vanity and a lie, and they are wholly destitute of wisdom; see Psa 115:3-8; Psa 135:15-18; Isa 40:18-20; Isa 44:10-17.
Be honour – Let there be all the respect and veneration shown to him which is his due.
And glory – Praise. Let him be praised by all for ever.
Amen – So be it; an expression of strong affirmation; Joh 3:3. Here it is used to denote the solemn assent of the heart to the sentiment conveyed by the words used; see the Mat 6:13 note; 1Co 14:16 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ti 1:17
Now unto the King eternal
The King of the Ages
The King eternal, or, literally, as in the margin of the Revised Version, The King of the Ages, words which do not simply tell us something about the King, but also give us some account of His rule; and put into the hands of Faith a key to the highest positions of modern thought and science.
For in all their realms–of matter, mind, and spirit–there is one common element, viz., Law. Whether we look around us, or within, order and rule are being ever more clearly and universally demonstrated. But the Christian attitude is becoming more candid; and now accepts, or is learning to accept the truth of a widespread reign of law with less of fear than of gratitude. For is not this state of order and harmony just what we should expect in His working whose Being is the perfect harmony? For while we know this as an age of Law, and are sometimes perplexed by its inexorableness, the thoughtful mind asks: Have all the ages been as ordered? In the world of spirit and of matter have there not been whole epochs of distraction and ravage by undisciplined forces? For example, does not the earth on which we tread, bear in her very structure the record of ages of confusion and chaos, darkness and death? when lawlessness, not law, seemed to rule? when, so far as we can judge, there was no guiding thought, no ruling hand? In fact, does not the same defiance of law meet us today in the earthquake? Is law universal or only widespread? But the deeper readings of science assure us that it is not only the quiet processes which gladden the eye and heart that have their ordered course. The silent and regular development through blade and ear to the full corn, is not more determined and invariable than is the dread convulsion that entombs its thousands; and it was through the exercise of unyielding law that that strife was wrought which has made the structure of our earth what we find it. This decided every event and ordered all the disorder of those ages of seeming unrule. And shall we not take the comfort the spiritual reading of this truth can give? For it is not only in the world of matter such a record of strife and confusion is written. In the brief history of our race there is the same tale in human characters. What is the meaning of such scenes as the French Revolution, for example? Are they the rough sport of unruled passion? Is there nothing determining their methods or moulding their results? What if that struggle and ruin, decay and destruction were the working and manifestation of a Divine health and order, casting away that which it could not assimilate and arrange? the removing of those things which could be shaken that those things which could not be shaken might remain? And these words, which speak of a King of the Ages, tell us why. They point to its source–to One who makes and administers that law, who is in and yet above it. But the faith of a Divine rule of each separate age is not enough. The heart of man craves something more than even such a confidence. There is inwrought into our very being a longing for Unity; and the words we are now considering justify this instinct, and pledge its fulfilment. For we are assured that, if He is King of the Ages in any adequate sense, they are bound together by the strong band of His will, which gives to them its own oneness and intimacy. They are no longer isolated units, but parts of a whole; and it is as a whole and not simply as units they are subjected. As the successive points of a circle stand in harmonious relation, not only to their common centre, hut through this to each other; so the ages, which make one mighty cycle, having but one Lord and one law, stand related amongst themselves with an inner harmony as deep and true as their hearts. And not only so. There is more than this close relation and perfect agreement between the ages. If this were all it would leave unfulfilled another instinctive craving of the heart–that of Progress and Consummation. But these words which speak of the King of the Ages tell us there is one supreme will and word which they obey–one harmonious thought, which being the Kings thought, must be a growing and deepening one. There is but little appearance of all this at times. Judging only of the part we see–that displayed on the earth and amidst ourselves–is not the show of things rather that of age at war with age? A backward movement, in which much that has been hardly won through centuries is easily lost in a moment? But it is only as the flow of the tide rolling inland, which surely advances, though seeming to recede; receding but to rally its forces and sweep onward to larger conquests. One perfect plan is being achieved, in many times and many ways indeed; yet in all, and through all, God is ever fulfilling Himself. Let us not, then, be troubled as though the issue is or could be uncertain, or the plan be marred. Trust–not only for the ages gone and the ages to come; but what is harder, for the age that now is. The King of the Ages is Himself invisible; He is not, therefore, less King. Nor is His kingdom less real because its presence is silent and unsuspected. For there are latent glories in this rule of the King of the Ages; a glorious mystery which was hidden from the ages and generations until the fulness of the time, when the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst men, whose humanity He thus united with Deity, that He might reconcile man, and in man, all creation unto God. (A. A. Dauncey.)
King immortal
Queen Elizabeth was once seized with a violent illness, accompanied with high fever. The Privy Council was hastily summoned from London, and in the ante-chamber of the room where she was believed to be dying, they sat with blank faces, discussing who was to be her successor. In the morning the worst symptoms abated, and in a few days she was convalescent. Our Monarch can have no successor. He is alive for evermore, and of His kingdom there can be no end. (H. O. Mackey.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Now unto the King eternal] This burst of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, naturally arose from the subject then under his pen and eye. God has most wondrously manifested his mercy, in this beginning of the Gospel, by saving me, and making me a pattern to all them that shall hereafter believe on Christ. He is , the king of eternities; the eternity a parte ante, and the eternity a parte post; the eternity that was before time was, and the eternity that shall be when time is no more. Therefore, ever living to justify and save sinners, to the end of the world.
Immortal] . Incorruptible-not liable to decay or corruption; a simple uncompounded essence, incapable, therefore, of decomposition, and consequently permanent and eternal. One MS., the later Syriac in the margin, the Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, and some of the Latin fathers, read , immortal, which our translation follows; but it is not the original reading.
Invisible] . One who fills all things, works everywhere, and yet is invisible to angels and men; the perfect reverse of false gods and idols, who are confined to one spot, work nowhere, and, being stocks and stones, are seen by every body.
The only wise God] The word wise, is omitted by AD*FG, Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala. Some of the Greek fathers quote it sometimes, and omit it at others; which shows that it was an unsettled reading, probably borrowed from Ro 16:27. See the note there. Griesbach leaves it out of the text. Without it the reading is very strong and appropriate: To the only God; nothing visible or invisible being worthy of adoration but himself.
Be honour] All the respect and reverence that can be paid by intelligent beings, ascribing to him at the same time all the glory-excellences, and perfections, which can be possessed by an intelligent, unoriginated, independent, and eternal Being; and this for ever and ever-through eternity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The apostle falleth out of this discourse with a doxology, or sentence giving glory to God, whom he calls
the King, that is, the Moderator and Governor of all things.
Eternal; without beginning of days or end of life.
Immortal; not subject, as creatures, to any passion, or determination of being.
Invisible; not obvious to our senses, whom no mortal eye ever saw.
Only wise, primitively and originally, and eminently, from whom all wisdom is derived.
