The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Timothy — Section 131

ldeaa an oombined In Lnke i. 20 (,,,.A11pll1f/,- ness and e.lmighty power, mrlversal dominion aov1"111 .It Tbv 1<a1pbv abTiilv) e.nd xxi. 24 e.nd_ unchan_geable being, in~te.ble majesty'. (oomp. Eph. i. 10). Shall show (31!(<1). radiant hohness, e.nd glory inaccessible and Arncv6•w l1r14'<>v,lav, "to show e.n appe1tr• unapproachable by his creatures, save through ing," is e. somewhe.t unusual phrase, and is the mediation of his only begotten Son. more ole.ssicol the.n scri pture.l. The verb Ver. 17.-This present for thi~, A.V.; hawe e.nd the object ore not of cogne.te sense ( as their hope set <m the uncertainty of for tru,t "to display e. display," or "to manifest a in uncertain, A. V. ; <m God for in the living me.nifestation "), but the invisible God, God God, A.V. and T.R. Charge (1rapayye,\A,); the Father, will, it is said, display the as in eh. i. 3 ; iv. 11 : v. 7; and in ver. 13, Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ. The and elsewhere frequently. Rich in this wonder displayed and manifested to the present world. Had St. Paul in hi1 mind world is the uppeuing of Christ in his glory. the parable of Divea and Lazarus (comp. The Author of the.t manifestation is God. Luke xvi. 19, 25)? That they be not h.igll- The bleBBed; 6 µ.a1<d.p,os (not •~'AO'YTJTos, as minded (µ.1/ {,,}71,\ocppovi,11): elsewhere only in in Me.rk xiv. 61), is only here and in eh. i. Rom. xi. 20. The words compounded with 11 (where see note) applied to God in Scrip- {,,/,11A6s have mostly a bad sense-" haughti- hue. The blessed u,d only Potentate. The ness," '' boastfulness," and the like. The phrase is e. remarkoble one. Avvd.aTTJ• uncertainty (12671,\&.,.71n); here only in the (Potentate), which is only found elsewhere New Testament, but used in the same sense in the New Teste.ment in Luke i. 52 and in Poly bi us ( see lill11Ao• in 1 Cor, xiv. 8; and Acts viii. 27, is applied to God here only. all'IJ,\"'' in 1 Cor. ix. 26). The A.V., though It is, however, so applied in 2 Mace. iii. less literal, expresses the sense much better 24: xii. 15: xv. 23, where we he.ve nd.a-11 , than the R.V., which is hardly good English. l(ovalar ll1wd.0'1'TJf, Tov µ.e-yav 'TO~ KOCJ'µ.ov Who giveth 118 richly all things to enjoy; llvvd.a-.,..,v, e.nd Avvd.aTa .,.;;,., obp<>viiiv; in all for enjoyment. The gifts are God's. Trust, which places, as here. the phrase is used to • therefore, in the Giver, not in the gift. The signify, by way of contra.et, the superiority of gift is uncertain; the Giver livetb for ever. the pow"r of Goel over e.11 ee.rthly power. In (For the sentiment that God is the Giver of the first of the above-cited pe.,se.ges the lan- all good, comp. Jas. i. 17; Ps. civ. 28; ulv. guage is singularly like the.t here need by 16, etc.) St. Pe.uL For it is said that ~ -rrd.o-11r i(ova-l<>s Ver. 18.-That they b<! ready for ready, A.V. llvv&a.,..,r, "the Prinoe (or Potentate) of all Do good (a-ya:Boep-yeiv: here only, for the more power me.de a great apparition," or "appear- common a.-yaBo-rro,e,v). Tha.t they be rich in mg" (i1r,4>avelav µ.e-yd.A11v l1ru!11nv), for the good works (eh. v. 10, note): not merely in overthrow of the blasphemer and persecutor the perishing riches of this present world- Heliodorue. St. Paul must have he.d this the same sentiment as Matt. vi. 19-21 : in his mind. e.nd compared the effect of " the Luke xii. 33 and 21. Ready to distribute appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ," in over- (ebµ.ETaooTOvs): here only in the New Testa- throwing the Neros of the earth with the ment, and rarely in later classical Greek. overthrow of Heliodorus (comp. 1 These. i. The opposite, "close-banded." is 5vaµ.eTd- 7-10). King of kings, and Lord of lords, lloros. The verb µ.eTalllllw,.,., means "to give eto. (compare the slightly different phrase to othen a she.re or portion of what one has" in Rev. xvii. 14 e.nd xix. 16, applied to the (Luke iii. 11 ; Rom. i. 11: xii. 8; Eph. iv. Son). So in Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3, God is spoken 28; 1 Thess. ii. 8). Willing to commnnicate of as " God of gods, and Lord of lords." (,coww11l1<ov,); here only in the New Testa- Ver. 16.-Light unapproachable for the ment, but found in clas~ical Greek in a light which no man can approach unto, A.V.; slightly different sense. "Cowmnnic:1.tive" ttkmal for eve1·lasliHg, A. V. Unapproachable is the exact eqnivolent, though in this wider (a.-rrpo<T1To11): only herein the New Testament, use it is obsolete. Wo have the same precept but found occasionally in the later classics, in Heb. xiii. 16, "To do good and to com- corresponding to the more common f,,/3aTor. municate forget not." (For 1<01vwv,iv in the Whom no man bath seen, nor can see (comp. sense of "giving," see Rom. xii. 13; Gtil. vi. oh. i. 17 (where see note) oud Exod. xxxiii. 6; Phil. iv. 15; and for 1<01vwvia in the same 20-23). The appearance of the "God of sense, see Rom. xv. 26; 2 Cor. ix. 13; H,,b. Israel" to Moses and Aaron, Nudttb and xiii. 16.) Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, Ver. 19.-The life which '8 life indeed related in Exod. xxxiv. 9-11, was that of for eternal life, A.Y. and T.R. Laying up the Son in anticipotion of the Inco.rnotion. in store (ci1roB11acivp!(onH); only here in The invisibility of the essential Godhead is the New Testament, but once in Wisd. e.leo predioated in our Lord's s11ying, " God iii. S, and occasionally in ole.ssioal Greek. la a Spirit" (John iv. 24). This whole pss- A good foundation ( 0eµ.eA,ov ,caA&v). The aage is e. magnifloent ernbodimeut of the idea of a foundatioo is always l'llrLintuined attributes of the living God, supreme blessed- ID the use of 8<µ.l'Aw,. whet.Iler it ia useJ  THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. [os. vr. 1-2L