JESUS THE ETERNAL KING

JESUS WAS THE ETERNAL KING
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal,
and invisible,the only God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Now unto the King eternal
1 Timothy 1:17
The King of the Ages
A. A. Dauncey.
"The King eternal," or, literally, as in the margin of the RevisedVersion,
"The King of the Ages," words which do not simply tell us something about
the King, but also give us some accountof His rule; and put into the hands of
Faith a key to the highestpositions of modern thought and science.Forin 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, oris learning to acceptthe truth of a
widespreadreign 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 perfectharmony? 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 beenas 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 ofconfusionand chaos, darkness anddeath? when lawlessness,
not law, seemedto 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?" Butthe
deeper readings of science assureus 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 ofunyielding 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
confusionis written. In the brief history of our race there is the same tale in
human characters.Whatis 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, decayand destruction were the working and
manifestation of a Divine health and order, casting awaythat which it could
not assimilate and arrange? the removing of those things which could be
shakenthat those things which could not be shakenmight remain? And these
words, which speak ofa "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 eachseparate 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. Forwe are assured
that, if He is "King of the Ages" in any adequate sense, they are bound
togetherby the strong band of His will, which gives to them its own oneness
and intimacy. They are no longerisolatedunits, but parts of a whole; and it is
as a whole and not simply as units they are subjected. As the successivepoints
of a circle stand in harmonious relation, not only to their common centre, hut
through this to eachother; so the ages, whichmake one mighty cycle, having

but one Lord and one law, stand relatedamongstthemselves with an inner
harmony as deep and true as their hearts. And not only so. There is more than
this close relationand perfect agreementbetweenthe ages. If this were all it
would leave unfulfilled another instinctive craving of the heart — that of
Progressand 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 King's thought, must be a growing and
deepening one. There is but little appearance ofall 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 backwardmovement,
in which much that has been hardly won through centuries is easily lostin 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 perfectplan 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 realbecause 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 tabernacledamongst 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
H. O. Mackey.
Queen Elizabeth was once seizedwith a violent illness, accompaniedwith high
fever. The Privy Council was hastily summoned from London, and in the
ante-chamber of the room where she was believedto be dying, they satwith

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 Monarchcan
have no successor. He is "alive for evermore," and of His kingdom there can
be no end.
(H. O. Mackey.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(17) Now unto the King.—The wonderful chain of thoughts (1Timothy 1:12-
16) which so well illustrate the greatassertionof1Timothy 1:15—“thatJesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners”—St. Paulcloseswith a noble
ascription of praise and thankfulness to the greatGod.
This doxologyis addressedto no one Personof the ever blessedTrinity, but
is—as has been said with greattruth—“a 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 ofthe ages.
Amen.”
Eternal.—More accuratelyrendered, (to the King) of the ages. The King of
the Ages is the sovereigndispenserand disposerof the ages ofthe world.
There is no reference atall here to the Gnostic æons.
Immortal (or incorruptible).—This epithet and the following one—
“invisible”—are connectedwith “God,” not, with the preceding clause, “to the
King of the Ages.” Godis immortal, in contrastwith the beings of earth,
and—

Invisible, in contrastwith the visible creation.
The only wise God.—The only God, the most ancient authorities omitting
“wise.” “Only,” as in 1Timothy 6:15 : “the blessedand only potentate.” “The
only God,” a contrastto the multitude of createdspirits, angels, principalities,
powers, &c. (See 1Corinthians 8:5-6.)
For ever and ever.—Literally, to the ages ofthe ages, to all eternity—a
Hebraistic expressionfor a duration of time superlatively (infinitely) long.
MacLaren's Expositions
1 Timothy
THE GLORY OF THE KING
1 Timothy 1:17.
With this burst of irrepressible praise the Apostle ends his reference to his
own conversionas a transcendent, standing instance of the infinite love and
transforming power of God. Similar doxologies accompanyalmost all his
references to the same fact. This one comes from the lips of ‘Paul the aged,’
looking back from almost the close ofa life which owed many sorrows and
troubles to that day on the road to Damascus. His heart fills with thankfulness
that overflows into the greatwords of my text. He had little to be thankful for,
judged according to the rules of sense;but, though weigheddown with care,
having made but a poor thing of the world because ofthat 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
characterof the God who is glorified by Paul’s salvation; second, atthe 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 greatdoxologyis the
characteristics, or, to use a technical word, the attributes, of the divine nature
which the Apostle selects.Theyare all those which separate Godfrom 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 whichthe Apostle thinks receive added lustre,
and are lifted to a loftier height of ‘honour and glory,’ by the small fact that
he, Paul, was savedfrom sins as he journeyed to Damascus.
It would be easyto roll out oratoricalplatitudes about these specific
characteristicsofthe 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 oftheir
selection.

With regard, then, to the first of them, we at once feel that the designationof
‘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 schoolof love, and led by a Son to the knowledge ofGod,
are most fond of using. ‘The King’ has melted into ‘the Father.’But here Paul
selects thatmore 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 connectedwith the word
‘God’ which follows than with the word ‘King’ which precedes. The Apostle’s
meaning is this: ‘The King of the ages, eventhe God who is,’ etc. And the
epithets thus selectedalltend 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 solelyto
the separationofGod from all approachby 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 comparisonand contactwith
other beings.

So the whole set forth the remote attributes which make a man feel, ‘The gulf
betweenHim and me is so greatthat thought cannotpass across it, and I
doubt whether love can live half-way across thatflight, 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 expectto find a hymn to the infinite
love. Instead of that we getpraise, 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
especiallyof a revelationsuch 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, ofpardoning love, but to ‘the King of the
ages;the incorruptible, invisible, only God’; the God whose honour and glory
were magnified by the revelationof Himself in Jesus Christ.
II. And so that brings me, in the secondplace, 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 persecutestthou Me?’and of the
transforming power which had changedhim, 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 contemplationof his own history, as being a specimen
and test-caseforthe blessing and encouragementof 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 andmagnificence, and which brings honour and glory
even to that remote and inaccessible majesty. For, in that revelationof 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 smeltedtogetherin the revelation of God in
Jesus Christ, of which neither attains its supremestbeauty exceptby the
juxtaposition of the other. Poweris harsh, and scarcelyworthy to be called
divine, unless it be linked with love. Love is not glorious unless it be braced
and energisedby power. And, says Paul, these two are brought togetherin
Jesus;and therefore eachis heightenedby the other. It is the love of God that
lifts His power to its highest height; it is the revelationof Him as stooping that
teaches us His loftiness. It is because He has come within the graspof our
humanity in Jesus Christthat we canhymn our highest and noblest praises to
‘the King eternal, the invisible God.’
The sunshine falls upon the snow-cladpeaks ofthe greatmountains 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 majestytowers
higher when we believe in the divine condescension, andthere is no god that
men have ever dreamed of so greatas the God who stoops to sinners and is
manifest in the flesh and Cross ofthe Man of Sorrows.
Take these characteristicsofthe divine nature as get forth in the text one by
one, and considerhow the Revelationin Jesus Christ, and its power on sinful
men, raises our conceptions ofthem. ‘The King of the ages’--anddo we ever
penetrate so deeply into the purpose which has guided His hand, as it moulded
and moved the ages, as whenwe can say with Paul that His ‘goodpleasure’ is
that, ‘in the dispensationof the fulness of times, He might gather togetherin
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 sheepround 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 awayfrom 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 weighedupon
with the decayof all things and of ourselves?’comes nearto 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 ofbelieving in a God who cannotdecay nor
change, unless from the midst of graves and griefs we lift our hearts to Him as
revealedin the face of the dying Christ. He, though He died, did not see
corruption, and we through Him shall pass into the same blessedimmunity.
‘The King . . . the God invisible.’ No man hath seenGod ‘at any time, nor can
see Him.’ Who will honour and glorify that attribute which parts Him wholly
from our sense, andso largelyfrom our apprehension, as will he who cango
on to say, ‘the only begottenSon which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declaredHim.’ We look up into a waste Heaven;thought and fear, and
sometimes desire, travel into its tenantless spaces.We saythe blue is an
illusion; there is nothing there but blackness.But ‘he that hath seenMe hath
seenthe Father.’ And we can lift thankful praise to Him, the King invisible,
when we hear Jesus saying, ‘thou hast both seenHim, 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 welcomesmy solitary soulinto such mysteries and sacred
sweetnessesoffellowship 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 togetherin
indissoluble union these two, the majestyand the lowliness, the power and the
love, the God inaccessible and the God who has tabernacledwith us in Jesus
Christ, is sure to be almostan impotent religion. Deismin all its forms, the
religion which admits a God and denies a revelation; the religion which, in
some vague sense, admits a revelationand 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 powerto move his
heart, little powerto infuse strength into his weakness. Ifonce you strike out
the thought of a redeeming Christ from your religion, the temperature will go
down alarmingly, and all will soonbe frost bound.
Brethren, there is no realadoration of the loftiness of the King of the ages, no
true apprehensionof 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 gospelofour salvationdo not in the smallestdegree 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, whenhe 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 callyourselves

Christians; a continual warmth of thankfulness welling up in the heart, and
not seldomfinding 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 ownreligious experience. Our English
reticence, our socialhabits, and many other even less worthy hindrances rise
in the way; and I should be the last man to urge Christian people to casttheir
pearls before swine, or too fully to
‘Open wide the bridal chamber of the heart,’
to let in the day. There is a wholesome fearof men who are always talking
about their own religious experiences. But there are times and people to whom
it is treasonto the Masterfor us not to be frank in the confessionofwhat 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,’saiththe Lord. It is a strange waythat Christian people
in this generationhave 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 Masterwho has done all for them.
Only remember, if you venture to speak you will have to live your preaching.
‘There is no speechnor 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 casesis far more eloquent than it.
Your consistentthankfulness 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 Gospelof 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
powermagnifies his love? Oh! I beseechyou, 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 healyou. 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 loosedus
from our sins in His blood,’ we, too, shall one day join in that greatchorus
which at lastwill 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.’
BensonCommentary
1 Timothy 1:17. Now unto the King, &c. — A considerationof the greatmercy
which God had shown him, in not only pardoning him when he was involved
in such greatguilt, 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 αφθαρτω also signifies;it is howeverrightly translated
immortal, because whatis 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 men’s 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 ofworship after their decease.To the only wise God — Or, to God
only wise;that is, originally, independently, essentially, and infinitely; or, to
the wise Godalone, (for the reasonofwhich rendering see note on Romans
16:27,)be honour and glory — That is, let these excellencesbe more sensibly
manifested, more seriouslyand frequently acknowledged, and sincerely
venerated.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:12-17 The apostle knew that he would justly have perished, if the Lord had
been extreme to mark what was amiss;and also if his grace and mercy had
not been abundant to him when dead in sin, working faith and love to Christ
in his heart. This is a faithful saying;these are true and faithful words, which
may be depended on, That the Son of God came into the world, willingly and
purposely to save sinners. No man, with Paul's example before him, can
question the love and power of Christ to save him, if he really desires to trust
in him as the Son of God, who once died on the cross, and now reigns upon the
throne of glory, to save all that come to God through him. Let us then admire
and praise the grace ofGod our Saviour; and ascribe to the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, three Persons in the unity of the Godhead, the glory of all done
in, by, and for us.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Now unto the king eternal - This ascription of praise is offered to God in view
of the mercy which he had shownto so greata sinner. It is the outbreak of
that grateful emotion which swelledhis bosom, and which would not be
denied expression, whenPaul recalledhis former life and the mercy of God to
his soul. It somewhatinterrupts 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 recollectionsofhis 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 accordancewith a mode of
writing that was commonamong the Hebrews, interposes an expressionof
praise in the midst of his reasonings;compare Romans 1:25; 2 Corinthians
11:31. God is calledKing here, as he is often in the Scriptures, to denote that
he rules over the universe. A literal translation of the passagewouldbe, "To
the King of ages, who is immortal," etc. The meaning of this expression - "the
King of ages" -βασιλει τὼν αἰώνωνbasilei tōn aiōnōn- 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 orgenerations. The rule of
earthly monarchs does not extend into successive ages;his does. Their reign is
temporary; his is enduring, and continues as one generationafteranother
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 - 1 Timothy 6:16; see the notes on John 1:18.
The only wise God - notes, Romans 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 rejectedin the valuable
edition of Hahn. Erasmus conjectures that it was added againstthe 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 belongedonly to him. Wetsteinregards the
reading as genuine, and suspects thatin some of the early manuscripts where
it is missing it was omitted by the transcriber, because it was regardedas
inelegantfor two adjectives to be united in this manner. It is not easyto
determine as to the genuineness ofthe reading. The sense is not materially
affected, whicheverview 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 paganare "vanity
and a lie," and they are wholly destitute of wisdom; see Psalm115:3-8;Psalm
135:15-18;Isaiah40:18-20;Isaiah44:10-17.
Be honour - Let there be all the respect and venerationshown to him which is
his due.
And glory - Praise. Let him be praised by all for ever.

Amen - So be it; an expressionof strong affirmation; John 3:3. Here it is used
to denote the solemn assentof the heart to the sentiment conveyedby the
words used; see the Matthew 6:13 note; 1 Corinthians 14:16 note.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
17. A suitable conclusionto the beautifully simple enunciation of the Gospel,
of which his own history is a living sample or pattern. It is from the
experimental sense of grace that the doxology flows [Bengel].
the King, eternal—literally, "King of the (eternal) ages."The Septuagint
translates Ex 15:18, "The Lord shall reign for ages and beyond them." Ps
145:13, Margin, "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom," literally, "a
kingdom of all ages."The "life everlasting" (1Ti1:16) suggestedhere "the
King eternal," or everlasting. It answers also to "for ever and ever" at the
close, literally, "to the ages of the ages" (the countless successionofages made
up of ages).
immortal—The oldest manuscripts read, "incorruptible." The Vulgate,
however, and one very old manuscript read as English Version (Ro 1:23).
invisible—(1Ti 6:16; Ex 33:20;Joh 1:18; Col 1:15; Heb 11:27).
the only wise God—The oldestmanuscripts omit "wise,"whichprobably
crept in from Ro 16:27, where it is more appropriate to the contextthan here
(compare Jude 25). "The only Potentate" (1Ti6:15; Ps 86:10;Joh 5:44).
for ever, &c.—Seenote, above. The thought of eternity (terrible as it is to
unbelievers) is delightful to those assuredof grace (1Ti1:16) [Bengel].