Be honour and glory for ever and ever; be given all praises, homage, and acknowledgments, by which he can be made glorious for ever.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. A suitable conclusion to thebeautifully simple enunciation of the Gospel, of which his ownhistory is a living sample or pattern. It is from the experimentalsense of grace that the doxology flows [BENGEL].
the King, eternalliterally,”King of the (eternal) ages.” The Septuaginttranslates Ex 15:18, “TheLord shall reign for ages and beyond them.” Ps145:13, Margin, “Thy kingdom is an everlastingkingdom,” literally, “a kingdom of all ages.” The”life everlasting” (1Ti1:16) suggested here “the King eternal,” oreverlasting. It answers also to “for ever and ever”at the close, literally, “to the ages of the ages” (thecountless succession of ages made up of ages).
immortalThe oldestmanuscripts read, “incorruptible.” The Vulgate,however, and one very old manuscript read as English Version(Ro 1:23).
invisible (1Ti 6:16;Exo 33:20; Joh 1:18;Col 1:15; Heb 11:27).
the only wise GodTheoldest manuscripts omit “wise,” which probably crept infrom Ro 16:27, where it ismore appropriate to the context than here (compare Jude25). “The only Potentate” (1Ti 6:15;Psa 86:10; Joh 5:44).
for ever, &c.Seenote, above. The thought of eternity (terrible as it is tounbelievers) is delightful to those assured of grace (1Ti1:16) [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now unto the King eternal,…. This doxology, or ascription of glory to God, on account of the grace bestowed upon the apostle, may be considered, either as referring to all the three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, who are the one and only God; and to whom all the attributes of wisdom, power, eternity, immortality, or incorruptibleness, and invisibility, belong; and who are jointly concerned in the grace bestowed upon any of the sons of men. Or else to God the Father, in agreement with a parallel place in Ro 16:27 who is the only true God, in opposition to nominal and fictitious deities, though not to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit; and to whom the several epithets here used may be unquestionably given: he has shown his wisdom in the works of creation, providence, and grace; he is the everlasting King, or the King of ages, or of worlds; he is Maker of the worlds, and the Governor of them throughout all ages and generations; he only has immortality, and is the incorruptible God, and who is invisible, whose shape has never been seen, nor his voice heard: or else this may be thought to belong to Jesus Christ, since it is to him the apostle gives thanks for putting him into the ministry; and from him he obtained mercy, and received abundant grace; and he it was who came into the world to save sinners, and who showed forth all longsuffering in him, see 1Ti 1:12, upon which the apostle breaks out into this attribution of glory and honour, and which agrees with Jude 1:25. And everything here said is applicable to him; he is the eternal King, whose is the kingdom of nature, providence, and grace; his throne is for ever and ever, and of his kingdom and government there is no end; he is the “King of ages”, as the phrase may be rendered, and so his kingdom is called , “the kingdom of all ages”, Ps 145:13 and which endures throughout all generations; and this distinguishes him from all other kings. Scarce any king ever reigned an age, but Christ has reigned, and will reign throughout all ages. No regard is here had, as some have thought, to the Aeones of the Gnostics and Valentinians; but rather the apostle adopts a phrase into his doxology, frequently used by the Jews in their prayers, many of which begin after this manner;
“blessed art thou, O Lord our God, “the king of the age, or world”, c.”
and , “Lord of all ages, or worlds”, c. p. Other attributes and epithets follow, as
immortal or “incorruptible”. Christ is the living God, and the living Redeemer and though he died as man, he will die no more, but ever lives to make intercession for his people, and to reign over them, and protect them: who also may be said to be “invisible”, who was so in his divine nature, till manifest in the flesh and now in his human nature he is taken out of the sight of men, and is not to be beheld with bodily eyes by men on earth: and he is
the only wise God; he is “the only God”, so the Alexandrian copy, the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions, read; not to the exclusion of the Father or Spirit, but in opposition to all false deities, or those who are not by nature God: and he is the only wise God; who is wisdom itself, and of himself; and is the fountain of wisdom, both natural and spiritual, unto others; wherefore to him be
honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen. Christ is crowned with honour and glory, and he is worthy of it; and it becomes all men to honour the Son, as they do the Father: he is the brightness of his glory, and equal to him; and the glory of deity, of all the divine perfections, and works, and also worship, should be given him; as well as the glory of salvation, and of all the grace the sons of men partake of; and that not only now, but to all eternity.
p Seder Tephillot, fol. 2. 2. & 3. 2. & 37. 1, 2. Ed. Basil. fol. 2. 1, 2. & 3. 1. & 4. 1. & 5. 2. & passim, Ed. Amsterdam.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This noble doxology is a burst of gratitude for God’s grace to Paul. For other doxologies see Gal 1:5; Rom 11:36; Rom 16:27; Phil 4:20; Eph 3:21; 1Tim 6:16. White suggests that Paul may have often used this doxology in his prayers. Lock suggests “a Jewish liturgical formula” (a needless suggestion in view of Paul’s wealth of doxologies seen above). For God’s creative activity (King of the ages) see 1Cor 10:11; Eph 2:7; Eph 3:9; Eph 3:11.
Incorruptible (). As an epithet of God also in Ro 1:23.
Invisible (). Epithet of God in Col 1:15.
The only God ( ). So Rom 16:27; John 5:44; John 17:3.
For ever and ever ( ). “Unto the ages of ages.” Cf. Eph 3:21 “of the age of the ages.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
King eternal [ ] . Lit. the king of the ages. Only here and Rev 14:3. Comp. Heb 1:2; Heb 11:3. In LXX, Tob. 6 10. For kindred expressions in LXX, see Exo 14:18; 1Sa 13:13; Psa 9:7; Psa 28:10; Psa 73:12; Psa 144:13; Psa 145. See also additional note on 2Th 1:9.
Immortal [] . Lit. Incorruptible. In Paul, applied to God only, Rom 1:23.
Invisible [] . Applied to God, Col 1:15; Heb 11:27. The only wise God [ ] . Wise should be omitted. Rend. The only God. Sofw wise was interpolated from Rom 16:27 – the only instance in which Paul applies the term to God. Comp. Jude 1:4, 25; Luk 5:21; Jas 5:4 4.
Honor and glory [ ] . This combination in doxology only here and Rev 5:12, 13. Comp. Rev 4:9. In doxologies Paul uses only doxa glory, with the article, the glory, and with to whom or to him. (Be).
Forever and ever [ ] . Lit unto the aeons of the aeons. The formula in Paul, Rom 16:26; Gal 1:5; Phi 4:20. Also in Hebrews and 1 Peter, and often in Revelation The doxology as a whole is unique in N. T.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now unto the King” (to de basilei ton) “Now to the King.”
a) “Eternal” (toi aionon) “of the ages,” 1Ti 6:15.
b) “Immortal” (aphtharton) “incorruptible.” Rom 1:23.
c) “Invisible” (aorato) In His divine essence, His triune person, no human in the flesh has seen God, Joh 1:18. Veiled in angelic form and incarnate in Jesus only has He been seen of men, Joh 14:8-9; Gen 18:2; Gen 18:22; Col 1:15.
d) “The only wise God” (mono theo) “An only God.” The term wise does not appear in older manuscripts.
2) “Be honour and glory” (time kai doksa) This is a noble doxology of praise, an element of true thanksgiving to and adoration of God.
