What is The Granville Sharp Rule?

Grandville Sharp was a language scholar known for his contributions to the translation of New Testament Greek(or Koine Greek). Through his studies of the Greek language, he found something rather interesting.

The Grandville Sharp rule affects the usage of definite articles(the word "the" in English) and copulative conjunctions. Copulative conjunctions are words that add information such as: "and", "plus", "also", and "moreover".

The idea is that when the copulative "kai" or "καὶ" connects two nouns in the same case — such as two words in the nominative case — if the article "ho" or "ὁ", or any of its cases, precede the first noun or participles, and is not repeated before the 2nd noun or participle, the second refers to the first.

To summarize, when two singular nouns are used, the two are joined by a copulative conjunction, and the definite article is before the first noun but not the second, then both nouns refer to the same person.

So, let us use an example here. In Titus 2:13: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:13 KJV).

The Greek is: ""προσδεχόμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ," (Titus 2:13).

The two nouns here are "God" or "Θεοῦ" and "Savior" or "Σωτῆρος". They are joined by the word; "καὶ" or "and" a copulative conjunction. Now, is there a definite article that precedes the first noun, "Θεοῦ"? Sure is! "τοῦ". This means that both God and Savior are the same in Titus 2:13.

Works Cited:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Granville Sharp". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jul. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Granville-Sharp. Accessed 1 October 2023.

Image by Folger Shakespeare Library on Look and Learn

Wallace, Daniel B. “‘The Semantic Range of the Article-Noun-Kai-Noun Plural Construction in the New Testament.” Grace Theological Journal (1983): n. pag. Print (link).