Matthew Poole's Commentary
The apostle falleth out of this discourse with a doxology, or sentence giving
glory to God, whom he calls
the King, that is, the Moderatorand 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,whomno 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 canbe made glorious for ever.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now unto the King eternal,.... This doxology, or ascriptionof glory to God, on
accountof the grace bestowedupon the apostle, may be considered, eitheras
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
concernedin the grace bestowedupon any of the sons of men. Or else to God
the Father, in agreementwith a parallel place in Romans 16:27 who is the
only true God, in oppositionto nominal and fictitious deities, though not to the
exclusionof the Son and Spirit; and to whom the severalepithets here used

may be unquestionably given: he has shownhis wisdom in the works of
creation, providence, and grace;he is the everlasting King, or the King of
ages, orof worlds; he is Makerof 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 receivedabundant grace;and he it was who came
into the world to save sinners, and who showedforth all longsuffering in him,
see 1 Timothy 1:12, upon which the apostle breaks out into this attribution of
glory and honour, and which agreeswith Jde 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", Psalm
145:13 and which endures throughout all generations;and this distinguishes
him from all other kings. Scarce any king everreigned an age, but Christ has
reigned, and will reign throughout all ages.No regardis 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,
"blessedart thou, O Lord our God, "the king of the age, orworld", &c.
and , "Lord of all ages, orworlds", &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 intercessionfor 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 crownedwith honour
and glory, and he is worthy of it; and it becomes allmen 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.
Geneva Study Bible
{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, evenbecause of the very zeal of his
mind, because he cannot satisfyhimself in amplifying the grace ofGod.
(k) See Geneva Joh 17:3
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary
1 Timothy 1:17. “Ex sensugratiae fluit doxologia” (Bengel). With this
doxologythe apostle closesthe digressionbegun in 1 Timothy 1:11, and
returns againto the proper epistolary style.
τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων] This designationfor God is not found elsewhere in
the N. T. (even the use of βασιλεύς of God only occurs elsewhere in chap. 1
Timothy 6:15 and Matthew 5:35), but it is found in the Apocrypha of the O. T.
in Tob 13:6; Tob 13:10. (Sir 36:19 : ὁ Θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων.)Οἱ αἰῶνες means
either “the world,” as in Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 11:3 (see Delitzschand
Lünemann 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: τὸν μέγαν τοῦ σύμπαντος αἰῶνος βασιλέα); the
latter, by Matthies: “the ruler of all times, so that all generations are atthe
same time concretelyincluded.” 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 correctboth by the preceding μελλόντων (van
Oosterzee), andalso by the ἀφθάρτῳ following, and by εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν
αἰώνων farther on.[71]It is incorrectto take αἰῶνες 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 αἰῶνες never
has that meaning in itself. Only in the formulas ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων and εἰς τοὺς
αἰῶνας does the meaning of the word approachthat idea. Besides,the apostle
would surely have expressedthat adjectival idea by an adjective. It is quite
erroneous to take the word here in the Gnostic sense ofseries of emanations,
synonymous with γενεαλογίαι in 1 Timothy 1:4; for, on the one hand, no proof
is given that this expressionhad been already used by the heretics alluded to
in this epistle; and, on the other, the apostle consideredthe whole theory of
genealogiesas belonging to the sphere of myths. It was impossible, therefore,
for him in his doxologyto speak ofGod as the king of things which were to
Him nothing but the inventions of fancy.

ἀφθάρτῳ]is only used of God elsewherein Romans 1:23 (Plut. adv. St. 31;
Wis 12:1). Matthies:“Godis the Imperishable One, because His nature is
unchanging and basedon itself,” equivalent to ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν, chap.
1 Timothy 6:16.
ἀοράτῳ]comp. Hebrews 11:27 (without Θεός), Romans 1:20, and Colossians
1:15 (with Θεός); equivalent to ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν δύναται,
chap. 1 Timothy 6:16; comp. also John 1:18.
μόνῳ Θεῷ] chap. 1 Timothy 6:15 : μόνος δυναστής; comp. also John 5:44;
John 17:3; Romans 16:27 : μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ. The words ἀφθάρτῳ … Θεῷ are
to be takenas in apposition to τῷ βασιλεῖ. But it is doubtful whether Θεῷ is to
be joined with μόνῳ only, or also with ἀφθάρτῳ and ἀοράτῳ, as is commonly
done. De Wette is wrong in asserting that all these predicates are used of God
superfluously: they manifestly express the absolute exaltationof Godabove all
conditioned finite being, and are occasionednaturally (which Hofmann
disputes) by the contrastwith the heresywhich denied the absolutenessofthe
divine existence.
τιμὴ καὶ δόξα]The two words are united also in Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10;
Hebrews 2:7; but only here and in the Apocalypse do they occur in doxologies.
Paul elsewhere uses onlyδόξα, and always with the article.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων] a very common conclusionin doxologies, and
found in Paul’s other epistles. It is not to be overlookedthat this doxologyhas
a peculiar characterdistinct from those usually occurring in Paul, both in the
mode of connection(elsewhere a pronoun connects them with what precedes)
and also in the designationfor God and the expressions used.

