“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17).

Wise (Gr) Sophos: Thoughtful, sagacious, discreet, intelligent

There is something very exclusive to our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That exclusivity relates to the personhood of our God, Who, beyond being all-powerful, omni-present and even omniscient, is all wise, and as the Apostle wrote to Timothy, the only wise God.

What qualifies God as, the only wise, is the essence of His Being (Gr. Ousia). The Apostle describes the only wise God as the “King eternal, immortal, invisible” which makes Him worthy of “honor and glory forever and ever”. Indeed, Amen. Our God is the Thoughtful, the Sagacious, the Discreet and the Intelligent One, Who by His intelligent design created the heavens, the earth and all that is therein, and sits as Ruler over all His creation.

The General Epistle of Jude closes with the words: “To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 1:25). Again, as with the Apostle Paul, we see the “only wise God” worthy of glory, majesty, dominion and power” which are attributes of Kingship with a seat of authority over all. These accolades are not mere flattery, but genuine declarations of fundamental aspects of our founding Church Fathers’ belief in and understanding of the Divine. Indeed, the Personhood of God is clearly evident by the witness and testimony of our Fathers in their writings which show forth the wisdom, revelation and spiritual understanding they were given by the Spirit of God.

There are so-called gods who have powers, and there are forces of nature that can command the elements to act and stir up destruction. There are gods of mythology that can procreate and act in powerful ways, but the “only wise God” is reserved for and exclusive to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The prayer of the Apostle was “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto [us] the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17). Indeed, it is only by revelation knowledge that we can comprehend such a One as the only wise God. May it be so that we can obtain to this understanding and knowledge of God our Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The Apostle closes his Epistle to the Romans with the words, “To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen” (Romans 16:27). Why this description? Clearly the Apostle was given the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”.

In speaking of the Messiah, the Prophet Isaiah wrote: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2).

Now, in our time the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us to reveal to us the mystery of the “only wise God” and to come to the knowledge of Him, who is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. What a glorious privilege and blessing we have been given by the glory of His grace to enter into relationship with Him and to know Him in the Person of His Spirit and to have revealed to us all that has been declared and promised in the Scriptures by the Holy Apostles and Prophets. May it be an ever-increasing revelation until that glorious day when we behold Him face to face.

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