1 Timothy 1:17. As in Romans 11:36; Romans 16:27, the thought of God's great mercy leads the apostle to break out into a jubilant doxology.

The King eternal. Literally ‘the king of the ages,' of all the æons or periods which man's thought can apprehend in the remotest past, or future. The phrase is taken from the LXX. of Tob 13:6 and Psalms 145:13, and occurs here only in the New Testament. It is obvious, as in the parallel passages, that the doxology is offered to the Father.

Immortal. Better, as in Romans 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:52, ‘ incorruptible.'

The only wise God. ‘Wise' is wanting in the later MSS., and has probably been inserted from Romans 16:27. The word ‘only,' as applied to God, is not uncommon in the New Testament, but is especially characteristic of this Epistle (1 Timothy 6:15-16) and St. John (John 5:44; John 17:3; Revelation 15:4).

For ever and ever. Lit. ‘for the ages of the ages,' periods in which each moment is an æon.

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Old Testament