1 Timothy 6:16

ὁ μόνος ἔχων�, a fuller statement than the ἀφθάρτῳ of 1 Timothy 1:17, inasmuch as ἀθανασία (seemingly not distinguished from ἀφθαρσία in St Paul’s phraseology; see 1 Corinthians 15:53-54) is here declared to be the essential property of God alone. Cp. Wis 15:3, εἰδέναι σου τὸ κράτος ῥίζα�.

φῶς οἰκῶν, dwelling in light. God’s dwelling is light (cp. Psalms 104:2 ἀναβαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἰμάτιον) even as He Himself is Light (1 John 1:5), and His messengers are ‘angels of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14).

ἀπρόσιτον. This light is unapproachable. The word ἀπρόσιτος does not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but it is found in Philo (de vita Mosis iii. 2) who uses it of the Mount to which Moses could not approach for the glory of Jehovah (Exodus 33:17-23). It is this latter passage from Exodus which is behind St Paul’s language here, esp.: οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἴδη ἄνθρωπος τὸ πρόσωπόν μου καὶ ζήσεται (Exodus 33:20). Josephus also (Ant. III. 5. 1) applies ἀπρόσιτος to God.

ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς�, an expansion of the epithet ἀόρατος in 1 Timothy 1:17; cp. Deuteronomy 4:12; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12. We walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), though the Vision of God is promised to the pure in heart (Matthew 5:6; cp. Hebrews 12:14).

ᾦ τιμὴ καὶ κράτος αἰώνιον. Cp. 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11; it is just possible that κράτος has been here suggested by the epithet δυνάστης in the preceding verse. But it is, in any case, common in ascriptions.

The interjection, as it were, of a doxology in the middle of an argument or discussion is quite in St Paul’s manner; see e.g. Romans 1:25; Romans 11:36; Romans 1:17 above.