The mention of the appearing of Jesus Christ leads to the next two verses that assert its certainty and that name God as the one who causes him to appear; this in turn leads to an exalted description of God. Many interpreters treat these two verses as a hymn, and some translations reflect this understanding, putting these verses in poetic format (for example, Jerusalem Bible and Contemporary English Version). Translators will do well to explore the possibility of reflecting the poetic nature of these verses and translating them with the use of appropriate poetic forms in the receptor language. On how to translate into poetry, see the comments on 3.16-17.

Will be made manifest translates a verb that means “to show,” “to exhibit,” “to display,” “to expose to the eyes.” The Greek construction is actually in the active voice (literally “which the blessed and the sovereign will show…”) but is changed into the passive by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in order to provide a smoother connection between this verse and the last part of verse 14. For proper time see comments on 2.6 and on “later times” in 4.1. God (see Good News Translation) is not explicitly mentioned in the text, but the context clearly shows that it is God who will bring about the appearing of Jesus Christ. God is described by a series of attributes. For blessed see 1.11. For only in only Sovereign, see comment on “only God” in 1.17. Sovereign comes from a word that is used to designate any high powerful official in government, as, for example, a prince or a king.

King of kings and Lord of lords are used elsewhere in the New Testament as titles for God, designating him as more powerful than and sovereign over any other authority, whether divine or human. These two terms are used together for Christ in the book of Revelation (see, for example, Rev 17.14 and 19.16).

King of kings is literally “king of those who are ruling,” since kings translates a present participle of the verb “to rule.” The title appears first in the Old Testament as a title used for Babylonian and Persian emperors (see, for example, Ezek 26.7; Dan 2.37; Ezra 7.12); its first application to God appears in one of the writings in the period before New Testament times, namely the second book of Maccabees (see 2 Maccabees 13.4). This usage is found here and in other parts of the New Testament. For a comment on kings see 2.2.

Likewise Lord of lords is literally “Lord of those who rule as lords,” since lords also translates a present participle of the verb “to exercise lordship.” The title is used in the Old Testament as parallel to “God of gods” to indicate that God is sovereign over other “gods” (see, for example, Psa 136.2-3). Alternative ways to translate these two phrases are “The Greatest Ruler, the Mightiest King,” “The Lord and King of All,” or “The Most Powerful Ruler and Highest Chief of All.”

If translators follow the second model at the end of verses 13-14, it is possible to restructure verse 15 as follows:
• God whom people praise, who is the only true Ruler, the Lord and King (or, High Chief) of all, is the one who will cause Christ to appear at the right time (or, at the time which he [God] has decided).

Or:
• God will cause him [Christ] to return at the right time. God is the one whom people praise ….

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .