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.

would include such items as the difference or absence of pronouns (e.g. ‘me’ ‘your’ for ‘our’) or the expansion of divine titles (e.g. ‘God of gods’).

        With this sort of definition in hand, several ‘approximate parallels’ to o( ku/rioj kai_ o( qeo_j h(mw=n can be identified in the LXX. The closest parallels are o( qeo_j mou kai_ o( ku/rioj mou (Ps 34,23), qeo_j qew=n kai ku/rioj tw=n basile/wn (Dan 2,47), au)to_j h(mw=n ku/rio/j e)stin kai_ au)to_j qeo_j h(mw=n kai_ au)to_j path_r h)mw=n kai_ au)to_j qeo_j ei)j pa/ntaj tou_j ai)w=naj (Tob 13,4), o( ku/rioj au)tw=n kai_ o( qeo_j au)tw=n (Jdt 5,21), to_n qeo_n h)mw=n kai_ ku/rion tw=n pate/rwn h(mw=n (Jdt 7,28), and ku/rie pa/ter kai_ qee_ zwh=j mou (Sir 23,4)⁷⁴. These six examples demonstrate that, contrary to Mowry, the insertion of kai/ between ku/rioj o( qeo/j was not unknown in traditional Jewish usage. They also demonstrate that, contrary to Beasley-Murray, parallels for ‘Lord and God’ do exist in the LXX, if one allows for a few minor differences⁷⁵.

        The use of the title ‘Lord and God’ in Judaism is not limited to the LXX. Philo of Alexandria used the phrase ku/rioj kai_ qeo/j in his comments on Genesis and regarded it as identical or interchangeable with ku/rioj o( qeo/j, the title actually used in the LXX (Som 1.159-160; based on Gen 28,13; Quis Her. 22, based on Gen 15,2; cf. Questions and Answers on Gen. 2.53, based on Gen 8,21). These two passages are clear examples of his insertion of kai/ between ku/rioj and qeo/j.