Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 (ii) Secondly, he says that he is an apostle by the royal command of God. The word he uses is epitage ( G2003) . This is the word Greek uses for the injunctions which some inviolable law lays on a man; for the royal command which comes to a man from the king; and above all for the instructions which come to a man either directly or by some oracle from God. For instance, a man in an inscription dedicates an altar to the goddess Cybele, kat' ( G2596) epitagen ( G2003) , in accordance with the command of the goddess, which, he tells us, had come to him in a dream. Paul thought of himself as a man holding the king's commission. 