Sharp's Rule: Primer (an excerpt of my study)
In an attempt to prove the trinity doctrine, Granville Sharp made up a rule in 1798. It is often called "Sharp's Rule" by trinitarians. It says, in effect, that when two or more words (nouns) in the Greek New Testament (NT) text are joined by the word "and," they all refer to the
same person if the word "the" (the
article) comes before the first noun and not before the other noun(s).
For example, if we saw "
the king
and _master of the slave" in the Greek text of the Bible, it would always mean, according to Sharp, that only
one person was being called both "king" and "master." ("King" and "master" are joined by "and" - - only "king" has the article.)
Sharp invented this rule after he noticed this particular construction (sometimes called a "Sharp's construction") was used with "God" and "Christ" in 5 places in the NT. If he could convince others that his "rule" was true, then they would think there was
finally (after 1400 years of a "trinity" tradition) absolute grammatical Bible
proof (see WALLACE study paper) that God and Jesus are the same "person"!
The 5 "proofs" of Jesus' Godhood according to Sharp are (in the literal wording of the NT Greek texts):
(a) Titus 2:13: "of
the great God
and savior of us Christ Jesus"
τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
(b) 2 Pet. 1:1: "righteousness of
the God of us
and savior Jesus Christ"
δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
(c) 2 Thess. 1:12:"the grace of
the God of us
and Lord Jesus Christ"
τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
(d) 1 Tim. 5:21: "in sight of
the God
and Christ Jesus
and the chosen angels"
ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων
(e) Eph. 5:5: "...in the kingdom of
the Christ
and God"
ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ
Since the first noun ("God" in the first four scriptures) has the article ("the") with it and the following noun ("savior" in the first two scriptures) does not have the article ("the"), then (
according to Sharp) God and Christ (the savior, etc.) are the
same person!
There are a number of reasons why Sharp's Rule, as applied to these 5 "proofs," is invalid (See the
SHARP study -
http://examiningthetrinity.blogspot.com/2009/10/sharps-rule.html). One important strike against it is the fact that even many respected
trinitarian NT grammar experts and translators have rejected it as a valid rule - e.g., see G. B. Winer; J. H. Moulton; C. F. D. Moule; Dr. James Moffatt (see Titus 2:13; and 1 Tim. 5:21); Dr. William Barclay (2 Thess. 1:12); and Roman Catholic scholar Karl Rahner (2 Peter 1:1).
In vol. 5, p. 257 the respected
The Expositor's Greek Testament says: "In the present case [Jude 1:4], however, the second noun (
kupiov [“
lord”]) belongs to the class of words which may stand without the article .... A similar
doubtful case is found in
Tit. ii. 13.... Other examples of the same kind are Eph. v. 5 ... 2 Thess. i: 12 ... 1 Tim. v. 21 (cf. 2 Tim. iv. 1) ... 2 Peter i. 1."
For example, examine the following trinitarian Bible's renderings of these "Sharp's Constructions":
2 Thess. 1:12 -
KJV; KJIIV; NASB; NAB (1970);
MLB; LB; GNB; RSV; NRSV; NIV.
Eph. 5:5 -
KJV; KJIIV; RSV; NRSV; LB; MLB; NIV; NEB; REB; GNB; TEV; NAB (`70,'91).
2 Tim. 4:1 - most trinitarian Bibles.
1 Tim. 6:13 - all trinitarian Bibles.
These many respected Bibles, translated by expert
trinitarian New Testament scholars, clearly disregard Sharp's "Rule" at these (and other) places and show
two persons being spoken of!
Notice Eph. 5:5, for example. Most trinitarian Bibles translate this example of Sharp's Construction: "in the kingdom of Christ
and of God" -
KJV; NRSV; RSV; NIV; NEB; REB; NAB; Douay; MLB; LB; GNB; TEV; The Amplified Bible; Third Millenium Bible; New Living Translation; New Century Version; God's Word; Holman Christian Standard Bible; Wesley's New Testament; Phillips; and the Webster Bible. This is
not the way it would be translated if the two descriptions were of the same person! (At the
very least it would be rendered more literally as "the kingdom of
the Christ and God.") Instead it clearly shows
two persons!
Even trinitarian scholar Murray J. Harris notes, in discussing Eph. 5:5, that “It is highly improbable that Paul would introduce a profound, unqualified doctrinal affirmation (Christ is
theos) in an incidental manner [such as here], in a context where the assertion is not crucial to the flow of argument.” - p. 262,
Jesus as God, Baker Book House, 1992.
Also, 1 Tim. 6:13 is translated in trinitarian Bibles as: "before (in the sight or presence of) God ...
and before Christ Jesus...". Although Sharp's Rule insists that this should be translated to show that it is speaking of the same person, it obviously is not! Most trinitarian grammar experts simply do not believe Sharp's Rule is a valid absolute rule!
Of the many reasons invalidating Sharp's Rule grammatically there are at least two of extreme importance - each of which is conclusive by itself.
