Now to the King of the ages, [the] incorruptible, invisible, only God, honour and glory to the ages of ages. Amen.
Paul has just called himself the worst of sinners, and told how mercy still reached him (vv. 12–16). The memory breaks into praise, and the four titles he gives God there show why that mercy amazed him.
Praise Born Out of Mercy
This praise is not a change of subject. It is what happens when a man dwells on what God has done for him.
As he thinks about the mercy, the grace, the divine love which has reached him — and his life is the witness of what they have done — he bursts into praise.
Paul does not reach for God as Father here. He reaches for God at His most exalted — and one writer, quoting an older English Bible, shows what that adds:
The more majestic the Person who shows the mercy, the greater the depth of the mercy displayed. So the Apostle views God in the height of His majesty and not in the intimacy of relationship. True, God is our Father as revealed to us in Christ. We do stand in this tender relationship as His children. Still, He is "the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God." That deepens the wonder of the mercy He showed to the Apostle and to us.
King of the Ages
Paul had once staked everything on one era of God's dealings. Now he praises the One who rules them all.
Paul, when zealous for the law, was simply a man of the present age, seeking to maintain the age of the law. God is the "King of the ages" who is acting in sovereign grace for His own glory throughout the ages of ages.
Incorruptible, Invisible, Only
Each of the three titles answers something false. One writer sets them against the world's idolatry:
He is also confessed as "incorruptible" in the face of what has shamelessly departed from Him in heaven above and on the earth beneath, turning even His dealings and revelations into self-advancement or self-indulgence to His dishonour. He is confessed as "invisible," where unseen powers have used what is seen to feed the idolatry of the fallen heart and evil conscience. He is confessed as "only" or "alone," where the world's wisdom freely gave its worship to created objects above, around and below that stirred its admiration, hopes and fears. That same worship it begrudged to the one true God.
One writer draws out "invisible," and sets "only God" beside a word from the prophet Isaiah.
"Invisible" certainly implies that the nature of the eternal God cannot be searched out. His glory is beyond the highest thought of our own hearts or minds. And He is "only God": "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" (Isaiah 44:6).
Two Words Worth Checking
The first word is "immortal." The ESV keeps it from the older English Bibles, but one writer traces the Greek word behind it:
Its adjective, aphthartos, "incorruptible," is used seven times, and applied to God (Romans 1:23; 1 Timothy 1:17); the crown of the righteous (1 Corinthians 9:25); our inheritance (1 Peter 1:4); the word of God (1 Peter 1:23); and once figuratively, "that which is not corruptible" (1 Peter 3:4). Older English Bibles render it "immortal" only once (1 Timothy 1:17), and with no more reason than in the other places.
The second word is "wise." Older Bibles read "the only wise God"; the ESV reads "the only God":
There the word "wise" is brought in again in the Authorised Version. There is no reason for it there. The same error has been introduced in Timothy as in the letter of Jude, and both of them are brought over from Romans 16, where the word belongs. The apostle here is looking at God Himself, not at what He particularly does. The wisdom of His revelation — that is in Romans.
What Law Could Never Produce
The chapter ends in song, and the song has a source.
He then gives utterance to the praise which filled his heart. Such praise the law could never teach the human heart. It knows no song of joy and blessing; its melody is the curse.
The Effect on the Worshipper
Giving God everything leaves nothing for us to claim. That turns out to be a gift, not a loss.
Paul ascribes power and glory wholly to Him, without end, to the ages of ages. This puts us in our own place. Yet it is a blessing beyond words, because it gives us an Object who fully satisfies us, and a spirit of deepest adoration and worship, which the creature so needs.
Summary
- Mercy first. This praise flows straight out of verses 12–16. It has a cause; it is not decoration.
- Majesty. Paul names God at His highest. The greater the One who shows mercy, the deeper the mercy shown.
- Reach. "King of the ages" lifts God above the one era Paul once fought for. His grace runs through every age.
- Rivals answered. Incorruptible, invisible, only — each title stands against the idolatry the world offers instead.
- Result. The law could never teach the heart such a song. The gospel does, and it leaves the worshipper small, satisfied and adoring.