3) “For ever and ever. Amen.” (eis tous aionas ton aionon) “Into the ages of the ages,” This means time without end or cessation of continuity. This honor and glory is to be God-centered, not man or earth or religion or angel-centered; Eph 3:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17 Now to the King eternal His amazing vehemence at length breaks out into this exclamation; because he could not find words to express his gratitude; for those sudden bursts occur chiefly when we are constrained to break off the discourse, in consequence of being overpowered by the vastness of the subject. And is there anything more astonishing than Paul’s conversion? Yet, at the same time, by his example he reminds us all that we ought never to think of the grace manifested in God’s calling (27) without being carried to lofty admiration.
Eternal, invisible, only wise This sublime praise of the grace which God had bestowed on him (28) swallows up the remembrance of his former life. For how great a deep is the glory of God! Those attributes which he ascribes to God, though they belong to him always, yet are admirably adapted to the present occasion. The Apostle calls him the King eternal, not liable to any change; Invisible, because (1Ti 6:16) he dwells in light that is inaccessible; and, lastly, the Only Wise, because he renders foolish, and condemns as vanity, all the wisdom of men. The whole agrees with that conclusion at which he arrives:
“
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his designs! How unsearchable his ways!” (Rom 11:33.)
He means that the infinite and incomprehensible wisdom of God should be beheld by us with such reverence that, if his works surpass our senses, still we may be restrained by admiration.
Yet as to the last epithet Only, it is doubtful whether he means to claim all glory for God alone, or calls him the only wise, or says that he only is God. The second of these meanings is that which I prefer; for it was in fine harmony with his present subject to say, that the understanding of men, whatever it may be, must bend to the secret purpose of God. And yet I do not deny that he affirms that God alone is worthy of all glory; for, while he scatters on his creatures, in every direction, the sparks of his glory, still all glory belongs truly and perfectly to him alone. But either of those meanings implies that there is no glory but that which belongs to God.
(27) “ Nostre vocation, e’est a dire, la grace que Dieu nous a faite en nous appellant.” — “Our calling, that is, the grace which God has displayed in calling us.”
(28) “ De la grace de Dieu sur lay.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Now unto the King.The wonderful chain of thoughts (1Ti. 1:12-16) which so well illustrate the great assertion of 1Ti. 1:15that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinnersSt. Paul closes with a noble ascription of praise and thankfulness to the great God.
This doxology is addressed to no one Person of the ever blessed Trinity, but isas has been said with great trutha grand testimony to the monotheism of St. Paul: the Godhead, the Trinity of his worship, is a sublime unity. To this Eternal, Incorruptible One be glory and honour unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
Eternal.More accurately rendered, (to the King) of the ages. The King of the Ages is the sovereign dispenser and disposer of the ages of the world. There is no reference at all here to the Gnostic ons.
Immortal (or incorruptible).This epithet and the following oneinvisibleare connected with God, not, with the preceding clause, to the King of the Ages. God is immortal, in contrast with the beings of earth, and
Invisible, in contrast with the visible creation.
The only wise God.The only God, the most ancient authorities omitting wise. Only, as in 1Ti. 6:15 : the blessed and only potentate. The only God, a contrast to the multitude of created spirits, angels, principalities, powers, &c. (See 1Co. 8:5-6.)
For ever and ever.Literally, to the ages of the ages, to all eternitya Hebraistic expression for a duration of time superlatively (infinitely) long.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Now But; as rising from himself, the finite, to God, the infinite, and tracing his salvation to Him.
Unto the King eternal Literally, King of the aeons, or ages. Ellicott says that this phrase should not be diluted into eternal. God is sovereign of the aeons and all they embrace. Yet as they are endless, the idea of eternity is included.
Immortal Rather, incorruptible. All things decay and fade from one aeon into another; the sole, essentially undecaying, One, through the ever-rolling waves of aeons, is the King of aeons.
Invisible The unseen, behind the vail of the seen.
Wise Omitted as a false reading, leaving only God; excluding all polytheism, and recognising one God as one universe.
For ever and ever , into and throughout the ages of ages. Note, Eph 1:10. This, as the other doxologies of St. Paul, marks the terminus of a climax of thought.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
He Finally Closes The Section With A Paean of Praise To The ‘King of the Ages’, Stressing His ‘Otherness’, That Is, His Unlikeness And Utter Superiority To Anything Connected With The Universe As The Only God ( 1Ti 1:17 ).
Overflowing with gratitude and wonder Paul now gives vent to praise. It is possible that these were words that he knew from a Jewish prayer, or even a relatively new Christian prayer, but it is even more likely that it was of his own composition, for we must remember that he prayed often, even in prisons where he had much time to consider the glory of God without hindrance. It was his recognition from the depths of his heart of the glory of the blessed God (1Ti 1:11). And indeed we can probably say, also of the glory of Christ the King. For the coming King was to be the King of the ages (Mic 5:2), He was the One Who had life in Himself (Joh 5:21; Joh 5:26). He was the One Who was the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), He was the only God (Joh 14:9), and to Him was due honour and glory throughout all ages. And the words come after a number of verses which have been exalting Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory to the ages of the ages. Amen.
This reads more like a prayer from a worshipful heart, as he contemplates what the King has done, rather than a creed (compare Rom 16:25-27 which contains the same sense of timelessness). It may have had a basis in a Jewish prayer, but Paul was surely quite capable of such a flow of thought himself. And it is a description wrung from the heart of someone who has recognised and absorbed the glory of the King. And in the context the idea of the King must surely include Jesus. In the preceding narrative it is He who came into the world for the salvation of sinners (1Ti 1:15; compare Zec 9:9). It is He Who has shown His longsuffering to Paul (1Ti 1:16). It is He Who is ‘Christ Jesus our Lord’ Who has made His appointments to His service (1Ti 1:12). It is He Whose grace has abounded exceedingly to Paul as from ‘the Lord’ (1Ti 1:14, compare 1Ti 1:12). And all Paul’s concentration has been on Him. We would thus surely expect Him to be the recipient of Paul’s praise at this point.
Yet in spite of that the majority see it as applying to God the Father, as though having contemplated the glory of Christ Jesus, Paul’s thoughts are turned directly towards God. And certainly in Hebrew thought it was He Who was the One Who was designated as the ‘King of the ages’. For the idea see Psa 145:13, ‘your Kingship is an everlasting Kingship’, and for the phrase the Jewish work Tob 13:6 ; Tob 13:10 .
‘To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory to the ages of the ages.’ Note the stress on the King’s everlastingness (compare Mic 5:2), and the fact that His honour and glory will continue into everlastingness. Also on His invisibility, the concept which was emphasised by the ‘empty’ throne in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. It is this characteristic that might turn the argument in favour of this referring to God Himself, but with the proviso that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, and therefore also included. Here is One Who stretches the mind beyond what it can cope with because no mind can even begin to comprehend Him. Thus He can neither be seen, nor can His eternal Being be comprehended. He is cloaked in invisibility. And yet He became mortal and visible in Jesus Christ so that Jesus could say, ‘He who has seen Me has seen the Father’. Can we then believe that Paul did not include Jesus in the description? For to Paul He certainly was ‘the only God’. Such is the wonder of the incarnation.
