Study 95 – Titus 2:13

Just to say a note about the study of Titus 2:13 before we begin. There are a few technical things we
need to discuss here and I'm going to try my best to put these issue in the clearest language as possible.
If you do not know the rules of the Greek language then it will just be a useless study on a very
important topic. This passage in Titus is one of the most commonly used to show that Jesus is God in
some form as Trinitarianism (traditionalism) claims.

There three verses that are used for a primary proof by traditionalists all have one common theme and
that theme is built on one popular, but unstable, rule known as the 'Granville Sharp's Rule'. The name
comes from the gentleman which claimed its discovery and is applied in a number of key passages that
apparently prove that God is three in one.

The three verses of primary importance are:

2 Thessalonians 1:12, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1

Granville Sharp's Rule

The rule in question contends that when the word 'and' is used to join two nouns of the same case then
the first noun that has the definite article and the second noun does not then they are seen as refering to
one subject.

Definite article 'the' Noun 1 'and' Noun 2 are seen as one subject.
In our case it is commonly written as:

Titus 2:13 NASB

...looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

In many English Bible translations this is the way it is rendered. Now, as the English is read we would
assume that 'our great God and Savior' are being identified as one person. The very popular NIV as
renders it in a similar way:
Titus 2:13 NIV
'...while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of
the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ...'

Here in just these two translations we read that God is clearly intended to mean Jesus but in all fairness
the King James Version (KJV) renders it with the article attached to the second noun.

Titus 2:13 KJV

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

The secon noun has an article before it and separates noun 1, God, from noun 2, Jesus which leaves the
reader with a very clear distinction between the two nouns, God and Jesus.

• that blessed hope, refers to the glorious appearing which is signified as the resurrection of God's
 deceased people (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This event will accompany the return of Jesus,
which is known as the parousia/epiphany. (Study 74)
-as a side note here God's people also are not those of Jesus but Jesus has been entrusted by
his Father to keep/protect/preserve them. (cf. John 6:37 John 10:29)

Scholars

There are scholars on both sides of the fence, Catholic and Protestant, that very much disagree with the
rule. These grammarians such as: Nigel Turner, J. N. D. Kelly, Raymond Brown, are all in a common
agreement that Sharp's rule is not valid due to it's lack of continuity throughout the NT.

Nigel Turner (Trinitarian)

“Unfortunately, at this period of Greek we cannot
be sure that such a rule is really decisive.”
(Found in V3 of James Hope Moulton, 'A Grammar of New Testament Greek'
§ Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, 1965)

J. N. D. Kelly
“the absence of the article cannot count as
decisive, for 'Savior' tended to be anarthrous
(cf. 1 Tim. 1:1), and in any case the correct
use of the article was breaking down in
the late Greek.”

Raymond Brown (Catholic)

“It is unfortunate that no certainty can be
reached here, for it seems that this passage
is the one which shaped the confession of the
World Council of Churches in 'Jesus Christ
is God and Savior' “
Jesus, God and Man p. 18