(1) Prepositional Constructions (with phrases containing prepositions: "
of God;" "
in the Lord;" "God
of...;" etc.) are known by NT grammarians to cause
uncertainty of article usage. That is, if a prepositional phrase (which also includes use of
genitives) is attached to a word, that word may
sometimes have the article ("the") and
sometimes not have it --
without changing the intended meaning! (See A. T. Robertson, pp. 780, 790, 791; C. F. D. Moule, p. 117; J. H. Moulton, pp. 175, 179-180; et al.)
This means that the NT writers sometimes wrote, for example, "
The God
of me" (
with article) and "_God
of me" (
without article) with exactly the same intended meaning. The definite article ("the") was ambiguous in such cases.
Therefore any grammatical rules which depend on the presence or absence of the article in the NT Greek must not use as examples those scriptures which use a 'prepositional' construction attached to a word (noun) in question
if they are to be used
honestly and
properly.
But if you examine the 5 trinitarian "proofs" above, you will see that they
all use such prepositional constructions: "
of us" in
(a) Titus 2:13 and
(b) 2 Peter 1:1 is a "prepositional"
genitive, and even "savior" itself is a
genitive in both scriptures and literally means "
of savior;" "Lord" in
(c) 2 Thess. 1:12 is a
genitive and literally means "
of Lord" (as rendered in the
Modern Language Bible; Living Bible; Good News Bible; Douay Version; New American Bible [1970 ed.]; and Barclay's
Daily Study Bible); "Christ" in
(d)1 Tim. 5:21 is a
genitive and literally means "
of Christ" (as in the
Good News Bible [and TEV]; New American Standard Bible; Modern Language Bible;
Revised Standard Version; and
New Revised Standard Version); and "God" in
(e) Eph. 5:5 is a
genitive and literally means "
of God" (as in the
King James Version; Revised Standard Version; New Revised Standard Version; Living Bible; New English Bible; Revised English Bible; Modern Language Bible;
New American Bible (1970 and 1991)
; Douay Version; New International Version; Good News Bible; and Phillips translation).
Therefore all 5 Sharp's "proofs" are invalid on the basis of
prepositional constructions alone!
(2) New Testament scholars, including noted trinitarian NT grammar experts, point out that the use of
proper names ("John," "Moses," "Jesus," etc.) also causes uncertain article usage in NT Greek. (A. T. Robertson,
Grammar, p. 791, and
Word Pictures, p. 46, Vol. iv; C. F. D. Moule, p. 115; J. H. Moulton [Turner], Vol. 3, pp. 165-167; et. al.)
So not only did the NT Bible writers sometimes use the article and sometimes
not use the article with the very same intended meaning with the very same proper name (e.g. "
the James" and "James"), but even when a proper name is used as an
appositive it also causes irregular article usage with the other associated nouns. - Robertson, pp. 760, 791.
For example, when "Jesus" and "Christ" are in apposition to each other ("Jesus Christ" or "Christ Jesus"), they are nearly always (96% of the time - see SHARP study) written
without the definite article in the writings of Paul regardless of "Sharp's rule" or any other grammatical/syntactical consideration!
If we examine the first 4 of the 5 "proofs" above, we see that the proper name "Jesus" is used as an
appositive with the word in question in each case! In other words, "Christ
Jesus" is the appositive for "savior" in Titus 2:13. This means sometimes "savior" will have "the" with it in such a situation and sometimes it won't (with no change in meaning). "
Jesus Christ" is the appositive for "savior" in 2 Peter 1:1, and article usage (or non-usage) with "savior" in the original NT Greek in such circumstances is virtually meaningless. "
Jesus Christ" is in apposition to (an
appositive for) "Lord" in 2 Thess. 1:12. And "Jesus" is in apposition (at least) to "Christ" in 1 Tim. 5:21. These examples, therefore, are completely invalid as evidence for Jesus being God even
if there were actually some validity to Sharp's "Rule" with
proper examples! And the 5th example, Eph. 5:5, is incredibly poor in context alone. Even noted trinitarian scholar A.T. Robertson has to admit that the 'evidence' of Eph. 5:5 is doubtful -
Word Pictures, Vol. 4, pp. 46 and 543. No objective person could accept it alone as real evidence of Jesus' Godhood!
Some PREPOSITIONAL examples found in NT Greek:
"The God of Abraham and _God of Isaac and _God of Jacob" - Luke 20:37.
"The God of Abraham and
the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob" - Matt. 22:32.
"James, _slave of God and _Lord Jesus Christ" - James 1:1
"By command of _God savior of us and _Christ Jesus" - 1 Tim. 1:1.
"I am
the root and
the offspring of David" - Rev. 22:16.
Some PROPER NAME examples found in NT Greek:
"having seen _Peter and _John" (no articles) - Acts 3:3.
"holding fast ...
the Peter and
the John" (both articles) - Acts 3:11.
"beholding the outspokenness of
the Peter and _John" (
Sharp's) - Acts 4:13.
"But
the Peter and _John" (
Sharp's construction) - Acts 4:19.
So we see the Bible writer who is recognized as the most knowledgeable in NT Greek (Luke) showing the great ambiguity of article usage with proper names. If we did not exclude proper names as valid examples, we would have to agree that either Luke believed Peter and John were
the same person or that he was completely unaware of Sharp's Rule (or any first century equivalent)!
