Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ

EddieM · Thursday at 8:41 PM

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.

Magenta · Thursday at 9:15 PM

Titus 2 verses 11-13 ~ The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. 12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. .

tygger2 · 2025-04-18T16:25:42-0400

EddieM said:

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Titus 2:13

Bible translations old and new:

13 lokynge for that blessed hope and appearynge of the glory of ye greate God and of oure Sauioure Iesu Christ - Coverdale

13 lokynge for þe blessed hope & appearinge of the glory of the greate God, & of oure sauioure Iesu Christ, - The Great Bible

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and appearing of that glorie of that mightie God, and of our Sauiour Iesus Christ, - Geneva

13 abidinge the blessid hope and the comyng of the glorie of the greet God, and of oure sauyour Jhesu Crist; - Wycliffe

13 lokinge for that blessed hope and glorious apperenge of ye myghty god and of oure savioure Iesu Christ - Tyndale

13 in expectation of that desirable happiness, the glorious appearance of the supreme God, and of our saviour Jesus Christ, - Mace

13 awaiting the blessed hope of the appearance of the Glory of the great God and of our Saviour Christ Jesus, - Moffatt

13 expecting the blessed hope; namely, the appearing of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ; - The Living Oracles

13 looking for the blessed hope, and appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ; - Noyes

13 waiting for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus, - Riverside

13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, - Sawyer

(New American Bible - 1970) as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus

(New American Bible - 1991) as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ

(New American Bible - 2010) as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ

(A New Translation in Plain English - Charles K. Williams) while we wait for the blessed thing we hope for, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ

And while we live this life we hope and wait for the glorious denouement of the Great God and of Jesus Christ our saviour. - Phillips

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and appearing of that glory of that mighty God, and of our Savior Jesus Christ. - GNV

"looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the mighty God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ," - NMB

According to An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek, by C. F. D. Moule, Cambridge, England, 1971, p. 109, at Titus 2:13, the sense "of the Great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ ... is possible in [New Testament] Greek even without the repetition [of the definite article before the second noun]."

Noted British NT scholar and trinitarian clergyman Henry Alford wrote: "I would submit that [a translation which clearly differentiates God from Christ at Titus 2:13] satisfies all the grammatical requirements of the sentence: that it is both structurally and contextually more probable, and more agreeable to the Apostle’s [Paul’s] way of writing: and I have therefore preferred it." - The Greek Testament, p. 421, Vol. 3.

Pilgrimshope · 2025-04-18T16:57:06-0400

EddieM said:

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, ( Christ Jesus ) justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

It’s like a person and his right own tight arm they arent seperate people they are one person , but the right arm has a purpose in being manifest . It doesn’t speak and breath as it’s own person but it’s part of the whole person and has its purpose.

there came a time when the God of heaven was manifest in the flesh of mankind upon earth , this is Jesus the christ. God manifest in the flesh.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭9:6-8‬ ‭

God became flesh partaking of flesh and blood as he hadn’t beforhand ever been born upon earth like men are never been made flesh like men are

god did this for us he partook of flesh and blood on the body and form of Jesus Christ

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil…

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, ( like us when he was made flesh ) he is able to succour them that are tempted.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭2:16-18‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:14-16‬ ‭KJ

Jesus is indeed God but the head of Christ is God the father and the right arm of God the father is Jesus Christ the man God who was manifest in the flesh preached unto the people believed in in the world and then was caught up to the glory of heaven the glory of God the father

“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
‭‭John‬ ‭17:4-5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Jesus is the eternal God but he was manifest in the flesh of man this is Jesus the Christ . It’s why when Jesus is standing before man he speaks of his father who is in heaven they are one but it’s as if a person is reaching his arm out to you it’s improper to reject Jesus divinity or his humanity both aspects are what makes him unique as Christ he is the mighty God of heaven and earth manifest in the form and flesh of mankind. And now seated at his right hand having made intercession for us and contonuong oir advocacy as our intercessor forever

