Who only hath immortality. — The holy angels — the souls of men — are immortal. “But one alone, ‘God,’ can be said to have immortality,” because He, unlike other immortal beings who enjoy their immortality through the will of another, derives it from His own essence.
Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. — This should be rendered, dwelling in light unapproachable. The Eternal is here pictured as dwelling in an atmosphere of light too glorious for any created beings (not only men) to approach. (See Psalms 104:2, where the Eternal is addressed as covering himself with light as with a garment; see too Daniel 2:22, where light is spoken of as dwelling with God.) The symbolism of the old covenant teaches the same truth, the unapproachable glories in which God dwells; for instance, the guarding of the bounds of Sinai in the giving of the Law; the covering of the faces of the Seraphim in the year that King Uzziah died, when Isaiah saw the divine vision; the veiled darkness of the Holy of holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple, where ever and anon the visible glory dwelt.
Whom no man hath seen, nor can see. — The Old Testament teaches the same mysterious truth — “For there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20, and also Deuteronomy 4:12). John 1:18 repeats this in very plain words — “No man hath seen God at any time.” The Greek word here includes all created beings. The English translation, “no man,” utterly fails to reproduce the meaning of the original. (See also 1 John 4:12.)
These last words seem to preclude the interpretation which applies the foregoing description to the Son. We have above referred this glorious doxology to the Father, as the one who, in His own times, should reveal the Lord Jesus returning to judgment.
It is, however, very noteworthy that the loftiest, the sublimest, epithets the inspired pen of Paul could frame to dignify his description of the First Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, God the Father, are used again of the Son. “The Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings” (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16; and see too Revelation 1:5).