1 Timothy 1:17

This noble doxology might be one used by St. Paul himself in one of his eucharistic prayers. It is significant that in the Jewish forms of thanksgiving מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם is of constant occurrence. 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 Gnosticism is fanciful and unnecessary. βασιλεύς, as a title of God the Father, is found in 1 Timothy 6:15 and Revelation 15:3, a passage of which Swete says (comm. in loc.), “The thought as well as the phraseology of the Song is strangely Hebraic”. Cf. Ps. 9:37 (Psalms 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 γὰρ ἄφθαρτόν σου … 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 becomes whom no man hath seen, nor can see (for the thought, see John 1:18; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 11:27; 1 John 4:12), and μόνῳ becomes the blessed and only potentate. For the epithet μόνος, used absolutely, see reff. and also Psalms 86:10; John 17:3; Romans 16:27.

τιμὴ καὶ δόξα : This combination in a doxology is found Revelation 4:9, 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; Philippians 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).