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭7:25‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The reason he became a man is that before jesus came there was no man To intercede and so he became a man our intercessor

“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭59:16‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Now there is an intercessor since Jesus lived as a worthy sinless man died for mankind’s sin and rose by his righteousness and ascended to heaven as our intercessor forever

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:34‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The effect was this

“who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬

hes constantly interceding now before that man was constantly accused by the law for thier sins now we have an advocate who suffered and died for our sins advocating for us with God

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

We needed this mediation of a high priest that Jesus the righteous man of God offers

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭2:5-6‬ ‭

Other priests sacrificed animals blood Jesus sacrificed himself

tygger2 · 2025-04-18T17:57:24-0400

Pilgrimshope said:

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1 Tim. 3:16 ("God was manifest in the flesh")

12 As this is translated in the KJV it makes Paul say that Jesus is God "manifest in the flesh."
Although the KJV translates 1 Tim. 3:16 with "God" as above, nearly all other translations today use a word which refers, not to God, but to Jesus: "he" (NIV; RSV; NRSV; JB; NJB; REB; NAB [`70]; AT; GNB; CBW; and Beck's translation), "he who" (ASV; NASB; NEB; MLB; BBE; Phillips; and Moffatt), "who," or "which." Even the equally old Douay version has "which was manifested in the flesh." All the very best modern NT texts by trinitarian scholars (including Westcott and Hort, Nestle, and the text by the United Bible Societies) have the NT Greek word oV ("who") here instead of qeoV ("God"). Why do the very best trinitarian scholars support this NON-trinitarian translation of 1 Tim. 3:16?

Noted trinitarian Bible scholar Dr. Frederick C. Grant writes:

“A capital example [of NT manuscript changes] is found in 1 Timothy 3:16, where ‘OS’ (OC or ὃς, ‘who’) was later taken for theta sigma with a bar above, which stood for theos (θεὸς, ‘god’). Since the new reading suited …. the orthodox doctrine of the church [trinitarian, at this later date], it got into many of the later manuscripts – though the majority even of Byzantine manuscripts still preserved the true reading.” – p. 656, Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 3, 1957 ed. (This same statement by Dr. Grant was still to be found in the latest Encyclopedia Americana that I examined – the 1990 ed., pp.696-698, vol. 3.)

A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by the United Bible Societies (1971 ed.) tells why the trinitarian UBS Committee chose ὃς [‘who’ or ‘he who’] as the original reading in their NT text for this verse.
“it is supported by the earliest and best uncials.” And, “Thus, no uncial (in the first hand [by the ORIGINAL writer]) earlier than the eighth or ninth century supports θεὸς [“God”]; all ancient versions presuppose ὃς [or OC, “who” - masc.] or ὅ[“which” - neut.]; and no patristic writer prior to the last third of the fourth century [370 A.D.] testifies to the reading θεὸς. The reading θεὸς arose either (a) accidentally, through the misreading of OC as ΘC, or (b) deliberately....” - p. 641

In actuality it appears to be a combination of both (with the emphasis on the latter). You see, the word ὃς was written in the most ancient manuscripts as OC (“C” being a common form for the ancient Greek letter “S” at that time). Most often at this time the word for God (θεὸς) was written in abbreviated form as ΘC. However, to show that it was an abbreviated form a straight line, or bar, was always drawn above ΘC. So no copyist should have mistaken ὃς (or OC) for ΘC, in spite of their similarities, simply because of the prominent bar which appeared over the one and not over the other.

What may have happened was discovered by John J. Wetstein in 1714. As he was carefully examining one of the oldest NT manuscripts then known (the Alexandrine Manuscript in London) he noticed at 1 Tim. 3:16 that the word originally written there was OC but that a horizontal stroke from one of the words written on the other side of the manuscript showed through very faintly in the middle of the O. This still would not qualify as an abbreviation for θεὸς, of course, but Wetstein discovered that some person at a much later date and in a different style from the original writer had deliberately added a bar above the original word! Anyone copying from this manuscript after it had been deliberately changed would be likely to incorporate the counterfeit ΘC [with bar above it] into his new copy (especially since it reflected his own trinitarian views)!

