Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; -Titus 2:13
In spite of the word trinity not being found in the Bible, the Bible nonetheless teaches the concept. The word theology is not in the Bible either, however there is in fact theology in the Bible. In the Muslim world many furiously tout that Jesus was a created being, and that the Bible fails to teach the divinity of Christ. Suppose I were to tell you that there is ironclad rule of sorts that illustrates that the holy text pronounces that Jesus is in fact God?
"I before E except after C!" -Mrs Paetschow (My 3rd grade teacher)
Most of us have heard of this rule right as it applies to English right? Well it actually really isn't a rule at all but rather a guideline, as there are several exceptions. Well there is a hard and fast rule, in the Greek language known as Granville Sharp's rule. In 100% of the cases with zero exceptions, it applies when certain conditions are met. I know some of you antsy types may be thinking...
"SO WHAT? What does this have to do with Jesus being God?!" -An impatient skeptic
Well, I'll get to that friend, let me just first say this. In the first to verses I posted above, many of the critics who bolster that Jesus isn't God of eternity past will try to argue that "God and our Savior" and "great God and our Savior" refers to two separate beings, rather than to Jesus himself. They'll proudly parrot that there will be an appearing of God and Jesus who they deem as completely separate, and on the surface, you may think they have a case. Unfortunately for them, the Granville Sharp rule decimates this interpretation like a wind blown on a house of toothpicks. Allow me to demonstrate.
From gotquestions.org:
"In simpler terms, the Granville Sharp Rule says that when two singular common nouns are used to describe a person, and those two nouns are joined by an additive conjunction, and the definite article precedes the first noun but not the second, then both nouns refer to the same person. This principle of semantics holds true in all languages."
Article (e.g. a/an/the) Substantive (noun, adj, or participle) + additive conjunction (in our case the word "and") + Substantive = reference to the same person
If the substantives are the same in gender, number (singular or plural), and case, it refers to the same person 100% of the time. A simple example with an English equivalent would be:
We met the captain and sailor of the ship.
You'll notice that the definite article "the" precedes the first noun captain, followed by the additive conjunction "and" then finally the next noun "sailor". By this rule we understand that the sailor and captain are the same person. For the sake of argument, let's look at the same sentence with two definite articles,
We met the captain and the sailor of the ship.
Notice that the additional definite article "the" in front of sailor makes the captain and sailor distinctive.
Now let's look at Titus 2:13, "...the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"
Let's apply the rule here, the definite article "the" precedes the first noun "God" the additive conjunction "and" joins with the noun "Saviour" without a definite article. Both nouns are singular. In other words Jesus is referred to as the great God AND Savior, without question. In the Greek it's no different, the additive conjunction "and" is "kai" and the gender, case, and number is the same. Vested in the written laws of grammar, those who say otherwise are simply mistaken.
Jesus is God, came to us in the form of a man, to saved all who have sinned (this includes you). As a result of his perfection, he was a worthy sacrifice to justify all men, the unblemished Lamb of God. Peter writes he bore all our sins at the cross (1st Peter 2:24), Paul writes he became sin who knew no sin (2nd Cor 5:21). Jesus did all the work for you (Ephesians 2:8-9), you just have to trust in him (Romans 10:9). He did so because of his great love for you (Romans 5:8). Salvation is a free gift. Christ can justify you by the power of faith in Him (Romans 4:5). In trusting Christ this means all your sins are forgiven, and Christ's righteousness is automatically charged to your account. All your past, present, and future sin debt is cleared. You gain entry to heaven forever with God because your sins are forgiven through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As the scriptures saith, "for without blood, there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22). Without Christ there is an eternal penalty for sin (Revelation 20:15; 21:8). God has made a way to save you from the judgment of your sin. Won't you trust him today?
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved -Romans 10:13
**For more on the Granville Sharp Rule -----> looky here.<------
