Granville-Sharp

GregStffrd at aol.com GregStffrd at aol.com
Mon Oct 2 18:06:36 EDT 2000


In a message dated 10/02/2000 5:10:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
burer at bible.org writes:

<< Dear Greg:
 
 Traditionally Granville Sharp's rule is defined as not applying to proper
 names. Arguing that semantic equivalents are are also excluded goes beyond
 the scope
 of the rule, in my opinion. I'd like to know how you came to include "terms
 carrying the semantic weight of proper names" in your definition, since this
 is an addition to how Sharp's rule is usually defined.
 
 Best regards,
 
 Michael Burer
 Ph.D. Student
 Dallas Theological Seminary
  >>


Dear Michael:

I published a lengthy discussion of this very subject in my book, Jehovah's 
Witnesses Defended, (http://www.elihubooks.com). Be sure to consider the 2d. 
edition, if you are interested, though the first also contains a useful 
discussion. 

My conclusions are based on data derived from the NT and other contemporary 
sources. This view, in certain respects, is not really new, for even Dan 
Wallace, DTS professor, in his thesis on the subject, admits to the view that 
certain terms (such as "Lord" in 2 Thess. 1:12 or "Christ" in Eph 5:5) carry 
the same weight as proper names. 

I argue that the same is true for other terms, such as "God" and "Savior," 
*especially* when they are used in conjunction with a proper name, such as 
"Jesus Christ" (as in Titus 2:13) which effectively limits the application of 
"Savior," there. Whether "Jesus Christ is also in apposition to "the Great 
God" is another matter (as is the question of whether or not "the Great God" 
was a term restricted in its application to God the Father by the early 
Christians and Jews [I believe that it was and document why in my book]), but 
no one can claim that "Jesus Christ" is not appositional to "Savior." 

I spoke to Dan about this subject a few years back, over the phone, and asked 
him what he thought about 1 Timothy 6:13, which he was not aware of at that 
time (as a GS text), and he pulled out his text, read it, and said that he 
viewed "Christ" as a proper name and thus not a legitimate example of the GS 
rule. I believe that in addition to the this the appositional force of what 
is said about God and Christ in that 1 Timothy 6:13 effectively make definite 
the terms joined by KAI. (Of course, QEOU there is also definite because of 
the article.)

When we say proper names do not work as part of the GS rule, it is because 
these terms do not require the use of the article to be made sufficiently 
definite. The same is true, indeed, *even more so the case I would argue,* 
for terms that are restricted in their application to particular beings, 
whereas even proper names are capable of being applied to more than one 
being. (This same may not be true with terms carrying the semantic weight of 
proper names, which would then make their weight even greater, comparatively 
speaking.)

For more, please see my Excursus on the GS rule, in partial response to 
Wallace's thesis, and my forthcoming volume devoted exclusively to the GS 
rule apart from doctrinal considerations of a particular group.

Best regards,

Greg Stafford



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