Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ
See Titus 2.13, cf. 2 Peter 1.1
Two of the shortest books of the New Testament contain similar - and very strong - affirmations of Jesus Christ as God. In his epistle to Titus, the apostle Paul states that Christians "wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
The equally short epistle of 2 Peter opens by describing its readers as "those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (1:1). Both of these texts describe Jesus using the two titles God and Savior. Not everyone agrees that these verses call Jesus "God" One cult, for example, translates Titus 2:13 "of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus" and 2 Peter 1:1 "of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ" (NWT). The bracketed insertions of the word ‘the’ make a significant difference. Read these verses without the bracketed insertions - especially 2 Peter 1:1 - and they sound like they are referring to Jesus as both God and the pronoun appears.)
When this construction occurs in ancient Greek using singular personal nouns that are not proper names (that is, nouns like father, Lord, king, not Jesus, Peter, or Paul), the two nouns refer to the same person. The first writer to analyze this construction in a formal way did so in the late eighteenth century. He was an English Christian abolitionist named Granville Sharp; for that reason, the analysis of this construction is commonly known as Granville Sharp's rule. The New Testament contains plenty of examples supporting Sharp's rule. The epistles of Paul, for example, refer to "our God and Father" (Gal. 1:4; Phil. 4:20; 1 Thess. 1:3; 3:11, 13) and "the God and Father" (Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 15:24), which certainly refer to one person by both titles God and Father. There are numerous additional examples, many of little or no theological import.
The evidence that Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 call Jesus God goes beyond Sharp's rule. In Titus, the expression "our Savior" (soteros hemon) occurs six times. In five of those six occurrences, the article "the" (tou) immediately precedes "our Savior" (1:3, 4; 2:10; 3:4, 6); the one exception is Titus 2:13. The obvious and only good explanation for this variation is that "our Savior" is governed by the same article that governs "great God." Another piece of evidence in the context of Titus 2:13 is Paul's use of the word epiphaneia ("appearing”).
Another piece of evidence in the context of Titus 2:13 is Paul's use of the word epiphaneia ("appearing,”) from which we derive the word epiphany. In the Bible this word occurs only in Paul's writings, mostly in the Pastoral Epistles (2 Thess. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13), and always referring to the appearing of Jesus Christ, unless Titus 2:13 is the sole exception. The close parallel between Titus 2:13 and 2 Timothy 1:10 ("the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus") effectively rules out the possibility that Titus 2:13 is an exception. So when Paul says that Christians are awaiting "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), we can be sure that the one who will be "appearing" will indeed be Jesus Christ.
Several factors cumulatively offer strong support for understanding "Jesus Christ" to be identifying "our great God and Savior," not "the glory," in Titus 2:13.
1. "Our great God and Savior" is immediately adjacent to "Jesus Christ."
2. It would be odd to speak of the appearing of God's glory and not mean that the one who is appearing is God.
3. Paul never refers to Jesus as God's "glory" (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).
4. All other things being equal, a personal designation like "our great God and Savior" is more likely to be identified as a person ("Jesus Christ") than is an abstraction ("the glory").
5. Elsewhere in the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus), whenever Paul uses the word epiphaneia ("appearing"), it refers to the manifestation of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1, 8), not of an abstract quality (“the glory”) related to God or Christ.
6. In as many as twelve out of eighteen times in his epistles that Paul uses the term "the glory" in the genitive case (tes doxes), it likely functions as a descriptive modifier of the preceding noun (Rom. 8:21; 9:23; Col. 1:11, 27; 1 Tim. 1:11; Titus 2:13). English translations often express this usage by the rendering "glorious." Thus, Titus 2:13 maybe better translated "the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."
7. Paul immediately follows his reference to Jesus Christ by speaking of his accomplishments for our salvation (Titus 2:14), confirming that in this context Jesus Christ is "our Savior."
8. The pattern of Paul's references to "our Savior" in Titus - three references to "God our Savior" each followed closely by a reference to Jesus Christ as "our Savior" (1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6) - is disrupted if 2:13 does not refer to Jesus Christ as Savior.
The epistle of 2 Peter, then, opens by affirming that Jesus Christ is "our God and Savior." It closes, appropriately, with a doxology of praise to Jesus Christ: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (2 Peter 3:18). The verbal parallels in those opening and closing verses between "our God and Savior Jesus Christ" and "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," as well as the concluding doxology directing eternal glory to Jesus Christ, are stunningly clear affirmations that Jesus Christ is indeed our Lord and our God.
