Through the centuries there have been two schools of interpretation regarding this remarkable, marvelous, and excellent sacred and divine title:
1) that two persons are indicated, God and Christ;
2) that there is but one person, Jesus Christ being our great God and Savior, the deity of Christ thus being asserted.
We prefer the second interpretation, with a comma after Savior. This corresponds with the two sacred titles revealed at the birth of Christ: Jesus — Jehovah the Savior — and Emmanuel — God with us (Matt. 1:21-23). Our Lord not only is our Savior but also is God, and not merely God but the great God, the God who is great in nature, in glory, in authority, in power, in deed, in love, in grace, and in every divine attribute. In 1 Tim. 2:5 our Lord is revealed as a man; here, as the great God. He is both man and God. His appearing in His divine glory will be not only for saving His people into His eternal kingdom, but also for bringing them into God's eternal glory (Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10). Hence, His appearing in His glory is our blessed hope.