‘The King of the ages.’ He is sovereign over all things from beginning to end, and Lord over the ages. His people are those ‘on whom the end of the ages has come’ (1Co 10:11). ‘ In the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us’ (Eph 2:7). Paul has been appointed ‘to make all men see the outworking of the mystery which from all ages has been in God Who created all things, to the intent that now to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Eph 3:9-11). Truly He is the King of the ages.
‘Immortal.’ That is, untouchable by death, the very idea of which is foreign to His nature, for He is the source of all life and the very epitome of it. And He alone has immortality (1Ti 6:16). Thus in the end death and all connected with it has to be totally divorced from God, Who is the source of all life, in the same way as light is from darkness. It is foreign to His own nature. It is the opposite of what He is. Thus compared with being with Him death is to be in ‘nothingness’ (Psa 88:5; Psa 115:17). It is to be in the ‘outer darkness’ away from the light and glory of God. Indeed, for the opposite of what immortality is, see Eze 32:18-32, where we find a vivid picture of humanity as vague shadows apart from God.
‘Invisible.’ (Compare Col 1:15). That is, beyond man’s physical senses and comprehension so that each man can only know Him as He is revealed in the centre of that man’s inner being, his spirit. Thus when He is depicted in action in the world it is by His ‘Spirit’, Whose activity, like that of the wind, is discerned while He Himself is never seen. Speaking physically He is the ultimate unknowable. When He was revealed in flaming fire, and that was His favourite method of manifestation, it was still but a faint representation of what He is, the One Who is all mystery and light, for that was why fire was chosen, it was both magnificent and mysterious at the same time. For He dwells in ‘light unapproachable’ and is the One Whom ‘no man has seen or can see’ (1Ti 6:16). Indeed none could see Him as He really is, for He Himself is Spirit (Joh 4:24).
‘The only God.’ (Compare ‘the eternal God, the God of ages’, Rom 16:26). That is, He is unique in His Godhead, and in His ‘otherness’, the ‘High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, Whose Name is Holy’ (Isa 57:15), dwelling in unapproachable light Whom no man has seen or can see (1Ti 6:16), Whom nothing else and no-one else can even begin to approach to, whether in Heaven or on earth, for He is far above all principalities and powers in the spiritual realm (Eph 1:20-21). Yet although He is far beyond what man can attain to, He is yet reachable by those with a contrite spirit and a contrite heart (Isa 57:15), for He is reachable in the realm of the spirit to those whose hearts are open to Him (see Joh 4:24), and especially through His Word (Joh 1:1-3; Joh 1:14). And as such He is the One to Whom all honour and glory belong for ever and ever (compare Eph 3:21), for He alone is worthy of such. To which we can only say, ‘Amen’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ti 1:17. Unto the king eternal, &c. It has been thought that in giving such titles to the true God here, St. Paul, among various other reasons, might possibly glance at the absurdity of idolatrous Ephesus, in worshipping such a visible corruptible image as that of Diana. The apostle therefore plainly intimated, that God is God alone, and there is none besides him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ti 1:17 . “Ex sensu gratiae fluit doxologia” (Bengel). With this doxology the apostle closes the digression begun in 1Ti 1:11 , and returns again to the proper epistolary style.
] This designation for God is not found elsewhere in the N. T. (even the use of of God only occurs elsewhere in chap. 1Ti 6:15 and Mat 5:35 ), but it is found in the Apocrypha of the O. T. in Tob 13:6 ; Tob 13:10 . ( Sir 36:19 : .) means either “the world,” as in Heb 1:2 ; Heb 11:3 (see Delitzsch and Lnemann on this passage), or “the times.” The former meaning is adopted by Chrysostom, Leo, etc. (Leo appealing to Eusebius, de Laud. Constant. chap. vi. p. 431, ed. Heinrichs: ); the latter, by Matthies: “the ruler of all times, so that all generations are at the same time concretely included.” In a similar way, Heydenreich has “the supreme ruler of time, and of all that takes place in its course.” This latter explanation is supported as correct both by the preceding (van Oosterzee), and also by the following, and by farther on. [71] It is incorrect to take as equivalent to “eternity,” and translate: “to the king eternal” (de Wette, but tentatively; Hofmann: “the king who is for ever and without end”), [72] for never has that meaning in itself. Only in the formulas and does the meaning of the word approach that idea. Besides, the apostle would surely have expressed that adjectival idea by an adjective. It is quite erroneous to take the word here in the Gnostic sense of series of emanations, synonymous with in 1Ti 1:4 ; for, on the one hand, no proof is given that this expression had been already used by the heretics alluded to in this epistle; and, on the other, the apostle considered the whole theory of genealogies as belonging to the sphere of myths. It was impossible, therefore, for him in his doxology to speak of God as the king of things which were to Him nothing but the inventions of fancy.
] is only used of God elsewhere in Rom 1:23 (Plut. adv. St. 31; Wis 12:1 ). Matthies: “God is the Imperishable One, because His nature is unchanging and based on itself,” equivalent to , chap. 1Ti 6:16 .
] comp. Heb 11:27 (without ), Rom 1:20 , and Col 1:15 (with ); equivalent to , , chap. 1Ti 6:16 ; comp. also Joh 1:18 .
] chap. 1Ti 6:15 : ; comp. also Joh 5:44 ; Joh 17:3 ; Rom 16:27 : . The words are to be taken as in apposition to . But it is doubtful whether is to be joined with only, or also with and , as is commonly done. De Wette is wrong in asserting that all these predicates are used of God superfluously: they manifestly express the absolute exaltation of God above all conditioned finite being, and are occasioned naturally (which Hofmann disputes) by the contrast with the heresy which denied the absoluteness of the divine existence.
] The two words are united also in Rom 2:7 ; Rom 2:10 ; Heb 2:7 ; but only here and in the Apocalypse do they occur in doxologies. Paul elsewhere uses only , and always with the article.
] a very common conclusion in doxologies, and found in Paul’s other epistles. It is not to be overlooked that this doxology has a peculiar character distinct from those usually occurring in Paul, both in the mode of connection (elsewhere a pronoun connects them with what precedes) and also in the designation for God and the expressions used.
[71] Comp. Psa 144:13 , LXX.: .
[72] Wiesinger explains it: “He is a king of the aeons, which together give the idea of eternity, just as His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Ver. 17. Invisible ] God is too subtle for sinew or sight to bear upon. We can but see his back parts and live; we need see no more, that we may live.
Now unto the King immortal ] Paul cannot mention the great work of our redemption without a thankful acclamation. The Grecians being restored to liberty by the Roman general Quintus Flaminius, he was entertained by them with such applauses and acclamations, while they roared out Saviour, Saviour, that the very birds that flew over them, astonished with the noise, fell to the ground. When Hunniades had overthrown Mosites, the Turk’s general, at his return from the camp, some called him the father, some the defender of his country; the soldiers, their invincible general; the captives, their deliverer; the women, their protector.
