Granville Sharp lived from 1735-1813.  He was an early English abolitionist.  He did not just talk about freeing slaves, He formulated a plan to settle blacks in Sierra Leone, and founded St. George’s Bay Company.  He founded the Province of Freedom and is considered one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone.  He was also a talented musician and a brilliant biblical scholar.  He is one of those rare gems in any generation.

Sharp wrote a letter in 1778.  He observed what has now become known as the Granville Sharp Rule in the study of biblical Greek.  He wrote:

When the copulative kai (translated as and normally in English) connects two nouns of the same case, if the article ho, or any of its cases, precedes the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not repeated before the second noun or participle, the latter always relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the first noun or participle…

The rule is a grammatical construction consisting of an article with a substantive, the conjunction και, and an anarthrous substantive agreeing in case and number with the previous substantive.  One of the most striking applications of this rule is found in Titus 2.13 which identifies our Savior Jesus Christ as our God.  Theou contains the article tou preceding it; however, Soteros Iesou Christou is anarthrous.  Therefore both titles refer to the same entity, namely God.  Jesus Christ is “our great God.”

2 Peter 1.1. has the same grammatical construction.  Righteousness belongs to “our God AND Savior Jesus Christ.”  Jesus is God.  It occurs again in Jude 4 where ungodly men deny “the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Both titles refer to the same person.  Jesus is the Lord God.

The Bible affirms the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Wayne Grudem provides this helpful diagram to show how these three are yet one:

Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004. Print, 253.

Dan Story provides a helpful chart indicating how all share divine attributes in the Scriptures:

Story, Dan. Defending Your Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1997. Print, 104.