[71] Comp. Psalm144:13, LXX.: ἡ βασιλεία σου βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων
καὶ ἡ δεσποτεία σου ἐν πάσῃ γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ.
[72] Wiesingerexplains it: “He is a king of the aeons, which togethergive the
idea of eternity, just as His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”
Expositor's Greek Testament
1 Timothy 1:17. This noble doxologymight be one used by St. Paul himself in
one of his eucharistic prayers. It is significant that in the Jewishforms of
thanksgiving ‫מ‬‫ֶלְֶֽך‬ ‫ְך‬ ָ‫ֶֽע‬ ‫ל‬‫ע‬‫ם‬ is of constantoccurrence. See reff., and θεὸς τῶν αἰ. in
Sir 36:22. Bengel’s suggestion(on ch. 1 Timothy 1:4) that there is a polemical
reference to the aeons of Gnosticismis fanciful and unnecessary. βασιλεύς, as
a title of God the Father, is found in 1 Timothy 6:15 and Revelation15:3, a
passageofwhich Swete says (comm. in loc.), “The thought as well as the
phraseologyofthe Song is strangely Hebraic”. Cf. Ps. 9:37 (Psalm 10:16).
ἀφθάρτῳ:The three adjectives ἀφθάρτῳ, ἀοράτῳ, μόνῳ are co-ordinate
epithets of θεῷ, to God immortal, invisible, unique.
ἄφθαρτος, immortal, as an epithet of God, occurs Romans 1:23 (cf. Wis 12:1,
τὸ γὰρἄφθαρτόνσου … πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἐν πᾶσιν, and Moulton and Milligan,
Expositor, vii., vi. 376). It is expanded in 1 Timothy 6:15 sq., who only hath
immortality, just as ἀοράτῳ becomeswhomno man hath seen, nor can see
(for the thought, see John 1:18, Colossians1:15, Hebrews 11:27, 1 John 4:12),
and μόνῳ becomes the blessedand only potentate. For the epithet μόνος, used
absolutely, see reff. and also Psalm86:10, John 17:3, Romans 16:27.
τιμὴ καὶ δόξα:This combination in a doxologyis found Revelation4:9,
δώσουσιν… δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν; 1 Timothy 5:13, ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δόξα. In St. Paul’s
other doxologies (Galatians 1:5, Romans 11:36;Romans 16:27, Php 4:20,

Ephesians 3:21, 1 Timothy 6:16, 2 Timothy 4:18), with the exception of 1
Timothy 6:16 (τιμὴ καὶ κράτος), τιμή is not found; and he always has ἡ δόξα
(see Westcott, Additional Note on Hebrews 13:21).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
17. honour and glory] This combination by itself is only found here. St Paul
uses ‘glory’ with the article generally.
Such an ascriptionis with St Paul a most characteristic closeofpassages
which are the evident outburst of strong warm feeling excited by some
particular train of thought.
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Timothy 1:17. Τῷ δὲ) The doxologyflows from a sense of grace.—Βασιλεῖ
τῶν αἰώνων, to the King of œons or ages [eternal]) A frequent phrase with the
Hebrews. The thought of eternity is particularly delightful to those assuredof
grace, while it miserably terrifies others.—ἀοράτῳ, 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.—μόνῳ Θεῷ, the only God) So,
the only Potentate, ch. 1 Timothy 6:15; comp. Psalm86:10; John 5:44; Judges
1:25. [A magnificent reading![13]—Not. Crit.]—τιμὴ, δόξα, honour, glory)
Such an Asyndeton is commonly used, where circumstances and feelings
would tend to render the words much accumulated(tend to produce
somewhatof 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. 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Peter5:11; although the
transcribers have very generallyinserted καὶ. The omissionof this particle in
so many passagesis not accidental;but its addition is due to the over-busy
officiousness oftranscribers.[14]

[13] So AD(Δ) corrected, Gfg Vulg. But Rec. Text adds σόφῳ to μὀνῳ, with
later Syr. He who alone is God gives a more striking sense than the only wise
God.—ED.
[14] Unfortunately for Bengel’s argument, the best authorities, which Lachm.
and Tisch. follow, read the καὶ. However, many secondaryauthorities omit
it.—ED.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 17. - Incorruptible for immortal, A.V.; only God for only wise God,
A.V. and T.R. The King eternal. The Greek has the unusual phrase, τῷ
βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων, "the king of the worlds or ages," whichis not found
elsewhere in the New Testament, but is found twice in the LXX. - Tobit 13:6
and 10-andin the Liturgy of St. James, in the εὐχὴ τῆς ἐνάρξεως and
elsewhere.The similar phrase, ὁ Θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων, is also found in Ecclus.
36:17. In all these passagesit is quite clearthat the phrase is equivalent to
αἰώνιος, Eternal, as a title of the Lord, as in Romans 16:26. The genitive τῶν
αἰώνων is qualitative. In Tobit 13:6 he is "the Lord of righteousness," i.e. the
righteous Lord; and "the King of the ages," i.e. ofeternity, i.e. "the eternal
King," the King through all the ages. And in ver. 10 it is said, "Bless the
eternal King," who, it follows, will, as King, "love the miserable εἰς πάσας τᾶς
γενέας τοῦ αἰῶνος;" and then it follows, in ver. 12, "Theythat love thee shall
be blessedεἰς τὸν αἰῶνα;" and againin ver. 18, "Bless the Lord, who hath
exalted Jerusalemεἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας;" and the same conceptionis in the
phrase, σὺ εῖ ὁ Θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων. Satan, on the other hand. is (ὁ θεὸς τοῦ
αἰῶνος τούτου, "the godof this world" (compare such passagesas Psalm
102:24;Psalm104:31;Psalm105:8; Psalm135:13;Psalm 145:13;and the
doxologyin the Lord's Prayer, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, εἰς, τοὺς αἰῶνας). It seems to be, therefore, quite certain that St. Paul is
here using a familiar Jewishphrase for "eternal" which has nothing whatever
to do with Gnostic eons. Perhaps in the use of the phrase, βασιλεὺς τῶν
αἰώνων, we may trace a contrastpassing through the writer's mind between
the short-lived power of that hateful βασιλεύς, Nero, by whom his life would

soonbe taken away, and the kingdom of the eternal King (comp. 1 Timothy
6:15, 16). Incorruptible (ἀφθάρτῳ);applied to God also in Romans 1:23,
where, as here, it means "immortal" (ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν, 1 Timothy
6:16), not subject to the corruption of death, just as ἀφθαρσία is coupled with
"life" (2 Timothy 1:10) and opposedto "death" So on the other hand, φθορά
means "death." φθαρτός, "perishable." Elsewhereit is applied to a crown, to
the raiseddead, to the inherit-ante of the saints, to the seedof the new birth,
to the apparel of a holy heart, which no rust or moth corrupts (1 Corinthians
9:25; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Peter1:4, 23; 1 Peter3:4). Invisible (ἀοράτῳ);as
Colossians 1:15;Hebrews 11:27. (See also Romans 1:20; and comp. 1 Timothy
6:16, for the sense.)The word is used by Philo of God, and of the Word. Here
it is especiallypredicatedof God the Father, according to what our Lord says
(John 1:18; John 6:46; John 14:9); though some of the Fathers, Nicene and
post-Nicene, predicate it also of the Word or SecondPerson(Hilary,
Chrysostom, etc.). But in Scripture the Son is spokenof as the Manifestation,
the Image (εἰκών and χαρακτήρ)ofthe Father, through whom t he Father is
seenand known; ἀόρατος,therefore, applies to the Father (see Bishop
Lightfoot's note on Colossians1:15). The only God. The best manuscripts omit
σοφῷ, which seems to have crept in here from Romans 16:26. The exact
constructionis, "To the eternal King, the Immortal, the Invisible, the only
God [or, 'who alone is God'], be honor," etc. Be honor and glory. A little
varied from St. Paul's usual doxologies (see Romans 11:36;6:27; Galatians
1:5; Ephesians 3:21; and 1 Timothy 6:16, where δόξα stands alone, and has
the article - Ellicott on Galatians 1:5). In Romans 2:10 δόξα and τιμή are
coupled together, but applied to man. This interposition of doxologyis quite in
St. Paul's manner.
Vincent's Word Studies
King eternal (βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων)
Lit. the king of the ages.Only here and Revelation15:3. Comp. Hebrews 1:2;
Hebrews 11:3. In lxx, Tob. 6:10. For kindred expressions in lxx, see Exodus
15:18;1 Samuel 13:13; Psalm9:7; Psalm28:10; Psalm73:12; Psalm144:13;
Psalm145:10. See also additional note on 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

