The Nugget: Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; The Challenge:

13. John 17:3 and Eternal Life:

- Jesus' prayer identifies the Father as the only true God, positioning himself as the sent one. 8. John 20:28 and Thomas’ Declaration: - Thomas calling Jesus "My Lord and my God" can be understood as an expression of awe and recognition of divine authority bestowed upon Jesus by God.

9. Titus 2:13 and the Appearance of Glory:

- This verse speaks to the awaited return of Jesus in glory, seen as a divine act but does not explicitly state Jesus is God. My Rebuttal: Very interesting post. Your proffered interpretation of the verses supporting the Deity of Christ is extremely flawed and one-sided, reflecting an Arian and Unitarian bias that fails to face the facts about what these verses teach. Especially flawed is your understanding and interpretation of John 17:3, John 20:28, and Titus 2:13. John 17:3 is misinterpreted by all those who fail to properly account for its context and its logic. I have dealt with this text at length on my Real Bible Study site. Place "John 17:3" in the search box to access several articles I have written. John 20:28 is not a mere exclamation, but an explicit declaration of Who Jesus is, the climax of testimony to the Deity of Christ, the Son of God, that you might believe. Thomas directly calls Jesus "My Lord and my God." Titus 2:13, "Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" is an instance of the Figure of Speech Hendiadys, where two words (here, God and Savior) are used, but one thing is meant, involving nouns. Thus God and our Savior Jesus Christ is a reference to one person, not two. In greater depth, I cite my note as given in my book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, and my digital expansion of that resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury: Robertson notes that as early as 1798 Granville Sharp laid down a rule which has not since been successfully discredited, that when two nouns (either substantive or adjective, or participle) of the same case are connected by "and" (kai, in Greek), nouns of personal description (respecting office, dignity, affinity, or connection, and attributes, properties, or qualities, good or ill), if the article "the" in any of its cases precedes the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not repeated before the second noun or participle, the second noun always relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the first noun or participle: i.e. it denotes a farther description of the first named person. This principle is not claimed, however, for proper names or to the plural number. Thus "the apostle and high priest of our confession" is one person, Jesus (Heb 3:1). John is referred to as "your brother, and companion" in Rev 1:9, a reference to just one person. Such expressions as "the God and Father" (Rom 15:6, 1Co 15:24, 2Co 1:3; 2Co 11:31, Gal 1:4, Eph 5:20, Php 4:20, 1Th 1:3; 1Th 3:11; 1Th 3:13, Rev 1:6) and "the Lord and Father" (Jas 1:27; Jas 3:9) are all used of one person, not two. So likewise "the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2Pe 2:20; 2Pe 3:2) is a reference to one person. The introduction of the word "our" in 2Pe 1:11; 2Pe 3:18 does not affect the idiom. Following the same principle for the identical construction in Greek for 2Pe 1:1, "our God and Saviour Jesus Christ" is a reference to a single person, not two. So here at Tit 2:13, the same construction is correctly rendered "our God and Saviour Jesus Christ," and the reference is to one person, not two. Attention to this construction thus yields two texts in support of the Deity of Christ that were not evident in some English translations (see Robertson, The Minister and His Greek New Testament, "The Greek Article and the Deity of Christ," pp. 61-68). When the Greek article occurs before both nouns, two persons are meant, as "let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican," two separate persons are implied (Mat 18:17, cited by William Hendrickson, Comm. on 1-2 Timothy and Titus, p. 374). Those who deny the validity of this grammatical principle are faced with the problem that if two persons are meant, then Paul is predicting the simultaneous glorious advent of both the Father and the Son at Christ’s second coming. Although the advent of the Father is supportable from other prophecies (%Dan 7:22, **Zec 14:5, *Eph 1:10), the simultaneous advent of the Father and the Son is not usually incorporated into the prophetic system of those who understand this passage to refer to two persons. +Gen 1:26, Neh 1:5; +Neh 8:6; Neh 9:32, +*Isa 9:6; Isa 19:20, Dan 2:45; Dan 9:4, *Luk 9:26, *Joh 1:1; Joh 10:30; +*Joh 20:28, +*Act 20:28, +*Rom 9:5, *Php 2:6, Col 1:15-20; *Col 2:9, 2Th 1:12 g. +*Heb 1:8, **2Pe 1:1 g. **1Jn 5:20.