QUICK FACTS:
DOES ROMANS 9:5 REALLY CALL JESUS “GOD OVER ALL”?
WHAT DID PAUL ACTUALLY MEAN?
PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
Romans 9:5 is frequently used as evidence that the apostle Paul explicitly called:
JESUS:
“GOD OVER ALL.”
Some modern translations make this interpretation appear extremely clear.
But there is a problem.
The earliest Greek manuscripts did not contain the modern punctuation that translators place into the sentence.
And punctuation can substantially affect how:
ROMANS 9:5
is understood.
So before building an important doctrine upon this verse, we should ask:
WHAT DOES THE GREEK ACTUALLY SAY?
HOW SHOULD THE SENTENCE BE PUNCTUATED?
AND:
DOES PAUL'S INTERPRETATION ELSEWHERE HELP US IDENTIFY THE:
“GOD OVER ALL”?
QUICK FACT 1 — LOOK FIRST AT ROMANS 9:5 IN THE BLB
The Berean Literal Bible reads:
“whose are the patriarchs, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, being over all, God blessed to the ages. Amen.”
— Romans 9:5, BLB
Notice the wording carefully:
“THE CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FLESH,
BEING OVER ALL,
GOD BLESSED TO THE AGES.
AMEN.”
The difficulty is determining exactly how the final words relate to what precedes them.
QUICK FACT 2 — SOME MODERN TRANSLATIONS MAKE THE INTERPRETATION MUCH MORE EXPLICIT
Compare translations that render the passage essentially as:
THE CHRIST,
WHO IS:
GOD OVER ALL.
That punctuation and word arrangement immediately encourages the reader to conclude:
PAUL CALLED JESUS:
GOD.
But the important question is:
DID PAUL HIMSELF SUPPLY THAT MODERN PUNCTUATION?
NO.
The punctuation represents:
A TRANSLATIONAL DECISION.
Therefore we should distinguish:
THE INSPIRED GREEK WORDS
from:
THE LATER PUNCTUATION USED TO INTERPRET THOSE WORDS.
QUICK FACT 3 — ANCIENT GREEK MANUSCRIPTS DO NOT SETTLE THE QUESTION WITH A MODERN COMMA OR FULL STOP
This is the heart of the problem.
Ancient manuscripts such as:
CODEX VATICANUS
and:
CODEX SINAITICUS
do not give us Romans 9:5 with the complete modern punctuation system found in today's English Bibles.
Therefore translators must decide how the sentence should be punctuated.
And that matters enormously.
One punctuation can produce the sense:
CHRIST...
WHO IS GOD OVER ALL.
Another can separate the concluding praise so that it refers to:
GOD,
WHO IS OVER ALL,
BLESSED FOREVER.
Therefore:
PUNCTUATION
becomes part of the interpretation.
QUICK FACT 4 — PAUL TELLS US VERY CLEARLY WHO HIS “ONE GOD” IS
This is where Paul's undisputed statements become extremely important.
Paul writes:
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6, BLB
Notice Paul's words:
“ONE GOD,
THE FATHER.”
Then Paul separately identifies:
“ONE LORD,
JESUS CHRIST.”
Paul does NOT say:
ONE GOD:
THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST.
His explicit statement is:
“ONE GOD,
THE FATHER.”
QUICK FACT 5 — PAUL ALSO TELLS US WHO IS “OVER ALL”
This is particularly important for Romans 9:5.
Paul writes:
“One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
— Ephesians 4:6, BLB
Who does Paul explicitly say is:
“OVER ALL”?
THE:
“ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL.”
Therefore compare:
ROMANS 9:5 — DISPUTED:
“GOD...
OVER ALL...”
WITH:
EPHESIANS 4:6 — CLEAR:
“ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL,
WHO IS OVER ALL.”
This should immediately make us cautious about claiming that Romans 9:5 unquestionably identifies:
JESUS
as:
“GOD OVER ALL.”
QUICK FACT 6 — PAUL CALLS THE FATHER THE GOD OF JESUS
Paul repeatedly writes:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...”