The only wise God ] The temple of Sophia in Constantinople is now the Turk’s chief mosque, and by them still called Sophia, because they hold, even as we do, that the wisdom of God is incomprehensible.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 .] but ( takes the thought entirely off from himself and every thing else, and makes the following sentence exclusive as applied to God. ‘Ex sensu grati fluit doxologan.’ Bengel. Compare by all means the very similar doxology, Rom 16:25 ff.: and see, on their similarity, the inferences in the Prolegomena, ch. vii. i. 33, and note) to the King (this name, as applied to God, is found, in N. T., only in Mat 5:35 (not Mat 25:34 ff.) and our ch. 1Ti 6:15 . See below) of the ages (i.e. of eternity: cf. the reff. Tobit, where the same expression occurs, and Sir. : also Psa 144:13 , , . Comparing these with the well-known , , and the like, it is far more likely that here should mean eternity, than the ages of this world, as many have understood it. The doxology is to the Father, not to the Trinity (Thdrt.), nor to the Son (Calov., al.): cf. ), incorruptible (in ref. Rom. only, used of God), invisible (reff.: see also ch. 1Ti 6:16 ; Joh 1:18 . Beware of taking , with , as recommended by Bishop Middleton, on the ground of the articles being wanting before these adjectives. It is obvious that no such consideration is of any weight in a passage like the present. The abstract adjectives of attribute are used almost as substantives, and stand by themselves, referring not to immediately, but to Him of whom is a title, as well as they: q. d. ‘to Him who is the King of the ages, the Incorruptible, the Invisible, ’), the only God ( has apparently come from the doxology at the end of Romans, where it is most appropriate), be honour and glory to the ages of the ages (the periods which are made up of , as these last are of years, as years are of days: see note, Eph 3:21 ; and Ellic. on Gal 1:5 ), Amen .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Ti 1:17 . This noble doxology might be one used by St. Paul himself in one of his eucharistic prayers. It is significant that in the Jewish forms of thanksgiving is of constant occurrence. See reff., and . in Sir 36:22 . Bengel’s suggestion (on ch. 1Ti 1:4 ) that there is a polemical reference to the aeons of Gnosticism is fanciful and unnecessary. , as a title of God the Father, is found in 1Ti 6:15 and Rev 15:3 , a passage of which Swete says ( comm . in loc.), “The thought as well as the phraseology of the Song is strangely Hebraic”. Cf. Ps. 9:37 (Psa 10:16 ).
: The three adjectives , , are co-ordinate epithets of , to God immortal, invisible, unique .
, immortal , as an epithet of God, occurs Rom 1:23 ( cf. Wis 12:1 , , and Moulton and Milligan, Expositor , vii., vi. 376). It is expanded in 1Ti 6:15 sq., who only hath immortality , just as becomes whom no man hath seen, nor can see (for the thought, see Joh 1:18 , Col 1:15 , Heb 11:27 , 1Jn 4:12 ), and becomes the blessed and only potentate . For the epithet , used absolutely, see reff. and also Psa 86:10 , Joh 17:3 , Rom 16:27 .
: This combination in a doxology is found Rev 4:9 , ; 1Ti 5:13 , . In St. Paul’s other doxologies (Gal 1:5 , Rom 11:36 ; Rom 16:27 , Phi 4:20 , Eph 3:21 , 1Ti 6:16 , 2Ti 4:18 ), with the exception of 1Ti 6:16 ( ), is not found; and he always has (see Westcott, Additional Note on Heb 13:21 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1 Timothy
THE GLORY OF THE KING
1Ti 1:17 .
With this burst of irrepressible praise the Apostle ends his reference to his own conversion as a transcendent, standing instance of the infinite love and transforming power of God. Similar doxologies accompany almost all his references to the same fact. This one comes from the lips of ‘Paul the aged,’ looking back from almost the close of a life which owed many sorrows and troubles to that day on the road to Damascus. His heart fills with thankfulness that overflows into the great words of my text. He had little to be thankful for, judged according to the rules of sense; but, though weighed down with care, having made but a poor thing of the world because of that vision which he saw that day, and now near martyrdom, he turns with a full heart to God, and breaks into this song of thanksgiving. There are lives which bear to be looked back upon. Are ours of that kind?
But my object is mainly to draw your attention to what seems to me a remarkable feature in this burst of thanksgiving. And perhaps I shall best impress the thought which it has given to me if I ask you to look, first, at the character of the God who is glorified by Paul’s salvation; second, at the facts which glorify such a God; and, last, at the praise which should fill the lives of those who know the facts.
I. First, then, notice the God who is glorified by Paul’s salvation.
Now what strikes me as singular about this great doxology is the characteristics, or, to use a technical word, the attributes, of the divine nature which the Apostle selects. They are all those which separate God from man; all those which present Him as arrayed in majesty, apart from human weaknesses, unapproachable by human sense, and filling a solitary throne. These are the characteristics which the Apostle thinks receive added lustre, and are lifted to a loftier height of ‘honour and glory,’ by the small fact that he, Paul, was saved from sins as he journeyed to Damascus.
It would be easy to roll out oratorical platitudes about these specific characteristics of the divine nature, but that would be as unprofitable as it would be easy. All that I want to do now is just to note the force of the epithets; and, if I can, to deepen the impression of the remarkableness of their selection.
With regard, then, to the first of them, we at once feel that the designation of ‘the King’ is unfamiliar to the New Testament. It brings with it lofty ideas, no doubt; but it is not a name which the writers of the New Testament, who had been taught in the school of love, and led by a Son to the knowledge of God, are most fond of using. ‘The King’ has melted into ‘the Father.’ But here Paul selects that more remote and less tender name for a specific purpose. He is ‘the King’–not ‘ eternal ,’ as our Bible renders it, but more correctly ‘the King of the Ages.’ The idea intended is not so much that of unending existence as that He moulds the epochs of the world’s history, and directs the evolution of its progress. It is the thought of an overruling Providence, with the additional thought that all the moments are a linked chain, through which He flashes the electric force of His will. He is ‘King of the Ages.’
The other epithets are more appropriately to be connected with the word ‘God’ which follows than with the word ‘King’ which precedes. The Apostle’s meaning is this: ‘The King of the ages, even the God who is,’ etc. And the epithets thus selected all tend in the same direction. ‘Incorruptible.’ That at once parts that mystic and majestic Being from all of which the law is decay . There may be in it some hint of moral purity, but more probably it is simply what I may call a physical attribute, that that immortal nature not only does not, but cannot , pass into any less noble forms. Corruption has no share in His immortal being.
As to ‘invisible,’ no word need be said to illustrate that. It too points solely to the separation of God from all approach by human sense.
And then the last of the epithets, which, according to the more accurate reading of the text, should be, not as our Bible has it, ‘the only wise God,’ but ‘the only God,’ lifts Him still further above all comparison and contact with other beings.
So the whole set forth the remote attributes which make a man feel, ‘The gulf between Him and me is so great that thought cannot pass across it, and I doubt whether love can live half-way across that flight, or will not rather, like some poor land bird with tiny wings, drop exhausted, and be drowned in the abyss before it reaches the other side.’ We expect to find a hymn to the infinite love. Instead of that we get praise, which might be upon the lips of many a thinker of Paul’s day and of ours, who would laugh the idea of revelation, and especially of a revelation such as Paul believed in, to absolute scorn. And yet he knew what he was saying when he did not lift up his praise to the God of tenderness, of pity, of forgiveness, of pardoning love, but to ‘the King of the ages; the incorruptible, invisible, only God’; the God whose honour and glory were magnified by the revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ.
