What Does 1 Timothy 6:16 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse joins deathless life to light beyond human reach: immortality belongs to God alone.
THE MEANING
Immortality belongs to God alone, whose dwelling is light no person can approach. No human sees or commands this source, yet honor and power belong to God through the ages. The verse lets what cannot be possessed still be spoken of.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that immortality is self-held human property: the verse says God alone possesses it.
THE ROOT
ἀθανασία
athanasía
GROWS FROM
θανατ- (thanat-), with privative ἀ- (a-)
Death or dying; the prefix negates it, forming “deathlessness.”
“immortality” in this verse is athanasía. The Greek word names a life without death, rather than simply time stretched without end. Here, that deathlessness belongs to God alone; in 1 Corinthians 15:53, the same noun names what mortal people put on.
ALSO GROWS
thánatos: death
θάνατος
This is the word for death that ἀθανασία negates.
athánatos: deathless, immortal
ἀθάνατος
This related form makes the same deathless quality explicit.
thnḗskō: to die
θνῄσκω
This verb shows the dying that the word for immortality names as absent.
φῶς
phōs
GROWS FROM
φωτ-
phōt-
Light or brightness.
The Greek word family names both light itself and the act of illuminating. Here, the light is not something human sight can master: it names the dwelling of the one no person can approach or see.
ALSO GROWS
phōtízō: to illuminate, give light
φωτίζω
This verb shows light as something that shines outward and illuminates.
phōstḗr: luminary, light-bearer
φωστήρ
This word names a body that shines, setting visible light beside the unapproachable light in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The divine source exceeds human sight, even as Scripture names its light.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.THE THREAD
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.The Greek word ἀθανασία (athanasía, immortality) appears in both verses. Here immortality belongs to God alone; in Corinthians, mortal life receives it, placing divine uniqueness and human hope in the same word.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us