— Ephesians 1:3, BLB
Notice:
JESUS CHRIST:
HAS A GOD.
And Paul identifies Him as:
THE FATHER.
Therefore Paul's normal distinction is:
GOD:
THE FATHER.
AND:
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST:
GOD'S SON.
QUICK FACT 7 — PAUL USES VERY SIMILAR “BLESSED FOREVER” LANGUAGE FOR THE FATHER
This is one of the strongest pieces of comparative evidence.
Paul writes:
“The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the One being blessed to the ages, knows that I am not lying.”
— 2 Corinthians 11:31, BLB
Notice:
“THE GOD AND FATHER OF THE LORD JESUS”
is:
“BLESSED TO THE AGES.”
Now compare Romans 9:5:
“GOD BLESSED TO THE AGES.
AMEN.”
The language is strikingly similar.
Therefore the concluding words of Romans 9:5 can reasonably be investigated as:
A DOXOLOGY OF PRAISE TO GOD.
QUICK FACT 8 — PAUL DOES SOMETHING SIMILAR EARLIER IN ROMANS
Romans 1:25 speaks about:
“the Creator, who is blessed to the ages. Amen.”
— Romans 1:25, BLB
Again:
THE CREATOR
↓
“BLESSED TO THE AGES”
↓
“AMEN.”
Compare:
ROMANS 1:25:
“BLESSED TO THE AGES. AMEN.”
ROMANS 9:5:
“GOD BLESSED TO THE AGES. AMEN.”
This is important Pauline evidence.
Paul unquestionably uses this kind of doxological language concerning:
GOD.
QUICK FACT 9 — THEREFORE WE SHOULD COMPARE PAUL WITH PAUL
Rather than allowing punctuation in one disputed verse to determine our theology, compare Paul's clear statements:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6
“ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, WHO IS OVER ALL.”
— Ephesians 4:6
“THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.”
— Ephesians 1:3
“THE GOD AND FATHER OF THE LORD JESUS, THE ONE BEING BLESSED TO THE AGES.”
— 2 Corinthians 11:31
And:
“THE CREATOR, WHO IS BLESSED TO THE AGES. AMEN.”
— Romans 1:25
Then return to:
ROMANS 9:5.
Does Paul suddenly contradict this pattern and identify:
JESUS
as:
“GOD OVER ALL”?
Or should the final words be understood consistently with Paul's repeated praise of:
GOD THE FATHER?
That is the real question.
QUICK FACT 10 — WE DO NOT NEED TO ACCUSE THE GREEK TEXT OF BEING WRONG
The problem is not:
THE ORIGINAL GREEK.
The question concerns:
HOW THE GREEK IS PUNCTUATED AND TRANSLATED.
That distinction is extremely important.
The Greek text should be:
EXAMINED.
The punctuation should be:
TESTED.
The translation should be:
COMPARED.
And Paul's other writings should be allowed to:
INTERPRET PAUL.
We should never build a major doctrine merely upon punctuation supplied centuries after:
THE APOSTLE PAUL.
CONTINUED IN:
PART TWO — FINAL CONCLUSION
In Part Two we will finish the investigation.
We will examine:
THE ALTERNATIVE PUNCTUATION OF ROMANS 9:5.
WHETHER “OVER ALL” MUST REFER TO JESUS.
PAUL'S OTHER DOXOLOGIES TO GOD.
THE ARGUMENT THAT THE GREEK GRAMMAR FAVOURS APPLYING “GOD” TO CHRIST.
AND:
WHETHER ROMANS 9:5 CAN HONESTLY BE CALLED PROOF THAT:
JESUS IS GOD.
Then we will reach our final conclusion.
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.
COMPARE THE TRANSLATIONS.
EXAMINE THE GREEK.
COMPARE PAUL WITH PAUL.
DISTINGUISH THE ORIGINAL WORDS FROM TRANSLATOR-SUPPLIED PUNCTUATION.
TEST EVERY INTERPRETATION.
