Does the Apostle Peter Call Jesus Christ “our God” in 2 Peter 1:1?
No, Peter does not call Jesus “our God” in 2 Peter 1:1.
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RSV 2
Peter 1:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with
ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
RSV
note: or, “righteousness of our God and the Savior Jesus Christ”
So the
question is, was Peter referring to only one person: “our God (and Savior)
Jesus Christ”;
or, to
two persons: "our God, and (the) Savior Jesus Christ"?
Two “messianic”
Israeli friends of mine recently presented this verse as evidence that "Jesus is God". The Hebrew translation is: בְּצִדְקַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ וּמוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ
יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ
I can
see why my friends would use this verse to claim “Jesus is God”. The translators’
presuppositions have affected their translation. But even with this
translation, there is ambiguity. Put a comma after “our God”, and oh-oh, now
Peter is referring to two persons: “the righteousness of our God, and of Jesus
our Savior”. But the Hebrew translation
is actually wrong in another way. It adds a second “our” which the Greek New
Testament does not have: “the righteousness of our God and our
Savior Jesus the Messiah”
But my Israeli friends are not alone. Most "deity of Christ" interpreters insist that 1 Peter 1:1 is referring to only one
person, “our God and Savior Jesus Christ”.
Here is the NET translation
note: “The terms "God and Savior" both refer to the same person,
Jesus Christ. This is one of the clearest statements in the NT concerning the
deity of Christ. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp
rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly
articulated the rule in 1798…. The
only issue is whether terms such as "God" and "Savior"
could be considered common nouns as opposed to proper names.”
The
particular grammatical rule that the Englishman Mr. Granville Sharp defined in
around 1800 concerning how ancient Greeks wrote Greek are a bit complicated,
and I refer you to an article
by my friend Troy Salinger for a good explanation of this rule and the
problems with it when applied to this verse. In this case, the rule involves how two
different nouns connected by the word “and” should be interpreted. Among other reasons, if “Savior Jesus Christ”
is grammatically functioning as a proper noun, like a title and name, Mr.
Jones, then the Granville Sharp rule doesn’t apply.
There
are a whole bunch of exceptions to the so-called Granville Sharp rule (actually
rules). Indeed, after Mr. Sharp published his book, there were other Trinitarian
scholars that responded and showed he was wrong about many of his claims.
Should
we interpret 2 Peter 1:1 like “God and Father”, which would be one person? Or,
should we interpret 2 Peter 1:1 as like “God and Jesus”, which would be two
persons?
The Granville
Sharp grammatical rules are complicated and ambiguous. The fact that deity of
Christ interpretation must appeal to, in fact depend on, a questionable grammatical
rule on a verse or two, proves how weak, and wrong, the “deity of Christ”
arguments are.
Here's
the question regarding 1 Peter 1:1. Did Peter think that Jesus Christ was “our God?
Two points:
1. Even for deity of Christ believing
Trinitarians, to claim that Peter is calling Jesus Christ “our God” is a big problem.
Isn’t your God the Trinity? And, what about the Father? What about the “Spirit”?
In a frantic effort to find some evidence that “Jesus is God”, aren’t you ignoring
and dishonoring the One whom Jesus called the only true God, the Father (John
17:3). Aren’t you dishonoring the one of whom Paul said “as for us there is one
God, the Father” (1 Cor. 8:6)?
If you
are a scholar and know what the Granville Sharp rule is, when you stand before
God’s appointed judge, the human person Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 17:31), imagine
trying to defend yourself by saying, “But Jesus, the Granville Sharp rule! The
Granville Sharp rule says you are “our God and Savior!” Good luck with that.
The
deity of Christ interpretation dishonors Peter and falsely testifies about
Peter. And, any and all “deity of Christ” claims are a denigration of the
Father, since they claim that the Father is not the one true God.
2. It is clear from many other Scriptures that
Peter knows exactly who God is, and who the Lord or Savior Jesus Christ is. Peter
does not confuse the identity of God and Jesus. The fact that the deity of
Christ claim appeals to some supposed point of Greek grammar for one two less
clear verses, and ignores the testimony of the rest of Scripture is simply poor
exegesis.
To
Peter, the Lord and Savior Jesus is not God. To Peter, the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ has a God, who raised him from the dead. We can see what Peter means in
2 Peter 1:1, “in the righteousness of our God, and (the) Savior Jesus Christ” by
reading Peter’s other descriptions of God and Jesus. Let’s start with the very
next verse:
2 Peter
1:2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord.
Who is
“God” in this verse? Are we really to believe that Peter switched who was God
from verse 1 to verse 2. I hate the deity of Christ identity confusion. I
reject the deity of Christ identity confusion.
John
17:1-3, having eternal life involves knowing, the having knowledge
of two persons, two beings: 1. The Father, the only true God, and
2. Jesus the Messiah whom the Father sent.
Compare
the “distributive” aspect of both 1 Pet. 1:1 and 1 Peter 1:2:
“the knowledge of…” two persons (God, and Jesus our Lord).
“the righteousness
of…” two persons (our God, and the Savior Jesus Christ).
1 Peter
1:3 . Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great
mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead,
For
Peter, God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. God and the Lord Jesus are two
different persons, two different beings.
Acts
2:22-24. "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man
attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did
through him in your midst, as you yourselves know -- 23 this Jesus, delivered up
according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and
killed by the hands of lawless men. 24
But God raised him up,
For Peter,
Jesus was a man whom God worked through, a man who was killed, whom God raised
up. Two different persons, two different beings.
Acts
2:36 Let all the house of Israel
therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus
whom you crucified."
For
Peter, God MADE Jesus Lord and Christ.
Acts
10:38-40. ..."how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with
power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him. 39
And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest."
“…according
to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Again,
God is differentiated from the Lord Jesus Christ, and grace is a characteristic
of both God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
All the
English translation insert “the” before “Lord Jesus Christ” even though “the”
is not in the Greek. Translators insert “the” into the text because they
recognize that two different persons are being referred to.
In the
same way 1 Peter 1:1 should be understood and translated:
“To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours in the
righteousness of our God and the Savior Jesus Christ”.
Or,
“the righteous of our God, and of the Savior Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ” is a genitive relationship to
“righteousness”.
“We had
the school play through the generosity of our teacher and Mr. Johnson.” The
word “generosity” relates to two different people. Our teacher is not the same
person as Mr. Johnson.
All the
epistle greetings begin by differentiating between God and Jesus. Over and over
and over again, God is differentiated from Jesus. 1 Peter 1:1 is not an exception.
Ephesians
1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ..."
James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Again, in the NT Greek text, there is no “the” before Lord Jesus Christ, but translators insert it to make it clear that James is referring to two persons).
Revelation 1:2 "...who bore witness to the word of God and
to the testimony of Jesus Christ…"
The
ultimate testimony of Peter as to whom he considered Jesus to be is found in Peter’s
declaration after Jesus asked him point-blank, “Who do you say that I am?”
In Mark,
Peter declared: “The Christ!” The Christ
is not God.
In
Luke, “The Christ of God!” The Christ of God is not God.
In Matthew,
“The Christ, the Son of the Living God”.
The Son of the Living God is not the Living God.
Peter
in 1 Peter 1:1 is not contradicting himself and is not confused about the identity
of Jesus. The deity of Christ interpretation accuses Peter of contradicting himself.
But it is not Peter who was confused about the identity of Jesus, it is deity
of Christ interpreters.
Related web link: Troy Salinger Examines the Granville Sharp Rule:
#deityofchrist, #1Peter1:1, #nontrinitarian, #trinity,
#billschlegel
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