A

1:1,2.  Salutation.

B

1:17. The  King

C

3:16. God

B

6:16. The  King

A

6:21. Salutation.

Here our attention is arrested by the presence at the beginning and at

the end of the epistle of two rather strange references to God.

`Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be

honour and glory for ever and ever.  Amen' (1 Tim. 1:17).

`The King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality,

dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; Whom no man hath

seen, nor can see: to Whom be honour and power everlasting.  Amen' (1

Tim. 6:15,16).

No believer can have the slightest difficulty in giving a full assent

in faith to the doxology of chapter 1.  God is the eternal King, He is both

immortal and invisible by every testimony of the Word, Old Testament or New.

When we come to the corresponding doxology of chapter 6, we observe some

features that give us pause.  Here the title is not simply `The King', but

`The King of kings, and the Lord of lords' and this title will be `shown' by

Jesus Christ at His Appearing.  This title is borne by Christ when He rides

forth on a white horse with the armies of heaven following Him, at His Second

Coming.  He is about to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and has the

names on His vesture and on His thigh `The Word (Ho logos) of God' and `King

of kings and Lord of lords' (Rev. 19:13,16), and if this is not convincing

enough, Revelation 17:14 tells us that `The Lamb' is Lord of lords, and King

of kings.  The doxology of 1 Timothy chapter 6 is therefore addressed to the

Lord Jesus Christ.

Two words are translated `immortal' or `immortality' in the New

Testament.  The word chosen by the apostle in 1 Timothy 1:17 is the Greek

word aphthartos and means literally `incorruption' as in Romans 1:23 `the

uncorruptible God'.  This word is not repeated in 1 Timothy 6:16; there the

Greek word athanasia is employed, using a word that indicates a state into

which death cannot enter.  He Who is King of kings and Lord of lords once

submitted to death, but it was impossible that death could hold Him, `He

dieth no more', He is athanasia.  In like manner, invisibility is predicated

of the King Eternal and the King of kings, but two different words are used.

In 1 Timothy 1:17 the word so translated is the Greek word aoratos as in

Romans 1:20 `the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are

clearly seen' or as in Colossians 1:15 `The Image of the Invisible God'.

With regard to the King of kings, we read that the light in which He

dwells is unapproachable.  Chrysostom used this word when commenting upon

Isaiah 6:2 in which we learn that each of the seraphim covered his face and

his feet in the august Presence that filled the Temple with His glory.

Isaiah gives Him the title Lord of hosts, and John declares that `these

things spake Esaias, when he saw His glory and Spake of Him'.  Of Whom could

John be speaking but the Saviour, the Son of God!  Not only is the light in

which the Son of God dwells unapproachable, but, continues the apostle `Whom

no man hath seen, nor can see'.  This is the attribute of Deity `no man hath