Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen! 1 Timothy 1:17
Few verses of Scripture are more exalting, more wonderfully descriptive of God than our text today. Its language captures the heart and elevates the soul to worship and praise. This verse brings before us several of the attributes of God that are worthy of our consideration today. Let us examine them individually.
The expression ‘the King eternal’ reminds us that God is the omnipotent, omniscient King. Another way of rendering this expression is ‘the King of eternity’. Although from our conception, we will live forever, you and I are creatures of time. Even the angels had a point in time when they came into being. Not so our God. He ever was, is, and will be. And it is into His eternity that He has invited us who are but creatures of His hand.
The word ‘immortal’ is similar to eternal as it applies to God, and makes a mockery of those who used to declare that God is dead. Unlike you and me, God cannot die. That is why the Lord Jesus became a man, so that as a man, He could die for our sins. Because He has defeated death, we are able to enter into the immortality that His victory provides.
The term ‘invisible’ reminds us of how much higher God’s character and person are than ours. We describe ourselves and identify others by height and weight, by skin colour and a variety of other physical attributes. We cannot separate ourselves from that which is visible. Not so God. He transcends the physical because He is a Spirit (John 4:24). And it is only when we are recipients of the Holy Spirit that we are given life in Him.
Our final expression, ‘the only wise God’ can be found only in our King James Version Bibles. At least in this form. All of the modern language versions omit the word ‘wise’. And that makes sense for them, because the enemies who corrupted the Minority Text used by the Westcott and Hort conspiracy were anxious to cast doubt on the wisdom of God. In fact, their rendition ‘the only God’ makes no sense, because there are other gods, although they are all evil or dead, or both. The Mohammedans, for example, have their false god Allah, who bears no likeness to the God who is revealed in the Bible. All of the other false religions of the world have their distorted deities. Roman Catholics worship an imposter pope. North Koreans worship Kim Jong-un and his grandfather. Business and industry worship the dollar. Politicians worship power. The atheists and the apathetic worship themselves. Yes, there are other gods, but there is only one God Who is wise. All the others, and those who follow them, are fools. Wisdom is to know God, as we read in Job 28:28: ‘And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding’. <BR> Once more, with feeling: Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen! – Jim MacIntosh