by Julian Mann, TCW
THE Apostle Paul’s first New Testament letter to Timothy, which I have been reading in my morning devotions, has had a profound influence on Christian hymnody and liturgy down the centuries.
Paul wrote the letter to the younger minister he had put in charge of the church in 1st Century Ephesus in Roman Asia. He wrote to Timothy from Macedonia probably after his release from house arrest in Rome in around AD 62 and before his martyrdom there in around AD 64 during the violent persecution of Christians under the Emperor Nero.
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, the celebrated 1867 hymn by the Scottish preacher, Walter Smith, was inspired by 1 Timothy 1v17:
‘Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen’ (King James Version).
Many millions of Christians around the English-speaking world have therefore sung words inspired by this epistle: ‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.’