Today in History: English abolitionist Granville Sharp was born on this day in 1735. However, Granville Sharp is better known in Biblical, Theological and Christological circles for a peculiar rule he discovered in the Greek text of the Bible that he believes can prove the deity of Christ. He wrote: "When the copulative kai connects two nouns of the same case, if the article ho, or any of its cases, precedes the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not repeated before the second noun or participle, the latter always relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the first noun or participle."
So, where Titus 2:13 may read in the King James Bible: "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" Granville Sharp's Rule suggests it should read "the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Criticisms appeared early on, even within his ranks. Early critic Calvin Winstanley concluded that "his biggest criticisms of Sharp's rule rest in the fact that 1) the early church fathers do not follow it and 2) the early church father's never invoked this rule to prove the divinity of Christ (though it would have been an obvious tool against such heresy)."
200 years later Granville Sharp's Rule is still debated:
"In 1798, the amateur theologian Granville Sharp published a book in which he argued that when there are two nouns of the same form ('case') joined by 'and' (kai), only the first of which has the article, the nouns are identified as the same thing. Close examination of this much used 'rule' shows it to be a fiction concocted by a man who had a theological agenda in creating it, namely, to prove that the verses we are examining in this chapter called Jesus 'God.'"
I came across this interesting comment on B-Greek: "I've followed...in wonderment at the level of interest in formulating rules with respect to theologically sensitive verses. I submit that one needs to be cautious with respect to any proposed 'rule,' especially when it is a theologically sensitive verse, including Sharp's 'rule' and Colwell's 'rule'. For example, we've seen Colwell's 'definite rule' rise to great heights of popularity in its application to John 1:1 only to wane in recent decades in favor of 'qualitativeness,' which is debatable itself.
For more on Sharp's Rule go to:
GRANVILLE SHARP'S RULE: A RESPONSE TO DAN WALLACE, OR WHY A CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW SHOULD BE LEFT ALONE STANLEY E. PORTER
Sharp's Rule and its Exceptions
Georg Benedikt Winer on Granville Sharp's Rule
the piles of exceptions to try to shore up the rule
The Granville Sharp Rule EXPOSED
Is Jesus God in Titus 2.13?
The Construction of Titus 2:13 by Ezra Abbot
What has the Trinity Done to Our Bible?
And the Word was a god: A New Book on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament - John 1:1 and The Dark History of the Trinity, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and both are only 99 cents
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