Passage

1 Timothy 6.15-16

Book: 1 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

13. I charge thee in the sight of God, who giveth life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; 14. that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

15. which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16. who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.

Charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18. that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (1 Timothy 6:13-18, ASV)

WEB

13. I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, 14. that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ;

15. which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16. who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy; 18. that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (1 Timothy 6:13-18, WEB)

KJV

13. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; ^{confession: or, profession} 14. That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

15. Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16. 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.

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; ^{uncertain: Gr. uncertainty of riches} 18. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; ^{willing: or, sociable} (1 Timothy 6:13-18, KJV)

YLT

13. I charge thee, before God, who is making all things alive, and of Christ Jesus, who did testify before Pontius Pilate the right profession, 14. that thou keep the command unspotted, unblameable, till the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15. which in His own times He shall shew, the blessed and only potentate, the King of the kings and Lord of the lords, 16. who only is having immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no one of men did see, nor is able to see, to whom [is] honour and might age-during! Amen.

Those rich in the present age charge thou not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who is giving to us all things richly for enjoyment; 18. to do good, to be rich in good works, to be ready to impart, willing to communicate, (1 Timothy 6:13-18, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself in the opening line (1:1) and writes in the first person throughout. Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them Luke Timothy Johnson (Anchor Bible, 2001), William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and its acceptance in the second-century church.
Audience: Timothy, Paul's "true child in faith" (1:2), whom Paul had urged to stay on at Ephesus to stop certain men from teaching "a different doctrine" (1:3). Timothy came from Lystra, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father, and had travelled with Paul since the second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). The letter is addressed to him, but its directions on prayer, worship, overseers, deacons and widows are meant to order the church at Ephesus as a whole (3:14-15).
Location: not stated. Paul says he left Timothy at Ephesus "when I was going into Macedonia" (1:3) and hopes to rejoin him soon (3:14; 4:13), so Macedonia is the usual suggestion for where the letter was written.
Time period: on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-65, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts, since the journey in 1:3 is hard to fit into the Acts narrative. Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
Literary context: the doxology (6:15-16) that closes the charge to Timothy. "The appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (6:14) is something God will show "in its own times" (6:15), and the thought of it moves Paul to praise.

Theological reading

"who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen." (1 Timothy 6:16, ASV)

The only Potentate. God is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords" (6:15). The titles echo Deuteronomy 10:17, "God of gods, and Lord of lords", and deny any rival sovereign, including emperors who claimed divine honors. Revelation gives the same titles to the Lamb: "he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14; compare 19:16), one of the ways the New Testament ascribes the divine titles to Christ. See Revelation 17.14 and Revelation 19.16.

Who only hath immortality. "Immortality" (athanasia) appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, where "this mortal must put on immortality" at the resurrection. God has immortality by nature and underived; creatures receive it as a gift. Conditional immortalists cite the verse against the natural immortality of the soul; traditional readers answer that it speaks of God's self-existent life and does not deny that he grants unending existence to others. See Conditional Immortality.

Light unapproachable. God dwells "in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see", as the Lord told Moses, "man shall not see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). John adds the answer: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18). The invisible God is made known in the Son. See 1 Timothy 6.16, 1 Timothy 1.17 and How Can Jesus Be God Objection Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G0166 - aionios, aionios, Strong's G0166
G2540 - kairos, kairos, Strong's G2540
G1492 - oida, oida, Strong's G1492
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Conditional Immortality, via 1 Timothy 6.16
Divine Incomprehensibility, via 1 Timothy 6.16
Miaphysitism vs Dyophysitism, via 1 Timothy 6.16

Lexicon:

G2540 - kairos, via 1 Timothy 6.15

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.