1 Timothy 6:15

ἣν καιροῖς ἰδίοις δείξει, which He will display in His own seasons; see on 1 Timothy 2:6, and Acts 1:7, καιροὺς οὖς ὁ πατὴρ ἕθετο ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ.

The epithets which follow are descriptive of the Eternal Father, and it is not improbable that they and the doxology of 1 Timothy 6:16 are taken from some liturgical (perhaps even Jewish) formula which had already become stereotyped by use.

μακάριος. see on 1 Timothy 1:11.

καὶ μόνος δυνάστης. We have μόνῳ θεῷ in the doxology in 1 Timothy 1:17, which should be compared all through with this verse. It does not seem necessary to suppose any special controversial reference to the aeons of Gnostic theology, or to heathen polytheism. The Unity and Sovereignty of God were first principles of the Hebrew religion, and they would fitly be mentioned in an early Christian doxology. Cp. Philo de sacrificiis Abelis et Caini 30, περὶ θεοῦ τοῦ�μόνου μακαρίου. δυνάστης is not used elsewhere by St Paul; it is frequently applied to men in the LXX. and in Luke 1:52; Acts 8:27, and to God, as here, in Sir 46:5; Sir 46:16 and 2Ma 12:15; 2Ma 3:24 (ὁ … δυνάστης ἐπιφανείαν μεγάλην ἐποίησεν). We have the phrase μόνος ἐστὶ δυνάστης in Orac. Sibyll. III. 718.

ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευὀντων κ.τ.λ. We have κύριος τῶν κυρίων καὶ βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλέων in Daniel 4:34 LXX. (cp. Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16); and the same phrase (reading βασιλευόντων) in the Book of Enoch (ix. 4). King of kings was a title commonly assumed by Eastern monarchs; the early Christian writers apply it to God alone. Jehovah is named κύριος τῶν κυρίων in Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalms 136:3.