See Titus 2.13, cf. 2 Peter 1.1
Two of the shortest books of the New Testament contain similar - and very strong - affirmations of Jesus Christ as God. In his epistle to Titus, the apostle Paul states that Christians "wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).
The equally short epistle of 2 Peter opens by describing its readers as "those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (1:1). Both of these texts describe Jesus using the two titles God and Savior. Not everyone agrees that these verses call Jesus "God" One cult, for example, translates Titus 2:13 "of the great God and of [the] Savior of us, Christ Jesus" and 2 Peter 1:1 "of our God and [the] Savior Jesus Christ" (NWT). The bracketed insertions of the word ‘the’ make a significant difference. Read these verses without the bracketed insertions - especially 2 Peter 1:1 - and they sound like they are referring to Jesus as both God and the pronoun appears.)
When this construction occurs in ancient Greek using singular personal nouns that are not proper names (that is, nouns like father, Lord, king, not Jesus, Peter, or Paul), the two nouns refer to the same person. The first writer to analyze this construction in a formal way did so in the late eighteenth century. He was an English Christian abolitionist named Granville Sharp; for that reason, the analysis of this construction is commonly known as Granville Sharp's rule. The New Testament contains plenty of examples supporting Sharp's rule. The epistles of Paul, for example, refer to "our God and Father" (Gal. 1:4; Phil. 4:20; 1 Thess. 1:3; 3:11, 13) and "the God and Father" (Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 15:24), which certainly refer to one person by both titles God and Father. There are numerous additional examples, many of little or no theological import.
The evidence that Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 call Jesus God goes beyond Sharp's rule. In Titus, the expression "our Savior" (soteros hemon) occurs six times. In five of those six occurrences, the article "the" (tou) immediately precedes "our Savior" (1:3, 4; 2:10; 3:4, 6); the one exception is Titus 2:13. The obvious and only good explanation for this variation is that "our Savior" is governed by the same article that governs "great God." Another piece of evidence in the context of Titus 2:13 is Paul's use of the word epiphaneia ("appearing”).
Another piece of evidence in the context of Titus 2:13 is Paul's use of the word epiphaneia ("appearing,”) from which we derive the word epiphany. In the Bible this word occurs only in Paul's writings, mostly in the Pastoral Epistles (2 Thess. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13), and always referring to the appearing of Jesus Christ, unless Titus 2:13 is the sole exception. The close parallel between Titus 2:13 and 2 Timothy 1:10 ("the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus") effectively rules out the possibility that Titus 2:13 is an exception. So when Paul says that Christians are awaiting "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), we can be sure that the one who will be "appearing" will indeed be Jesus Christ.
Several factors cumulatively offer strong support for understanding "Jesus Christ" to be identifying "our great God and Savior," not "the glory," in Titus 2:13.
1. "Our great God and Savior" is immediately adjacent to "Jesus Christ."
2. It would be odd to speak of the appearing of God's glory and not mean that the one who is appearing is God.
3. Paul never refers to Jesus as God's "glory" (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).
4. All other things being equal, a personal designation like "our great God and Savior" is more likely to be identified as a person ("Jesus Christ") than is an abstraction ("the glory").
5. Elsewhere in the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus), whenever Paul uses the word epiphaneia ("appearing"), it refers to the manifestation of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1, 8), not of an abstract quality (“the glory”) related to God or Christ.
6. In as many as twelve out of eighteen times in his epistles that Paul uses the term "the glory" in the genitive case (tes doxes), it likely functions as a descriptive modifier of the preceding noun (Rom. 8:21; 9:23; Col. 1:11, 27; 1 Tim. 1:11; Titus 2:13). English translations often express this usage by the rendering "glorious." Thus, Titus 2:13 maybe better translated "the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."
7. Paul immediately follows his reference to Jesus Christ by speaking of his accomplishments for our salvation (Titus 2:14), confirming that in this context Jesus Christ is "our Savior."
8. The pattern of Paul's references to "our Savior" in Titus - three references to "God our Savior" each followed closely by a reference to Jesus Christ as "our Savior" (1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6) - is disrupted if 2:13 does not refer to Jesus Christ as Savior.
The epistle of 2 Peter, then, opens by affirming that Jesus Christ is "our God and Savior." It closes, appropriately, with a doxology of praise to Jesus Christ: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (2 Peter 3:18). The verbal parallels in those opening and closing verses between "our God and Savior Jesus Christ" and "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," as well as the concluding doxology directing eternal glory to Jesus Christ, are stunningly clear affirmations that Jesus Christ is indeed our Lord and our God.
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