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[Labyrith]

Romans 9:5, does Paul refer to Christ as God?

Recently stumbled upon Romans 9:5 during a translation practice. Without thinking, I translated ὧν οἱ πατέρες καὶ ἐξ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀμήν as "whose are the fathers and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen".

It was then pointed out to me that Paul surely didn't equate Christ with God as that would have strong implications for the Trinity. So I suppose it depends on orthography, and which parts of the doxology exactly refer to ὁ Χριστὸς and which are to be understood as a separate clause.

I noticed that different translations of the Bible have made varying editorial choices as to where to place the comma. Cranfield's Commentary on Romans suggests a range of possible meanings which are more or less plausible, but my question is if there is a scholarly consensus on what Paul was actually saying. Are there any other instances of doxology in the Pauline corpus that support arguments in either case (common word order, common word usage, etc)?

[jimwalton]

Fitzmyer (The Anchor Bible) points out 4 main positions about the meaning of the verse.

1. The Messiah is God; Jesus is divine. This reading was preferred by the vast majority of interpreters in the first 8 centuries AD.

2. The Messiah naturally descended from Israel, and God is to be praised for that. Christ (the Messiah) is thus the climax of the prerogatives of the Israelites. 1 Cor. 15.27-28.

3. The Messiah is over all, and God is to be praised for that. The Messiah naturally descended from Israel and is preeminent among Israel’s prerogatives, and God is to be praised for that. This interpretation has little to commend it.

4. Christ is by natural descent a prerogative of Israel, but God is the one who is preeminent and blest forever, which would be Israel’s 9th prerogative. This interpretation has little to commend it.

A.T. Robertson (Word Pictures in the New Testament) and George Carraway, among others, argue that it is a clear statement of the deity of Christ.