Immortal (ἀφθάρτῳ)
Lit. Incorruptible. In Paul, applied to God only, Romans 1:23.
Invisible (ἀοράτῳ)
Applied to God, Colossians 1:15;Hebrews 11:27.
The only wise God (μόνῳ θεῷ)
Wise should be omitted. Rend. The only God. Σοφῷ wise was interpolated
from Romans 16:27 - the only instance in which Paul applies the term to God.
Comp. Jde 1:4, Jde 1:25; Luke 5:21; John 5:44.
Honor and glory (τιμὴ καὶ δόξα)
This combination in doxology only here and Revelation5:12, Revelation5:13.
Comp. Revelation4:9. In doxologies Pauluses only δόξα glory, with the
article, the glory, and with to whom or to him (be).
Foreverand ever (εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων)

Lit unto the aeons of the aeons. The formula in Paul, Romans 16:26;Galatians
1:5; Philippians 4:20. Also in Hebrews and 1 Peter, and often in Revelation
The doxologyas a whole is unique in N.T.
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Now unto the King eternal - This burst of thanksgiving and gratitude to God,
naturally arose from the subject then under his pen and eye. Godhas most
wondrously manifested his mercy, in this beginning of the Gospel, by saving
me, and making me a pattern to all them that shall hereafterbelieve on
Christ. He is βασιλευς των αιωνων, 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, everliving to
justify and save sinners, to the end of the world.
Immortal - Αφθαρτῳ· Incorruptible - not liable to decay or corruption; a
simple uncompounded essence,incapable, therefore, ofdecomposition, and
consequentlypermanent and eternal. One MS., the later Syriac in the margin,
the Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, and some of the Latin fathers, read
αθανατῳ, immortal, which our translation follows;but it is not the original
reading.

Invisible - Αορατῳ·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 andstones, are seen
by every body.
The only wise God - The word σοφῳ wise, is omitted by AD*FG, Syriac,
Erpen's Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, 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 borrowedfrom Romans
16:27;(note). Griesbachleaves 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 adorationbut himself.
Be honor - All the respectand reverence that canbe paid by intelligent beings,
ascribing to him at the same time all the glory - excellences, andperfections,
which can be possessedby an intelligent, unoriginated, independent, and
eternal Being;and this for ever and ever-through eternity.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/1-timothy-
1.html. 1832.
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Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible

Now unto the king eternal - This ascription of praise is offered to God in view
of the mercy which he had shownto so greata sinner. It is the outbreak of
that grateful emotion which swelledhis bosom, and which would not be
denied expression, whenPaul recalledhis former life and the mercy of God to
his soul. It somewhatinterrupts 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 recollectionsofhis 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 accordancewith a mode of
writing that was commonamong the Hebrews, interposes an expressionof
praise in the midst of his reasonings;compare Romans 1:25; 2 Corinthians
11:31. God is calledKing here, as he is often in the Scriptures, to denote that
he rules over the universe. A literal translation of the passagewouldbe, “To
the King of ages, who is immortal,” etc. The meaning of this expression - “the
King of ages” -βασιλει τὼν αἰώνωνbasilei tōn aiōnōn-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 orgenerations. The rule of
earthly monarchs does not extend into successive ages;his does. Their reign is
temporary; his is enduring, and continues as one generationafteranother
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 - 1 Timothy 6:16; see the notes on John 1:18.
The only wise God - notes, Romans 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 rejectedin the valuable edition of Hahn.
Erasmus conjectures that it was added againstthe 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 belongedonly to him. Wetsteinregards 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 regardedas inelegantfor two
adjectives to be united in this manner. It is not easyto determine as to the
genuineness ofthe 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 paganare “vanity and a lie,” and they
are wholly destitute of wisdom; see Psalm115:3-8;Psalm135:15-18;Isaiah
40:18-20;Isaiah 44:10-17.
Be honour - Let there be all the respectand venerationshown to him which is
his due.
And glory - Praise. Let him be praised by all for ever.
Amen - So be it; an expressionof strong affirmation; John 3:3. Here it is used
to denote the solemn assentof the heart to the sentiment conveyedby the
words used; see the Matthew 6:13 note; 1 Corinthians 14:16 note.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon 1 Timothy 1:17". "Barnes'Notes onthe
Whole Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/1-timothy-
1.html. 1870.
The Biblical Illustrator
1 Timothy 1:17
Now unto the King eternal
The King of the Ages
“The King eternal,” or, literally, as in the margin of the RevisedVersion,
“The King of the Ages,” words which do not simply tell us something about
the King, but also give us some accountof His rule; and put into the hands of
Faith a key to the highestpositions 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, oris learning to accept
the truth of a widespreadreign of law with less of fear than of gratitude. For
is not this state of order and harmony just what we should expectin His
working whose Being is the perfectharmony? 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 beenas ordered? In the world of spirit and of
matter have there not been whole epochs of distractionand ravage by
undisciplined forces? Forexample, does not the earth on which we tread, bear
in her very structure the recordof ages of confusionand chaos, darknessand
death? when lawlessness, notlaw, seemedto 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?” Butthe deeperreadings of science assure us that it is not
only the quiet processeswhichgladden 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 cangive? Forit is not only in the world of
matter such a recordof strife and confusion is written. In the brief history of
our race there is the same tale in human characters. Whatis 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, decayand destruction were the
working and manifestationof a Divine health and order, casting awaythat
which it could not assimilate and arrange? the removing of those things which
could be shakenthat those things which could not be shakenmight remain?
And these words, which speak ofa “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 eachseparate 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. Forwe are assured
that, if He is “King of the Ages” in any adequate sense, they are bound
togetherby the strong band of His will, which gives to them its own oneness
and intimacy. They are no longerisolatedunits, but parts of a whole; and it is
as a whole and not simply as units they are subjected. As the successivepoints
of a circle stand in harmonious relation, not only to their common centre, hut
through this to eachother; so the ages, whichmake one mighty cycle, having
but one Lord and one law, stand relatedamongstthemselves with an inner
harmony as deep and true as their hearts. And not only so. There is more than
this close relationand perfect agreementbetweenthe ages. If this were all it
would leave unfulfilled another instinctive craving of the heart--that of

Progressand 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 King’s thought, must be a growing and
deepening one. There is but little appearance ofall this at times. Judging only
of the part we see--thatdisplayed 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 easilylost 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 perfectplan 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 realbecause 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 tabernacledamongstmen,” whose humanity He thus
united with Deity, that He might reconcile man, and in man, all creationunto
God. (A. A. Dauncey.)
King immortal
Queen Elizabeth was once seizedwith a violent illness, accompaniedwith high
fever. The Privy Council was hastily summoned from London, and in the
ante-chamber of the room where she was believedto be dying, they satwith
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 Monarchcan
have no successor. He is “alive for evermore,” and of His kingdom there can
be no end. (H. O. Mackey.)

Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "1 Timothy 1:17". The Biblical Illustrator.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/1-timothy-1.html. 1905-
1909. New York.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This grand doxology is not addressedto "the Father," but to God in his
compound unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It has been called"a grand
testimony to the monotheism of St. Paul ... to this Eternal, Incorruptible One
be glory and honor unto the ages ofthe ages."[37]
For ever and ever ... This is "the ages ofthe ages" in the Greek;but all
superstitions to the effectthat Gnosticismof the secondcentury is implied in
these words are unfounded. As White said, "Bengel's suggestionthat there is a
polemicalreference to the aeons ofGnosticismis fanciful and
unnecessary."[38]
This marvelous doxologywas Paul's response to the glorious fact of his joyous
salvationin Christ to which he had just referred.

[37] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 183.
[38] NewportJ. D. White, op. cit, p. 100.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/1-timothy-1.html. Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Now unto the King eternal,.... This doxology, or ascriptionof glory to God, on
accountof the grace bestowedupon the apostle, may be considered, eitheras
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
concernedin the grace bestowedupon any of the sons of men. Or else to God
the Father, in agreementwith a parallel place in Romans 16:27 who is the
only true God, in oppositionto nominal and fictitious deities, though not to the
exclusionof the Son and Spirit; and to whom the severalepithets here used
may be unquestionably given: he has shownhis wisdom in the works of
creation, providence, and grace;he is the everlasting King, or the King of

ages, orof worlds; he is Makerof 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 receivedabundant grace;and he it was who came
into the world to save sinners, and who showedforth all longsuffering in him,
see 1 Timothy 1:12, upon which the apostle breaks out into this attribution of
glory and honour, and which agreeswith Judges 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 called‫תוכֶֽם‬ ‫ֶֽכ‬ ֶ‫,מיםֶֽו‬ "the
kingdom of all ages", Psalm145:13 and which endures throughout all
generations;and this distinguishes him from all other kings. Scarceany king
ever reigned an age, but Christ has reigned, and will reign throughout all
ages. No regardis 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,
"blessedart thou, O Lord our God, ‫ךֶֽם‬ ֶ‫מֶֽו‬ "the king of the age, orworld",
&c.
and ‫ןובר‬ ‫ֶֽכ‬ ֶ‫,מיםֶֽו‬ "Lord of all ages, orworlds", &c.F16. Otherattributes
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 intercessionfor 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 crownedwith honour
and glory, and he is worthy of it; and it becomes allmen 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,
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "The New John Gill
Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/1-timothy-1.html. 1999.

Geneva Study Bible
14 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the k only wise God, [be]
(14) He breaks out into an exclamation, evenbecause of the very zeal of his
mind, because he cannot satisfyhimself in amplifying the grace ofGod.
(k) {See (John 17:3) }
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon 1 Timothy 1:17". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/1-timothy-1.html.
1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A suitable conclusionto the beautifully simple enunciation of the Gospel, of
which his own history is a living sample or pattern. It is from the experimental
sense ofgrace that the doxologyflows [Bengel].

the King, eternal — literally, “King of the (eternal) ages.” The Septuagint
translates Exodus 15:18, “The Lord shall reign for ages and beyond them.”
Psalm145:13, Margin, “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” literally, “a
kingdom of all ages.”The “life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:16) suggestedhere
“the King eternal,” or everlasting. It answers also to “forever and ever” at
the close, literally, “to the ages ofthe ages”(the countless successionofages
made up of ages).
immortal — The oldest manuscripts read, “incorruptible.” The Vulgate,
however, and one very old manuscript read as English Version (Romans
1:23).
invisible — (1 Timothy 6:16; Exodus 33:20;John 1:18; Colossians 1:15;
Hebrews 11:27).
the only wise God — The oldest manuscripts omit “wise,” whichprobably
crept in from Romans 16:27, where it is more appropriate to the context than
here (compare Judges 1:25). “The only Potentate” (1 Timothy 6:15; Psalm
86:10;John 5:44).
for ever, etc. — See note, above. The thought of eternity (terrible as it is to
unbelievers) is delightful to those assuredof grace (1 Timothy 1:16) [Bengel].
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on 1
Timothy 1:17". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/1-timothy-1.html. 1871-8.
People's New Testament
Now unto the King. The remembrance of the greatmercy to him causes him
to break forth in praise. Compare Romans 16:25-27, and 1 Timothy 6:16.
Eternal. King of the ages.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Original work done by Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 atThe
RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
Johnson, BartonW. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "People's New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pnt/1-timothy-
1.html. 1891.

Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
This noble doxologyis a burst of gratitude for God‘s grace to Paul. For other
doxologies see note onGalatians 1:5; Romans 11:36;Romans 16:27; Philemon
4:20; Ephesians 3:21; 1 Timothy 6:16. White suggeststhat Paul may have
often used this doxologyin his prayers. Lock suggests “a Jewishliturgical
formula” (a needless suggestionin view of Paul‘s wealth of doxologies seen
above). For God‘s creative activity (King of the ages)see 1 Corinthians 10:11;
Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 3:9, Ephesians 3:11.
Incorruptible (απταρτωι — aphthartōi). As an epithet of God also in Romans
1:23.
Invisible (αορατωι — aoratōi). Epithet of God in Colossians 1:15.
The only God (μονωι τεωι — monōi theōi). So Romans 16:27; John 5:44; John
17:3.
For ever and ever (εις τους αιωνας των αιωνων — eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn).
“Unto the ages ofages.”Cf. Ephesians 3:21 “ofthe age of the ages.”
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "Robertson'sWord
Pictures of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/1-timothy-1.html.
Broadman Press 1932,33.Renewal1960.

