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.

...thereafter we find of Augustus in P. Oxy. 1143 (c. 1 CE) qu]si/aj kai_ sponda_j u(pe_r tou= qeou= kai_ kuri/ou au)tokra/toroj, and the phrase recurs in BGU VIII 1200.11 (2/1 BCE) and is used of an official under Augustus in BGU VIII 1201 (restoration tw|= qew=[i kai_ kuri/]wi is likely enough)²².

        Thus, the two titles ‘lord’ and ‘god’ were used in tandem for royalty and officials during the Ptolemaic period and the early Roman Empire.

        In addition to the usage of the combined title ‘lord and god’, the independent use of the titles ‘lord’²³ and ‘god’ is also attested when referring to Roman leaders prior to Domitian’s time. The Romans exclusively reserved the imperial titles ‘god’ (divus) and ‘god, son of god’ (divi filius divus) for emperors who had been deified posthumously by the Roman Senate, but the Greeks frequently used these and similar titles of living emperors as well²⁴. Although the majority of Roman emperors did not demand their subjects to address them by such titles and even sometimes discouraged the practice (dominus was rejected by Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius)²⁵, they were still offered by Greek worshippers, as we shall see below.

        Julius Caesar was the first Roman to be deified posthumously. In 42 BCE, the Roman Senate gave him the name Divus Iulius. However, even during his lifetime, he was referred to as a god in an inscription commissioned by the town council of Ephesus in conjunction with other Greek cities of Asia (c. 48 BCE). It reads, ‘the God manifest, offspring of Ares and Aphrodite, and common saviour of human life’ (to_n a)po_ jArewj kai_ 'Afrode[i/]thj qeo_n e)pifanh= kai_ koino_n tou= a)nqrwpi/nou bi/ou swth=ra)²⁶.

        In a passage mentioned above, Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE) was called ‘the god and lord emperor’ during his lifetime (u(pe_r tou= qeou=