---
title: Titus 2:13
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/titus-2-13/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/titus-2-13.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Titus 2:13
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Titus 2:13

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "the great God and of [the] Saviour of us, Christ Jesus"
- NWT (2013 revision): "the great God and of the Saviour of us, Christ Jesus"

## JW Usage

The NWT renders the verse "while we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestation of the great God and of the Saviour of us, Christ Jesus" — inserting a bracketed article before "Saviour" to split the address into two persons. JWs read this as a clear distinction: "the great God" (Jehovah) and "the Saviour" (Jesus) are two separate figures awaiting manifestation, and Paul is naming them side by side rather than identifying Jesus as God.

## Protestant Usage

The Greek follows the textbook Granville Sharp construction: one article (tou) governing two nouns (theou and sōtēros) joined by kai, with no second article before sōtēros. By a grammatical rule that Daniel Wallace (Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics) describes as "without exception" in the NT for personal, singular, non-proper nouns, both nouns identify the same person. Paul is calling Jesus "our great God and Saviour." The same construction at 2 Peter 1:1 ("our God and Saviour Jesus Christ") makes the rule even harder to evade — and the NWT itself renders the parallel construction at 2 Peter 1:11 ("our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ") as one person, exposing the inconsistency: the NWT applies the rule when the title is "Lord and Saviour" but breaks it when the title is "God and Saviour."

## NWT Issue

The NWT inserts a bracketed article "[the]" before "Saviour" — a word not present in any Greek manuscript — to manufacture two persons out of a single Granville Sharp construction. The KIT interlinear column shows the literal Greek with one article governing both nouns. The NWT's rendering at 2 Peter 1:11 (identical grammar, identical pattern) treats the construction as one person — but at Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 the NWT splits it into two. The only difference is doctrinal: calling Jesus "Lord and Saviour" is acceptable to JW theology; calling him "God and Saviour" is not. The rule is bent exactly where Christology is at stake.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- ['A God' = Polytheism](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john1-polytheism.md) — John 1:1 + Exodus 20:3 + Isaiah 43:10 [Deity of Christ]
- [Our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/titus-2-13.md) — Titus 2:13 and the Granville Sharp Rule [Deity of Christ]
- [The Law of Agency Doesn't Work](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/law-of-agency.md) — Agents Are Never Called God [Deity of Christ]
- [The NWT's One-Way Mirror](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-unidirectional-bias.md) — Every Change Points the Same Direction [NWT Translation]
- [Jehovah Alone Is Saviour — Yet Jesus Saves](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/isaiah43-saviour.md) — Isaiah 43:11 / Acts 4:12 / Titus 2:13 [Deity of Christ]
- [Gods Who Die and God to Pharaoh Don't Parallel Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm82-exodus71-gods-parallel.md) — Psalm 82:6-7 / Exodus 7:1 / John 10:34-36 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Christian Shema — Paul Splits the Shema to Include Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christian-shema.md) — 1 Corinthians 8:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ]
- [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation]
- [You Can't Cite a Bible You Say Is Corrupted](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/consistency-corrupt-bible-self-defeat.md) — The Selective-Appeal Inconsistency [Authority]
- [Every Title For Yahweh Is Given To Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-titles-applied-to-jesus.md) — Isaiah 44:6 / Acts 4:12 / Romans 10:9 / Hosea 13:4 / Revelation 22:13 [Deity of Christ]
- [Paul's Greeting Puts Jesus Beside the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pauline-greeting-formula.md) — Galatians 1:1-3 — Co-Source of Grace and Peace [Deity of Christ]