Floyd O. Parker, «‘Our Lord and God’ in Rev 4,11: Evidence for the Late Date of Revelation?», Vol. 82 (2001) 207-231

This article challenges a commonly-held belief that the title ‘our Lord and God’ (Rev 4,11) served as a Christian counter-blast to the claim of the emperor Domitian to be dominus et deus noster. Despite the claims of several scholars that the title ‘our Lord and God’ does not appear in the OT, the data collected favors the view that the title in Rev 4,11 does indeed have its origin in the divine title ‘Lord and God’ found in the LXX and other Jewish sources. Consequently, the title is of no use in helping to determine the date of the book of Revelation.

suggest that the phrase comes from the imperial court and cite Domitian’s use of ‘our lord and god’ as an example, but do not state that his particular title is reflected in Rev 4,11²; and, (3) those who believe the title reflects the language of the imperial court, but do not mention Domitian by name³.

        The importance of this argument, especially as formulated by the representative scholars in the first category, is that it could provide a significant clue to the date of Revelation. If Domitian’s title dominus et deus noster is rendered by o( ku/rioj kai_ o( qeo_j h(mw=n in Rev 4,11, then it follows that the book was composed during or after his reign. The strengths of this interpretation are apparent: (1) the Greek and Latin titles appear to be identical; (2) Domitian is regarded by many as the emperor who first required his subjects to address him as ‘our lord and god’⁴; (3) the exact phrase ‘Our Lord and God’ does not appear in the Old Testament as a divine title (MT; LXX), thus rendering a Jewish origin for the title unlikely; (4) in Rev 13, the presentation of a beast with a blasphemous name on each of its seven heads could refer to Domitian’s demand to be addressed as ‘our lord and god’; and, (5) Rev 4, in which the title ‘our Lord and God’ appears, can be partially understood against the backdrop of the imperial court or worship.