Of course, since Wetstein’s day many more ancient NT manuscripts have been discovered and none of them before the eighth century A.D. have been found with ΘC (“God”) at this verse!

Trinitarian scholar Murray J. Harris also concludes:

“The strength of the external evidence favoring OC [‘who’], along with considerations of transcriptional and intrinsic probability, have prompted textual critics virtually unanimously to regard OC as the original text, a judgment reflected in NA(26) [Nestle-Aland text] and UBS (1,2,3) [United Bible Societies text] (with a ‘B’ rating) [also the Westcott & Hort text]. Accordingly, 1 Tim 3:16 is not an instance of the Christological [‘Jesus is God’] use of θεὸς.” - Jesus as God, p. 268, Baker Book House, 1992.

And trinitarian (Southern Baptist) NT Greek scholar A. T. Robertson wrote about this scripture:

“He who (hos [or OC in the original text]). The correct text, not theos (God) the reading of the Textus Receptus ... nor ho (neuter relative [pronoun]), agreeing with [the neuter] musterion [‘mystery’] the reading of Western documents.” - p. 577, Vol. 4, Word Pictures in the New Testament, Broadman Press.
And even hyper-trinitarian NT Greek scholar, Daniel B. Wallace uses the relative pronoun ὃς (‘who’) in this scripture and tells us:

“The textual variant θεὸς [‘god’] in the place of ὃς[‘who’ or ‘he who’] has been adamantly defended by some scholars, particularly those of the ‘majority text’ school. Not only is such a reading poorly attested, but the syntactical argument that ‘mystery’ (μυστήριον) being a neuter noun, cannot be followed by the masculine pronoun (ὃς) is entirely without weight. As attractive theologically [for trinitarians, of course] as the reading θεὸς may be, it is spurious. To reject it is not to deny the deity of Christ, of course; it is just to deny any explicit reference in this text.” [italicized emphasis is by Wallace]. - pp. 341-342, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, Zondervan, 1996.

The correct rendering of 1 Tim. 3:16, then, is: “He who was revealed in the flesh ….” - NASB. Cf. ASV; RSV; NRSV; NAB; JB; NJB; NIV; NEB; REB; ESV; Douay-Rheims; TEV; CEV; BBE; NLV; God’s Word; New Century Version; Holman NT; ISV NT; Lexham English Bible; The Message; Weymouth; Moffatt; etc.

Even if we were to insist that those later manuscripts that used theos were, somehow, correct, we would have to recognize that it is the anarthrous (without the definite article) theos which we find. This is rarely, if ever, the form used for the only true God (when the known exceptions are taken into account). Instead, it either points to the probability that it is a corrupted os (which of course would not have the article in the first place), or, less probable, but still possible, that Christ is being called "a god" - see the BOWGOD and DEF studies.

GWH · 2025-04-19T06:21:44-0400

EddieM said:

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.

While looking at Titus 2:13 I noticed that 2:11 supports what I call "seeking grace", so added it to TOP #149 on our website.
Thanks.

TOP #149: Sinners are saved by God’s grace through their faith, which is not a meritorious work. [EPH 2:8-9] This precludes any grounds for boasting that one deserves salvation because of a person’s own goodness (cf. TOP #250). God’s grace begins by enabling all sinners to seek Him and find salvation, which might be called “seeking grace” (MT 7:7, TIT 2:11).

(I am considering where the reference to Jesus as God and Savior might need to be added.)

vassal · 2025-04-19T10:22:40-0400

EddieM said:

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.

not one word from Jesus from the books of Matthew, John, Luke, Mark or of the old testament points to Jesus, the Messiah? all was said before paul said it

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Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ

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