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1Ti_1:17. “Ex sensu gratiae fluit doxologia” (Bengel). With this doxology the apostle closes the digression begun in 1Ti_1:11, and returns again to the proper epistolary style.
τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων ] This designation for God is not found elsewhere in the N. T. (even the use of βασιλεύς of God only occurs elsewhere in chap. 1Ti_6:15 and Mat_5:35), but it is found in the Apocrypha of the O. T. in Tob_13:6; Tob_13:10. (Sir_36:19 : ὁ Θεὸς τῶν αἰώνων .) Οἱ αἰῶνες means either “the world,” as in Heb_1:2; Heb_11:3 (see Delitzsch and 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 at the same time concretely included.” In a similar way, Heydenreich has “the supreme ruler of time, and of all that takes place in its course.” This latter explanation is supported as correct both by the preceding μελλόντων (van Oosterzee), and also by the ἀφθάρτῳ following, and by εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων farther on.[71] It is incorrect to 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 approach that idea. Besides, the apostle would surely have expressed that adjectival idea by an adjective. It is quite erroneous to take the word here in the Gnostic sense of series of emanations, synonymous with γενεαλογίαι in 1Ti_1:4; for, on the one hand, no proof is given that this expression had been already used by the heretics alluded to in this epistle; and, on the other, the apostle considered the whole theory of genealogies as belonging to the sphere of myths. It was impossible, therefore, for him in his doxology to speak of God as the king of things which were to Him nothing but the inventions of fancy.
ἀφθάρτῳ ] is only used of God elsewhere in Rom_1:23 (Plut. adv. St. 31; Wis_12:1). Matthies: “God is the Imperishable One, because His nature is unchanging and based on itself,” equivalent to ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν , chap. 1Ti_6:16.
ἀοράτῳ ] comp. Heb_11:27 (without Θεός ), Rom_1:20, and Col_1:15 (with Θεός ); equivalent to ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων , οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν δύναται , chap. 1Ti_6:16; comp. also Joh_1:18.
μόνῳ Θεῷ ] chap. 1Ti_6:15 : μόνος δυναστής ; comp. also Joh_5:44; Joh_17:3; Rom_16:27 : μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ . The words ἀφθάρτῳ … Θεῷ are to be taken as 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 exaltation of God above all conditioned finite being, and are occasioned naturally (which Hofmann disputes) by the contrast with the heresy which denied the absoluteness of the divine existence.
τιμὴ καὶ δόξα ] The two words are united also in Rom_2:7; Rom_2:10; Heb_2:7; but only here and in the Apocalypse do they occur in doxologies. Paul elsewhere uses only δόξα , and always with the article.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ] a very common conclusion in doxologies, and found in Paul’s other epistles. It is not to be overlooked that this doxology has a peculiar character distinct from those usually occurring in Paul, both in the mode of connection (elsewhere a pronoun connects them with what precedes) and also in the designation for God and the expressions used.
[71] Comp. Psa_144:13, LXX.: ἡ βασιλεία σου βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ἡ δεσποτεία σου ἐν πάσῃ γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ .
[72] Wiesinger explains it: “He is a king of the aeons, which together give the idea of eternity, just as His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”