Vincent's Word Studies
King eternal ( βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων )
Lit. the king of the ages.Only here and Revelation15:3. Comp. Hebrews 1:2;
Hebrews 11:3. In lxx, Exodus 15:18; 1 Samuel13:13; Psalm9:7; 28:10; 73:12;
144:13;145:10. See also additionalnote on 2Thessalonians
href="/desk/?q=2th+1:9&sr=1">2Thessalonians 1:9.
Immortal ( ἀφθάρτῳ )
Lit. Incorruptible. In Paul, applied to God only, Romans 1:23.
Invisible ( ἀοράτῳ )
Applied to God, Colossians 1:15;Hebrews 11:27.
The only wise God ( μόνῳ θεῷ )
Wise should be omitted. Rend. The only God. Σοφῷ wisewas interpolated
from Romans 16:27- the only instance in which Paul applies the term to God.
Comp. Judges 1:4, Judges 1:25; Luke 5:21; John 5:44.
Honor and glory ( τιμὴ καὶ δόξα )

This combination in doxology only here and Revelation5:12, Revelation5:13.
Comp. Revelation4:9. In doxologies Pauluses only δόξα glorywith the article,
the glory, and with to whom or to him (be).
Foreverand ever ( εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων )
Lit unto the aeons of the aeons. The formula in Paul, Romans 16:26;Galatians
1:5; Philemon 4:20. Also in Hebrews and 1Peter, and often in RevelationThe
doxologyas a whole is unique in N.T.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon 1 Timothy 1:17". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/1-timothy-1.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour
and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The King of eternity — A phrase frequent with the Hebrews. How
unspeakablysweetis the thought of eternity to believers!

Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "JohnWesley's
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/1-timothy-1.html. 1765.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
17Now to the King eternalHis 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 constrainedto break off the
discourse, in consequence ofbeing overpoweredby 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 manifestedin God’s calling (27) without being carriedto lofty
admiration.
Eternal, invisible, only wise This sublime praise of the grace which God had
bestowedon him (28)swallows up the remembrance of his former life. For
how greata 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 (1 Timothy 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 withthat
conclusionat which he arrives:
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge ofGod! How
incomprehensible are his designs!How unsearchable his ways!” (Romans
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 lastepithet 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 secondof these meanings is that which I prefer; for it was in fine
harmony with his present subjectto say, that the understanding of men,
whateverit may be, must bend to the secretpurpose of God. And yet I do not
deny that he affirms that God alone is worthy of all glory; for, while he
scatters onhis 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.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". "Calvin's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/1-timothy-
1.html. 1840-57.

Scofield's ReferenceNotes
immortal incorruptible.
invisible Cf. (See Scofield"John1:18")
Copyright Statement
These files are consideredpublic domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available in the Online Bible Software Library.
Bibliography
Scofield, C. I. "ScofieldReferenceNoteson 1 Timothy 1:17". "Scofield
Reference Notes(1917Edition)".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/1-timothy-1.html. 1917.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
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 restoredto
liberty by the RomangeneralQuintus Flaminius, he was entertainedby them
with such applauses and acclamations, while they roared out Saviour,
Saviour, that the very birds that flew over them, astonishedwith the noise, fell
to the ground. When Hunniades had overthrown Mosites, the Turk’s general,
at his return from the camp, some calledhim 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 calledSophia, because they hold, even as we
do, that the wisdom of Godis incomprehensible.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/1-timothy-
1.html. 1865-1868.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

1 Timothy 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.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentaryon 1 Timothy 1:17". Thomas Coke
Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/1-timothy-1.html. 1801-
1803.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament
Our apostle being ravished with a sweetsense ofthe greatness ofGod'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 ofthe 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, absolutelywise, over angels and all creatures:to him
be honour and glory, for ever and ever."
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Burkitt, William. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". ExpositoryNotes with
PracticalObservations onthe New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wbc/1-timothy-1.html. 1700-
1703.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
17.]but ( δέ takes the thought entirely off from himself and every thing else,
and makes the following sentence exclusive as applied to God. ‘Ex sensu
gratiæ fluit doxologan.’Bengel. Compare by all means the very similar
doxology, Romans 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 Matthew 5:35 (not Matthew 25:34 ff.) and our
ch. 1 Timothy 6:15. See below)of the ages (i.e. of eternity: cf. the reff. Tobit,
where the same expressionoccurs, and Sir.— θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων: also Psalms
144:13, ἡ βασιλεία σου βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων,— ‫ימ‬ ‫ל‬‫־ְךֶֽכֶתְֶֽךם‬ ‫כלת‬‫ֶֽמ‬‫םי‬ .
Comparing these with the well-knownεἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, εἰς τοὺς
αἰῶνας, and the like, it is far more likely that οἱ αἰῶνες here should mean
eternity, than the ages ofthis world, as many have understood it. The
doxologyis to the Father, not to the Trinity (Thdrt.), nor to the Son (Calov.,
al.): cf. ἀοράτῳ), incorruptible (in ref. Rom. only, used of God), invisible
(reff.: see also ch. 1 Timothy 6:16; John 1:18. Beware oftaking ἀφθάρτῳ,
ἀοράτῳ with θεῷ, as recommended by Bishop Middleton, on the ground of
the articles being wanting before these adjectives. It is obvious that no such
considerationis of any weightin a passage like the present. The abstract
adjectives of attribute are used almostas substantives, and stand by

themselves, referring not to βασιλεῖ immediately, but to Him of whom
βασιλεύς 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 ( σοφῷ has apparently
come from the doxologyat the end of Romans, where it is most appropriate),
be honour and glory to the ages ofthe ages (the periods which are made up of
αἰῶνες, as these lastare of years,—as years are ofdays: see note, Ephesians
3:21; and Ellic. on Galatians 1:5), Amen.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". Greek TestamentCritical
ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/1-timothy-1.html. 1863-
1878.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentaryon the New Testament
1 Timothy 1:17. “Ex sensugratiae fluit doxologia” (Bengel). With this
doxologythe apostle closesthe digressionbegun in 1 Timothy 1:11, and
returns againto the proper epistolary style.
τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων] This designationfor God is not found elsewhere in
the N. T. (even the use of βασιλεύς of God only occurs elsewhere in chap. 1
Timothy 6:15 and Matthew 5:35), but it is found in the Apocrypha of the O. T.
in Tobit 13:6; Tobit 13:10. (Sirach 36:19 : ὁ θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων.)οἱ αἰῶνες

means either “the world,” as in Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 11:3 (see Delitzschand
Lünemann 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: τὸν μέγαν τοῦ σύμπαντος αἰῶνος βασιλέα); the
latter, by Matthies: “the ruler of all times, so that all generations are atthe
same time concretelyincluded.” 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 correctboth by the preceding μελλόντων (van
Oosterzee), andalso by the ἀφθάρτῳ following, and by εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν
αἰώνων farther on.(71)It is incorrectto take αἰῶνες 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 αἰῶνες never
has that meaning in itself. Only in the formulas ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων and εἰς τοὺς
αἰῶνας does the meaning of the word approachthat idea. Besides,the apostle
would surely have expressedthat adjectival idea by an adjective. It is quite
erroneous to take the word here in the Gnostic sense ofseries of emanations,
synonymous with γενεαλογίαι in 1 Timothy 1:4; for, on the one hand, no proof
is given that this expressionhad been already used by the heretics alluded to
in this epistle; and, on the other, the apostle consideredthe whole theory of
genealogiesas belonging to the sphere of myths. It was impossible, therefore,
for him in his doxologyto speak ofGod as the king of things which were to
Him nothing but the inventions of fancy.
ἀφθάρτῳ]is only used of God elsewherein Romans 1:23 (Plut. adv. St. 31;
Wisdom of Solomon 12:1). Matthies: “Godis the Imperishable One, because
His nature is unchanging and based on itself,” equivalent to ὁ μόνος ἔχων
ἀθανασίαν, chap. 1 Timothy 6:16.
ἀοράτῳ]comp. Hebrews 11:27 (without θεός), Romans 1:20, and Colossians
1:15 (with θεός); equivalent to ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν δύναται,
chap. 1 Timothy 6:16; comp. also John 1:18.

