The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief

by James R. White

For three generations Winer’s work was supreme, and many scholars did not feel inclined to disagree with him and insist on the correct translation of these passages. However, Winer himself, an antitrinitarian, admitted that it was not grammatical grounds that led him to reject the correct rendering of Titus 2:13, but theological ones. In the Winer-Moulton Grammar (as cited by Robertson), page 162, Winer said, “Considerations derived from Paul’s system of doctrine lead me to believe that σωτῆρος is not a second predicate, coordinate with θεοῡ, Christ being first called μέγας θεός, and then σωτήρ.” However, Robertson put it well when he said, “Sharp stands vindicated after all the dust has settled. We must let these passages mean what they want to mean regardless of our theories about the theology of the writers.”