1 Timothy 1:17

Fitly did that temporal king and Thy servant once sing of Thee as the King Eternal, saying, Thou art fairer than the children of men, who amongst men art very God and man. But the time would fail us, ages and succeeding generations too, to render unto thee thy fitting salutation as the mother of the King Eternal,

"To Him be honor and glory forever. Amen." Now honor and glory are not mere words; and since He has honored us not by words only, but by what He has done for us, so let us honor Him by works and deeds. Yet this honor touches us, while that reaches not Him, for He needs not the honor that comes from us, we do need that which is from Him. In honoring Him, therefore, we do honor to ourselves. He who opens his eyes to gaze on the light of the sun, receives delight himself, as he admires the beauty of the star, but does no favor to that luminary, nor increases its splendor, for it continues what it was; much more is this true with respect to God. He who admires and honors God does so to his own salvation, and highest benefit; and how? Because he follows after virtue, and is honored by Him. For "them that honor Me," He says, "I will honor." How then is He honored, if He enjoys no advantage from our honor? Just as He is said to hunger and thirst. For He assumes everything that is ours, that He may in anywise attract us to Him. He is said to receive honors, and even insults, that we may be afraid. But with all this we are not attracted towards Him!

We must first turn our words to prayer. I say this because, sometimes, when prayer accompanies a teaching, it will serve to provide us with a demonstration of the things we are seeking to prove.… And Paul often does this at the beginning of his epistles. He first mentions God and then does not go on to his teaching until he pays to God the glory and praise due to him. Listen: "To the King of ages, the immortal, the invisible, the only God of wisdom, be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen."

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." For these things, then, we glorify not the Son only, but the Father. Here let us argue with the heretics. Speaking of the Father, he says, "To the only God." Is the Son then not God? "The only immortal." Is the Son then not immortal? Or does He not possess that Himself, which hereafter He will give to us? Yes, they say, He is God and immortal, but not such as the Father. What then? is He of inferior essence, and therefore of inferior immortality? What then is a greater and a less immortality? For immortality is nothing else than the not being subject to destruction. For there is a greater and a less glory; but immortality does not admit of being greater or less: as neither is there a greater and a less health. For a thing must either be destructible, or altogether indestructible. Are we men then immortal even as He? God forbid! Surely not! Why? because He has it by nature, but we adventitiously.

Why then do you make the difference? Because the Father, he says, is made such as He is by no other: but the Son is what He is, from the Father. This we also confess, not denying that the Son is generated from the Father incorruptibly. And we glorify the Father, he means, for having generated the Son, such as He is. Thus you see the Father is most glorified, when the Son hath done great things. For the glory of the Son is referred again to Him. And since He generated Him omnipotent and such as He is in Himself, it is not more the glory of the Son than of the Father, that He is self-sufficient, and self-maintained, and free from infirmity.

It has been said of the Son, "By whom He made the worlds." Now there is a distinction observed among us between creation and workmanship. For one works and toils and executes, another rules; and why? because he that executes is the inferior. But it is not so there; nor is the sovereignty with One, the workmanship with the Other. For when we hear, "By whom He made the worlds," we do not exclude the Father from creation. Nor when we say, "To the King immortal," do we deny dominion to the Son. For these are common to the One and the Other, and each belongs to Both. The Father created, in that He begat the creating Son; the Son rules, as being Lord of all things created. For He does not work for hire, nor in obedience to others, as workmen do among us, but from His own goodness and love for mankind. But has the Son ever been seen? No one can affirm this. What means then, "To the King immortal, invisible, the only wise God"? Or when it is said, "There is no other name whereby we must be saved": and again, "There is salvation in no other"?

He is the only Son of God, our Lord. For he is born One of One, because there is one brightness of light, and there is one word of the understanding. Neither does an incorporeal generation degenerate into the plural number or suffer division. The One who is born is in no way separated from the One who gives life. He is the one and only, the unique. He is as thought is to the mind, as wisdom is to the wise, as a word is to the understanding, as valor is to the brave. As the Father is said by the apostle to be "alone wise," so likewise the Son alone is called wisdom. He is then the "only Son." In glory, everlastingness, virtue, dominion, power, he is what the Father is. Yet all these he has not unoriginately as the Father but from the Father, as the Son, without beginning and equal. Although he is the head of all things, yet the Father is the head of him. For so it is written, "The head of Christ is God."

To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. To the King of the ages. These things concerning the holy accepted Trinity. For such titles are common to the Father and the Son and …

Then when he says, to the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever, he expresses his gratitude: In regard to the first he does two things: first, he commends the one to whom he gives thanks; …

Since the apostle said something very great about the Son, namely, that He saves the despairing, lest anyone think that the Father is deprived of His glory, he also sends up glory to Him. All this is common to the Son as well. For He …

Now unto the King eternal,.... This doxology, or ascription of glory to God, on account of the grace bestowed upon the apostle, may be considered, either as referring to all the three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, who are the one and only God; and to whom all the attributes of wisdom, power, eternity, immortality, or incorruptibleness, and invisibility, belong; and who are jointly concerned in the grace bestowed upon any of the sons of men.

Now unto the king eternal - This ascription of praise is offered to God in view of the mercy which he had shown to so great a sinner. It is the outbreak of that grateful emotion which swelled his bosom, and which would not be denied expression, when Paul recalled his former life and the mercy of God to his soul. It somewhat interrupts indeed the train of his remarks, but the heart was so full that it demanded utterance.

"The only Potentate" (1Ti 6:15; Joh 5:44). for ever, &c.--See note, above. The thought of eternity (terrible as it is to unbelievers) is delightful to those assured of grace (1Ti 1:16) [BENGEL].

Now unto the King eternal - This burst of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, naturally arose from the subject then under his pen and eye. God has most wondrously manifested his mercy, in this beginning of the Gospel, by saving me, and making me a pattern to all them that shall hereafter believe on Christ. He is 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, ever living 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, of decomposition, and consequently permanent and eternal. One MS., the later Syriac in the margin, the Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, and some of the Latin fathers, read 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 and stones, 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 borrowed from Rom 16:27 (note). Griesbach leaves it out of the text. […]