μόνῳ θεῷ] chap. 1 Timothy 6:15 : μόνος δυναστής;comp. also John 5:44;
John 17:3; Romans 16:27 : μόνῳ σοφῷ θεῷ. The words ἀφθάρτῳ … θεῷ are
to be takenas in apposition to τῷ βασιλεῖ. But it is doubtful whether θεῷ is to
be joined with μόνῳ only, or also with ἀφθάρτῳ and ἀοράτῳ, as is commonly
done. De Wette is wrong in asserting that all these predicates are used of God
superfluously: they manifestly express the absolute exaltationof Godabove all
conditioned finite being, and are occasionednaturally (which Hofmann
disputes) by the contrastwith the heresywhich denied the absolutenessofthe
divine existence.
τιμὴ καὶ δόξα]The two words are united also in Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10;
Hebrews 2:7; but only here and in the Apocalypse do they occur in doxologies.
Paul elsewhere uses onlyδόξα, and always with the article.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων] a very common conclusionin doxologies, and
found in Paul’s other epistles. It is not to be overlooked that this doxologyhas
a peculiar characterdistinct from those usually occurring in Paul, both in the
mode of connection(elsewhere a pronoun connects them with what precedes)
and also in the designationfor God and the expressions used.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". Heinrich Meyer's
Critical and ExegeticalCommentary on the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/1-timothy-1.html. 1832.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
1 Timothy 1:17. τῷ δὲ) The doxologyflows from a sense ofgrace.— βασιλεῖ
τῶν αἰώνων, to the King of œons or ages [eternal]) A frequent phrase with the
Hebrews. The thought of eternity is particularly delightful to those assuredof
grace, while it miserably terrifies others.— ἀοράτῳ,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.— μόνῳ θεῷ, the only God) So,
the only Potentate, ch. 1 Timothy 6:15; comp. Psalms 86:10;John 5:44; Jude
1:25. [A magnificent reading!(13)—Not. Crit.]— τιμὴ, δόξα, honour, glory)
Such an Asyndeton is commonly used, where circumstances and feelings
would tend to render the words much accumulated(tend to produce
somewhatof 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. 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 Peter5:11; although the
transcribers have very generallyinserted καὶ. The omissionof this particle in
so many passagesis not accidental;but its addition is due to the over-busy
officiousness oftranscribers.(14)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:17". Johann
Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/1-timothy-1.html. 1897.

Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy 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 Moderatorand 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,whomno 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 canbe made glorious for ever.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon 1 Timothy 1:17". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/1-timothy-1.html. 1685.
Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture
1 Timothy
THE GLORY OF THE KING
1 Timothy 1:17.
With this burst of irrepressible praise the Apostle ends his reference to his
own conversionas a transcendent, standing instance of the infinite love and
transforming power of God. Similar doxologies accompanyalmost all his
references to the same fact. This one comes from the lips of ‘Paul the aged,’
looking back from almost the close ofa life which owed many sorrows and
troubles to that day on the road to Damascus. His heart fills with thankfulness
that overflows into the greatwords of my text. He had little to be thankful for,
judged according to the rules of sense;but, though weigheddown with care,
having made but a poor thing of the world because ofthat 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
characterof the God who is glorified by Paul’s salvation; second, atthe 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 greatdoxologyis the
characteristics, or, to use a technical word, the attributes, of the divine nature
which the Apostle selects.Theyare all those which separate Godfrom 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 whichthe Apostle thinks receive added lustre,
and are lifted to a loftier height of ‘honour and glory,’ by the small fact that
he, Paul, was savedfrom sins as he journeyed to Damascus.
It would be easyto roll out oratoricalplatitudes about these specific
characteristicsofthe 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 oftheir
selection.
With regard, then, to the first of them, we at once feel that the designationof
‘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 schoolof love, and led by a Son to the knowledge ofGod,
are most fond of using. ‘The King’ has melted into ‘the Father.’But here Paul
selects thatmore 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 connectedwith the word
‘God’ which follows than with the word ‘King’ which precedes. The Apostle’s
meaning is this: ‘The King of the ages, eventhe God who is,’ etc. And the
epithets thus selectedalltend 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 solelyto
the separationofGod from all approachby 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 comparisonand contactwith
other beings.
So the whole set forth the remote attributes which make a man feel, ‘The gulf
betweenHim and me is so greatthat thought cannotpass across it, and I
doubt whether love can live half-way across thatflight, 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 expectto find a hymn to the infinite
love. Instead of that we getpraise, 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

especiallyof a revelationsuch 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, ofpardoning love, but to ‘the King of the
ages;the incorruptible, invisible, only God’; the God whose honour and glory
were magnified by the revelationof Himself in Jesus Christ.
II. And so that brings me, in the secondplace, 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 persecutestthou Me?’and of the
transforming power which had changedhim, 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 contemplationof his own history, as being a specimen
and test-caseforthe blessing and encouragementof 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 andmagnificence, and which brings honour and glory
even to that remote and inaccessible majesty. For, in that revelationof 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 smeltedtogetherin the revelation of God in
Jesus Christ, of which neither attains its supremestbeauty exceptby the
juxtaposition of the other. Poweris harsh, and scarcelyworthy to be called
divine, unless it be linked with love. Love is not glorious unless it be braced
and energisedby power. And, says Paul, these two are brought togetherin
Jesus;and therefore eachis heightenedby the other. It is the love of God that
lifts His power to its highest height; it is the revelationof Him as stooping that
teaches us His loftiness. It is because He has come within the graspof our

humanity in Jesus Christthat we canhymn our highest and noblest praises to
‘the King eternal, the invisible God.’
The sunshine falls upon the snow-cladpeaks ofthe greatmountains 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 majestytowers
higher when we believe in the divine condescension, andthere is no god that
men have ever dreamed of so greatas the God who stoops to sinners and is
manifest in the flesh and Cross ofthe Man of Sorrows.
Take these characteristicsofthe divine nature as get forth in the text one by
one, and considerhow the Revelationin Jesus Christ, and its power on sinful
men, raises our conceptions ofthem. ‘The King of the ages’--anddo we ever
penetrate so deeply into the purpose which has guided His hand, as it moulded
and moved the ages, as whenwe can say with Paul that His ‘goodpleasure’ is
that, ‘in the dispensationof the fulness of times, He might gather togetherin
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 sheepround 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 awayfrom 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 weighedupon
with the decayof all things and of ourselves?’comes nearto 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

JESUS THE ETERNAL KING

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