II. And so that brings me, in the second place, to ask you to look at the facts which glorify even such a God.
Paul was primarily thinking of his own individual experience; of what passed when the voice spoke to him, ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’ and of the transforming power which had changed him, the wolf, with teeth red with the blood of the saints, into a lamb. But, as he is careful to point out, the personal allusion is lost in his contemplation of his own history, as being a specimen and test-case for the blessing and encouragement of all who ‘should hereafter believe upon Him unto life everlasting.’ So what we come to is this–that the work of Jesus Christ is that which paints the lily and gilds the refined gold of the divine loftinesses and magnificence, and which brings honour and glory even to that remote and inaccessible majesty. For, in that revelation of God in Jesus Christ, there is added to all these magnificent and all but inconceivable attributes and excellences, something that is far diviner and nobler than themselves.
There be two great conceptions smelted together in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, of which neither attains its supremest beauty except by the juxtaposition of the other. Power is harsh, and scarcely worthy to be called divine, unless it be linked with love. Love is not glorious unless it be braced and energised by power. And, says Paul, these two are brought together in Jesus; and therefore each is heightened by the other. It is the love of God that lifts His power to its highest height; it is the revelation of Him as stooping that teaches us His loftiness. It is because He has come within the grasp of our humanity in Jesus Christ that we can hymn our highest and noblest praises to ‘the King eternal, the invisible God.’
The sunshine falls upon the snow-clad peaks of the great mountains and flushes them with a tender pink that makes them nobler and fairer by far than when they were veiled in clouds. And so all the divine majesty towers higher when we believe in the divine condescension, and there is no god that men have ever dreamed of so great as the God who stoops to sinners and is manifest in the flesh and Cross of the Man of Sorrows.
Take these characteristics of the divine nature as get forth in the text one by one, and consider how the Revelation in Jesus Christ, and its power on sinful men, raises our conceptions of them. ‘The King of the ages’–and do we ever penetrate so deeply into the purpose which has guided His hand, as it moulded and moved the ages, as when we can say with Paul that His ‘good pleasure’ is that, ‘in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.’ The intention of the epochs as they emerge, the purpose of all their linked intricacies and apparently diverse movements, is this one thing, that God in Christ may be manifest to men, a nd that humanity may be gathered, like sheep round the Shepherd, into the one fold of the one Lord. For that the world stands; for that the ages roll, and He who is the King of the epochs hath put into the hands of the Lamb that was slain the Book that contains all their events; and only His hand, pierced upon Calvary, is able to open the seals, to read the Book. The King of the ages is the Father of Christ.
And in like manner, that incorruptible God, far away from us because He is so, and to whom we look up here doubtingly and despairingly and often complainingly and ask, ‘Why hast Thou made us thus, to be weighed upon with the decay of all things and of ourselves?’ comes near to us all in the Christ who knows the mystery of death, and thereby makes us partakers of an inheritance incorruptible. Brethren, we shall never adore, or even dimly understand, the blessedness of believing in a God who cannot decay nor change, unless from the midst of graves and griefs we lift our hearts to Him as revealed in the face of the dying Christ. He, though He died, did not see corruption, and we through Him shall pass into the same blessed immunity.
‘The King . . . the God invisible.’ No man hath seen God ‘at any time, nor can see Him.’ Who will honour and glorify that attribute which parts Him wholly from our sense, and so largely from our apprehension, as will he who can go on to say, ‘the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.’ We look up into a waste Heaven; thought and fear, and sometimes desire, travel into its tenantless spaces. We say the blue is an illusion; there is nothing there but blackness. But ‘he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ And we can lift thankful praise to Him, the King invisible, when we hear Jesus saying, ‘thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.’
‘The only God.’ How that repels men from His throne! And yet, if we apprehend the meaning of Christ’s Cross and work, we understand that the solitary God welcomes my solitary soul into such mysteries and sacred sweetnesses of fellowship with Himself that, the humanity remaining undisturbed, and the divinity remaining unintruded upon, we yet are one in Him, and partakers of a divine nature. Unless we come to God through Jesus Christ, the awful attributes in the text spurn a man from His throne, and make all true fellowship impossible.
So let me remind you that the religion which does not blend together in indissoluble union these two, the majesty and the lowliness, the power and the love, the God inaccessible and the God who has tabernacled with us in Jesus Christ, is sure to be almost an impotent religion. Deism in all its forms, the religion which admits a God and denies a revelation; the religion which, in some vague sense, admits a revelation and denies an incarnation; the religion which admits an incarnation and denies a sacrifice; all these have little to say to man as a sinner; little to say to man as a mourner; little power to move his heart, little power to infuse strength into his weakness. If once you strike out the thought of a redeeming Christ from your religion, the temperature will go down alarmingly, and all will soon be frost bound.
Brethren, there is no real adoration of the loftiness of the King of the ages, no true apprehension of the majesty of the God incorruptible, invisible, eternal, until we see Him in the face and in the Cross of Jesus Christ. The truths of this gospel of our salvation do not in the smallest degree impinge upon or weaken, but rather heighten, the glory of God. The brightest glory streams from the Cross. It was when He was standing within a few hours of it, and had it full in view, that Jesus Christ broke out into that strange strain of triumph, ‘Now is God glorified.’ ‘The King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,’ is more honoured and glorified in the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ, and in the transforming power which He puts forth in the Gospel, than in all besides.
III. Lastly, let me draw your attention to the praise which should fill the lives of those who know these facts.
I said that this Apostle seems always, when he refers to his own individual conversion, to have been melted into fresh outpourings of thankfulness and of praise. And that is what ought to be the life of all of you who call yourselves Christians; a continual warmth of thankfulness welling up in the heart, and not seldom finding utterance in the words, but always filling the life.
Not seldom, I say, finding utterance in the words. It is a delicate thing for a man to speak about himself, and his own religious experience. Our English reticence, our social habits, and many other even less worthy hindrances rise in the way; and I should be the last man to urge Christian people to cast their pearls before swine, or too fully to
‘ Open wide the bridal chamber of the heart,’
to let in the day. There is a wholesome fear of men who are always talking about their own religious experiences. But there are times and people to whom it is treason to the Master for us not to be frank in the confession of what we have found in Him. And I think there would be less complaining of the want of power in the public preaching of the Word if more professing Christians more frequently and more simply said to those to whom their words are weighty, ‘Come and hear and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul.’ ‘Ye are my witnesses,’ saith the Lord. It is a strange way that Christian people in this generation have of discharging their obligations that they should go, as so many of them do, from the cradle of their Christian lives to their graves, never having opened their lips for the Master who has done all for them.
