human
The appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Among the foolish charges which have been brought against the Revisers is that of favouring Arian tendencies by blurring those texts which teach the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The present passage would be a sufficient answer to such a charge. In the A.V. we have
gpt
where both the wording and the comma make it clear that
human
means the Father and not our Saviour. The Revisers, by omitting the comma, for which there is no authority in the original, and by placing the
gpt
before both substantives, have given their authority to the view that St. Paul means both
human
and
gpt
Saviour to apply to Jesus Christ. It is not any Epiphany of the Father which is in his mind, but the
human
Epiphany of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
gpt
Epiphany, and the omission of the article before
human
Saviour (ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ.), all seem to favour the Revisers' rendering. And, if it be adopted, we have here one of the plainest and most direct statements of the Divinity of Christ to be found in Scripture. As such it was employed in the Arian controversy, although Ambrose seems to have understood the passage as referring to the Father and Christ, and not to Christ alone. The force of what follows is enhanced, if the Revisers' rendering, which is the _strictly grammatical_ rendering, is maintained. It is as being
gpt
that He gave Himself for us, that He might
human
and it was because He was God as well as man, that what was uttered as a bitter taunt was really a glorious truth;--
gpt
He saved others; Himself He _cannot_ save. It was morally impossible that the Divine Son should turn back from making us