Understanding Sharp’s Rule, and it’s Implications
Grandville Sharp (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) is mainly remembered for his work as an abolitionist in the fight against slavery, as well as other social injustices. However, he was also quite a self accomplished linguist of Greek and Hebrew text of the Bible. Some of this was motivated by discussions over Christ’s Deity with a Unitarian coworker. Sharp began to study Koine Greek in order to better present evidence to his friend. Sharp made a striking discovery of a special pattern of words in which he observed a rule — which has incredible implications for noting passages that name Christ as God.
Sharp’s Rule
1 may be summarized as follows:
In Koine Greek, when two personal nouns of the same case are connected by καὶ (translated as “and”), if the former has the definite article, ὁ, (translated as “the”) or any of it’s cases2, and the latter personal noun doesn’t have a definite article, then both nouns refer to the same person.
This rule has profound implications for scripture explicitly declaring the deity of Christ! If this rule is true, there are several passages that name Christ with some characteristic which is paired with the characteristic of “God”. Although many have found some exceptions to the rule, there have been no exceptions found with Sharp’s following three restrictions:
Three restrictions to Apply Sharp’s Rule to a Passage:
- The nouns must be singular in number, not plural.
For example, consider the miracle when Jesus “heal the blind and dumb, so that he both spoke and saw”. We see that this passage applies to Sharp’s Rule as the blind refers to a single person, not a group of blind men. Also note that since there is no definite article before dumb in the Greek text, whatever case blind refers to, dumb will follow the same case — here, it would be singular.
- The nouns must be personal nouns, not proper names.
According to Sharp’s definition, personal nouns are nouns which are descriptive of personal relations (son, brother, father, mother, sister, etc.), qualities (rich, blind, lame, mute, etc.), or title, offices, ranks, and the like (centurion, guard, chief ruler, tetrarch, etc.).This restriction might be the best opportunity to argue against Sharp’s Rule declaring the Deity of Christ as God. (See application of the rule in the significant passages given below). Those that hold this position state that “God” (θεὸς) is a personal name, not a title. However, if “God” is a personal name, then one could easily see that Jesus is God by simply referring to John 1:1. In that passage we read “… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (a personal noun, the name of God). However, the denominations that do not accept Jesus’ Deity believe the word θεὸς, in that verse is an adjective, and should be translated as “god-like”, or “divine”. I.e. they have always held that θεὸς is a title, not a personal name. If that is the case, then Sharp’s Rule more than applies. In either case, these denominations have a serious problem supporting a view against the Deity of Jesus with a consistent interpretation of θεὸς.
- As used by Sharp, the term nouns includes substantives, adjectives and participles.
The rule relates specifically to Koine Greek, not to English. But examples of this same construct, ὁ substantive καὶ substantive , in English, just for a rough comparison, could include:
… an officer and father of three, Stan Graham …
… a freshman and starting quarterback, Daniel Henderson …
… the lead singer and song-writer, Dolly Parton …
… the best actor and director, Michael Landon …
This syntax occurs frequently in Koine Greek. We’ll start with some non-significant examples and move on to significant examples.
General Examples
Matthew 12:22
Greek: … καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν αὐτόν, ὥστε τὸν τυφλὸν καὶ κωφὸν καὶ λαλεῖν καὶ βλέπειν
KJV: … and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb both spoke and saw.
Meaning: … the blind and dumb obviously refer to the same person
2 Corinthians 1:3
Greek: Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως.
KJV: Blessed (be) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of the mercies and God of all comfort.
Meaning: We see two examples of the rule in this verse:
(1) the God and Father refer to one person.
(2) Also, the Father of mercies, and God of comfort refer to the same person.
2 Corinthians 11:31
Greek: ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οἶδεν …
KJV: The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knows …
Meaning: the God and Father, of our Lord, refer to the same person
Ephesians 6:21
Greek: … Τυχικὸς ὁ ἀγαπητὸς ἀδελφὸς καὶ πιστὸς διάκονος ἐν κυρίῳ
KJV: … Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.
Meaning: the brother and minister refer to the same person, Tychicus
Hebrews 3:1
Greek: … κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν
KJV: … consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus …
Meaning: the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, refer to the same person
2 Peter 2:20
Greek: … ἐν ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
KJV: … in knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ …
Meaning: the Lord and Savior, refer to the same person, Jesus Christ
Other examples where we observe this syntactic construct for Sharp’s Rule include the following passages:
Romans 15:6
1 Corinthians 15:24
Galatians 1:4
Ephesians 5:20
Philippians 4:20
Colossians 2:2
1 Thessalonians 1:3
1 Thessalonians 3:11
1 Thessalonians 3:13
2 Thessalonians 2:16
Colossians 1:3
Colossians 1:12
Colossians 3:17
2 Peter 3:2,
2 Peter 3:18,
James 1:27
James 3:9
Revelation 1:16
Revelation 16:15
Significant Examples Concerning Christ Jesus
Ephesians 5:5
Greek: … ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ
KJV: … in the kingdom of Christ and of God
(unfortunately, this has been poorly translated)
Meaning: … in the kingdom of {One who is} Christ and God
2 Thessalonians 1:12
Greek: … κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
KJV: … according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ
(unfortunately, this has been poorly translated)
Meaning: … according to the grace of the God and Lord {of us}, Jesus Christ
1 Timothy 5:21
Greek: Διαμαρτύρομαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων ἵνα ταῦτα φυλάξῃς
KJV: I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things …
(unfortunately, this has been poorly translated)
Meaning: I charge (thee), before Jesus Christ, the God and Lord, and (before) the elect angels, that thou observe these things …
Titus 2:13
Greek: … τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
KJV: … that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ ( poor )
NKJV: … the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (good)
Meaning: … the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ
2 Peter 1:1
Greek: … ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·
KJV: … through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ (poor)
Meaning: … by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ ( good )
It is interesting that the KJV does an excellent job translating 2 Pet 1:11 (just a few verses down) where the same construct is used that we observer in verse 1. There, the KJV renders the text as: “… the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The question is, were the translators willing to call Jesus “Lord” in verse 11, but reluctant to name Him as “God” in verse 1 ?