Only remember, if you venture to speak you will have to live your preaching. ‘There is no speech nor language, their voice is not heard, their sound is gone out through all the earth.’ The silent witness of life must always accompany the audible proclamation, and in many cases is far more eloquent than it. Your consistent thankfulness manifested in your daily obedience, and in the transformation of your character, will do far more than all my preaching, or the preaching of thousands like me, to commend the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
One last word, brethren. This revelation is made to us all. What is God to you, friend? Is He a remote, majestic, unsympathising, terrible Deity? Is He dim, shadowy, unwelcome; or is He God whose love softens His power; Whose power magnifies his love? Oh! I beseech you, open your eyes and your hearts to see that that remote Deity is of no use to you, will do nothing for you, cannot help you, may probably judge you, but will never heal you. And open your hearts to see that ‘the only God’ whom men can love is God in Christ. If here we lift up grateful praise ‘unto Him that loveth us and hath loosed us from our sins in His blood,’ we, too, shall one day join in that great chorus which at last will be heard saying, ‘Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
King eternal = King of the ages (App-151.) The some expression Occurs in the Greek text of Tobit 13.6, 10, and the “God of the ages”, Thes ton anionon, in Ecc 36:17. Compare Isa 9:6. Jer 10:10.
immortal. Greek. aphtharlos. See Rom 1:23. Compare, 1Ti 6:16.
invisible. Greek. aorates. See Rom 1:20. Compare 1Ti 6:16. Exo 33:20. Joh 1:18. Col 1:15, Heb 11:27.
wise. The texts omit, the word having crept in from Rom 16:27.
honour and glory. These words are coupled together in Heb 2:7, Heb 2:9; 2Pe 1:17. Rev 4:9, Rev 4:11; Rev 5:12, Rev 5:13; Rev 19:1, in describing Divine glory, and in reference to man in Rom 2:7, Rom 2:10. Rev 21:24, Rev 21:26.
glory. See p. 1511.
for ever and ever. App-151.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] but ( takes the thought entirely off from himself and every thing else, and makes the following sentence exclusive as applied to God. Ex sensu grati fluit doxologan. Bengel. Compare by all means the very similar doxology, Rom 16:25 ff.: and see, on their similarity, the inferences in the Prolegomena, ch. vii. i. 33, and note) to the King (this name, as applied to God, is found, in N. T., only in Mat 5:35 (not Mat 25:34 ff.) and our ch. 1Ti 6:15. See below) of the ages (i.e. of eternity: cf. the reff. Tobit, where the same expression occurs, and Sir.- : also Psa 144:13, ,- . Comparing these with the well-known , , and the like, it is far more likely that here should mean eternity, than the ages of this world, as many have understood it. The doxology is to the Father, not to the Trinity (Thdrt.), nor to the Son (Calov., al.): cf. ), incorruptible (in ref. Rom. only, used of God), invisible (reff.: see also ch. 1Ti 6:16; Joh 1:18. Beware of taking , with , as recommended by Bishop Middleton, on the ground of the articles being wanting before these adjectives. It is obvious that no such consideration is of any weight in a passage like the present. The abstract adjectives of attribute are used almost as substantives, and stand by themselves, referring not to immediately, but to Him of whom is a title, as well as they: q. d. to Him who is the King of the ages, the Incorruptible, the Invisible, ), the only God ( has apparently come from the doxology at the end of Romans, where it is most appropriate), be honour and glory to the ages of the ages (the periods which are made up of , as these last are of years,-as years are of days: see note, Eph 3:21; and Ellic. on Gal 1:5), Amen.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Ti 1:17. ) The doxology flows from a sense of grace.- , to the King of ons or ages [eternal]) A frequent phrase with the Hebrews. The thought of eternity is particularly delightful to those assured of grace, while it miserably terrifies others.-, invisible) This attribute is given Him in the way of praise. See how perverse they are who affirm that there is no God, because they do not see Him.- , the only God) So, the only Potentate, ch. 1Ti 6:15; comp. Psa 86:10; Joh 5:44; Jud 1:25. [A magnificent reading![13]-Not. Crit.]-, , honour, glory) Such an Asyndeton is commonly used, where circumstances and feelings would tend to render the words much accumulated (tend to produce somewhat of an accumulation of words): for example, honour and glory and strength, etc.; and where nevertheless he leaves them to be supplied in the mind of the hearer. Such an Asyndeton is very suitable to the ardour of the apostle in doxologies, ch. 1Ti 6:16; 1Pe 5:11; although the transcribers have very generally inserted . The omission of this particle in so many passages is not accidental; but its addition is due to the over-busy officiousness of transcribers.[14]
[13] So AD() corrected, Gfg Vulg. But Rec. Text adds to , with later Syr. He who alone is God gives a more striking sense than the only wise God.-ED.
[14] Unfortunately for Bengels argument, the best authorities, which Lachm. and Tisch. follow, read the . However, many secondary authorities omit it.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Ti 1:17
Now unto the King-Paul esteemed it an honor and a glory to him to be chosen to suffer as Jesus had suffered, thus to be made like Jesus in his sufferings, for it brought the assurance that he would be made like him in immortal glory. So he bursts forth in this ascription of praise to God. God
is the King, Ruler of the universe, eternal,-There is no end to his reign and glory, immortal,-God is immortal in contrast with the beings of this earth.
invisible,-He is invisible in contrast with visible things of creation.
the only God,-The only true and real God. be honor and glory for ever and ever.-Let him be honored and glorified unto the age of the ages.
Amen.-This denotes the solemn ascent of the heart to the sentiment conveyed by the foregoing words.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
immortal incorruptible.
invisible Cf. (See Scofield “Joh 1:18”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the King: 1Ti 6:15, 1Ti 6:16, Psa 10:16, Psa 45:1, Psa 45:6, Psa 47:6-8, Psa 90:2, Psa 145:13, Jer 10:10, Dan 2:44, Dan 7:14, Mic 5:2, Mal 1:14, Mat 6:13, Mat 25:34, Rom 1:23, Heb 1:8-13, Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16
invisible: Joh 1:18, Rom 1:20, Col 1:15, Heb 11:27, 1Jo 4:12
the only: Rom 16:27, Jud 1:25
be: 1Ch 29:11, Neh 9:5, Psa 41:13, Psa 57:11, Psa 72:18, Psa 72:19, Psa 106:48, Dan 4:34, Dan 4:37, Eph 3:20, Eph 3:21, 1Pe 5:11, 2Pe 3:18, Rev 4:8-11, Rev 5:9-14, Rev 7:12, Rev 19:1, Rev 19:6
Amen: Mat 6:13, Mat 28:20
Reciprocal: Gen 21:33 – everlasting Gen 24:27 – Blessed Deu 4:16 – the likeness Deu 33:27 – eternal 1Ch 29:10 – Blessed be thou Psa 29:10 – King Psa 89:52 – Blessed Isa 40:28 – the everlasting Isa 43:13 – before Isa 57:15 – that inhabiteth Jer 46:18 – saith Lam 5:19 – remainest Hab 1:12 – thou not Luk 19:38 – glory Joh 4:24 – a Spirit Joh 5:26 – hath life Joh 5:37 – Ye have Act 17:23 – To Rom 1:25 – more Rom 11:36 – to whom Rom 16:26 – everlasting 1Co 8:4 – there is 2Co 11:31 – which Gal 1:5 – whom Eph 2:7 – in the Phi 2:6 – in Phi 4:20 – unto 2Ti 4:18 – to whom Heb 9:14 – eternal Heb 13:21 – to whom 1Pe 4:11 – to whom Rev 5:12 – to receive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ti 1:17. Eternal is from two Greek words at this place, which are TON AIONON. In the composition they are plural in number and in the possessive case, and the Englishman’s Greek New Testament translates them “of the ages.” There have been three ages or dispensations of religion given into the world, namely, the Patriarchal, the Jewish and the Christian. God has been and is the supreme ruler or K;ng over each of them, although the Son has been placed in charge of the third. Immortal means He is not subject to decay as were the idols that were worshiped as gods by some. Invisible is another distinction between the true God and those made of “gold or silver or stone,” which could be seen literally with the eyes of man. Only wise God has the sense of saying: “He is the only God, and he is wise.” Be honor and glory means these qualities should be attributed to this one true God. For ever and ever is an emphatic form of expression, meaning these virtues wil be possessed by Him endlessly. Amen is defined by Thayer, “so be it, so it is, may it be fulfilled.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Ti 1:17. As in Rom 11:36; Rom 16:27, the thought of Gods great mercy leads the apostle to break out into a jubilant doxology.
