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Doesn't Revelation 1:6 teach that God the Father had a Father?
If "his Father" really refers to Jesus' and our Heavenly Grandfather in Revelation 1:6, then the rest of the verse would have us give "glory and dominion" to Him, and this is not something that even LDS are instructed to do. They are only to give glory to our God, viz. the Heavenly Father.
Actually, modern versions have made this verse even more clear in making the terms "God" and "Father" refer to the same Person, viz., the Heavenly Father. The New American Standard, the New International Version, and the Revised Standard Version, for example, all put the possessive pronoun in front of both terms as "His God and Father." Even Joseph Smith's Inspired Version says, "God, his Father." (It is interesting to note, by the way, that this Inspired Version was completed in the 1830s, and yet on June 16, 1844 Smith said the King James Version on this particular passage was "altogether correct in the translation" [Teachings of the Prophet of Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1977), 369].)
If a reporter said, "Biden has introduced the President and his boss," it should be obvious that Biden was only introducing one person with two different descriptions. Now one could make this more clear for someone who is unfamiliar with the term "president" and wonders if Biden was really introducing two persons by saying, "Biden has introduced his president and boss." Similarly, since God does not have anyone beyond Him that His Godhood is dependent upon (e.g., Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 40:12-15, and 43:10), it should be obvious that the terms "God" and "Father" do not refer to two persons. They are two different descriptions that refer to one Person.
The Greek actually is quite clear on this. The reason we know that only one person is in view is the same reason we know that Titus 2:13 refers to only one person. There "God" and "Savior" refer to none other than Jesus Christ. The rule in Greek is called the Granville Sharp rule. It basically states that when two nouns are connected with the term "and" ("kai" in Greek), then when the first term has the definite article ("the") and the second does not, then both nouns refer to the same person. So in the Revelation passage, both terms "God" and "Father" refer to the same person, since only the term "God" is preceded by the definite article. The Greek literally says, "[T]o the God and Father of Him."
R. M. Sivulka
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