The King eternal. Literally the king of the ages, of all the ons or periods which mans thought can apprehend in the remotest past, or future. The phrase is taken from the LXX. of Tob 13:6 and Psa 145:13, and occurs here only in the New Testament. It is obvious, as in the parallel passages, that the doxology is offered to the Father.
Immortal. Better, as in Rom 1:23; 1Co 15:52, incorruptible.
The only wise God. Wise is wanting in the later MSS., and has probably been inserted from Rom 16:27. The word only, as applied to God, is not uncommon in the New Testament, but is especially characteristic of this Epistle (1Ti 6:15-16) and St. John (Joh 5:44; Joh 17:3; Rev 15:4).
For ever and ever. Lit. for the ages of the ages, periods in which each moment is an on.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle being ravished with a sweet sense of the greatness of God’s pardoning mercy towards himself, concludes this whole matter with a pathetical doxology, and an affectionate thanksgiving unto God. As if he had thus said, “The sense of the afore named unspeakable mercy calleth up my soul to speak with joy the praises of our God, who is eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, absolutely wise, over angels and all creatures: to him be honour and glory, for ever and ever.”
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Ti 1:17. Now unto the King, &c. A consideration of the great mercy which God had shown him, in not only pardoning him when he was involved in such great guilt, but in making him an example for the comfort of future penitents, causes him to break forth in a rapture of praise and thanksgiving; eternal Whose existence had no beginning, and shall have no end; immortal Or incorruptible, as also signifies; it is however rightly translated immortal, because what is incorruptible is likewise immortal; invisible To mortal eyes. By this epithet the true God is distinguished from all those heathen deities who were the workmanship of mens hands, or the creatures of God, such as the luminaries of heaven, and from all those deified heroes and other human beings who had once been visible on earth, and were made the objects of worship after their decease. To the only wise God Or, to God only wise; that is, originally, independently, essentially, and infinitely; or, to the wise God alone, (for the reason of which rendering see note on Rom 16:27,) be honour and glory That is, let these excellences be more sensibly manifested, more seriously and frequently acknowledged, and sincerely venerated.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
What a declaration concerning our God!
King = OVER ALL – even the Orion’s nebula that the Hubbell telescope has viewed recently.
Eternal = Always has been – always will be.
Immortal = He can’t die no matter what the liberals say!
Invisible = Remember this one when you are considering sin.
ONLY wise God = ALL other gods are dead and offer NO wisdom!
Deserving of our honor and glory forever. Give you a hint of what we will be doing in heaven?
The term translated glory is the term we gain the word Doxology from.
MacArthur puts it this way. “Having begun the passage with thanksgiving, Paul now closes it with a doxology. Eternal literally means “of the ages.” It refers to the two ages in Jewish thought, the present age, and the age to come. God had no beginning and will have no end. He exists outside of time, though He acts in it. He is immortal, imperishable, and incorruptible. He will never know death, decay, or loss of strength. Because God is invisible, He can be known only by His self-revelation. That he is the only God is a fundamental truth of Scripture….” THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; P 33.
Amen is a transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning truth. Lenski mentions of the term, “It is always emphatic and should be read so; it is a confessional affirmation that completely justifies what precedes and compels the reader to see and to recognize the fact.” THE INTERPRETATION F ST. PAUL’S EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, TO THE THESSALONIANS, TO TIMOTHY, TO TITUS AND TO PHILEMON; Augsburg Publishing House; Minneapolis; 1937; P 528.
There are some indications that the end of verse 1Ti 1:17 might be a better chapter break. It ends with Amen and then the next verse is the challenge to Timothy and 1Ti 1:2:1 begins “I exhort therefore. . . . ” indicating that it is directly linked to the challenge of 1Ti 1:18 and following.
To recap I would like to quote White as listed in Kent’s book “In the experiences of personal religion each individual man is alone with God. He sees nought but the Holy One and his own sinful self…. And the more familiar a man becomes with the meeting of God face to face the less likely is he to be deceived as to the gulf which parts him, limited, finiet, defective, from the Infinite and Perfect.” THE PASTORAL EPISTLES; Homer A. Kent, Jr., Th.D.; Moody Press; Chicago; 1958; p 93
Paul knew his own sinfulness when He faced Christ on the Road to Damascus! He also knew that he was to be an example for all to come after him.
There should be no doubt to the fact that there is no sinner that we ever will meet that is too sinful to find mercy before our God. As we visit with and witness to folks we meet, we can be assured that there is mercy for them, if they will but turn to the Lord that offers it.
There is also a real application for us as parents and grandparents. We as Christians ought to be examples to those in our families. We need to realize that our lives before them are an example of the saving grace of the Lord.
“A man was walking through the deep snow when he heard the voice of his oldest son saying: “I’ll step in Father’s tracks.” He was trying to do it, and two younger brothers were at the same thing. The father went to the house of prayer to seek God that evening, thinking, “If I lead my sons thus, I’ll make tracks for heaven.””
May we remind ourselves of how sinful we once were, and then remind ourselves of that great step downward that Christ took on our behalf to become man to die for our sin.
May we also be reminded that this is the only truth that we can share with the many lost folks around us as we walk through our weekly life.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:17 {14} Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the {k} only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(14) He breaks out into an exclamation, even because of the very zeal of his mind, because he cannot satisfy himself in amplifying the grace of God.
(k) See Geneva “Joh 17:3”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Such grace prompted Paul to glorify God in this brief doxology. God is the King of the ages (sovereign), immortal (eternal), invisible (spiritual), and the only God (unique). To Him belong all honor and glory eternally. "Amen" means, "So be it." The Christians often uttered this word out loud in their meetings, as did the Jews in their synagogues.
The reason Paul referred to his conversion in this section (1Ti 1:12-17) was to encourage Timothy to be faithful in the ministry with which God had entrusted him (1Ti 1:3-11). In his ministry at Ephesus Timothy would never encounter a more difficult case than Saul of Tarsus had been. The fact that God had completely transformed Paul shows that He can do the same to anyone. This gives hope to everyone who seeks to win people to Christ and to help them grow in Christ.