In this post I will sum up the evidence supporting the fact that Paul, in Romans 9:5, affirms the two natures of Christ, being both God and Man.

Notice what the inspired Apostle wrote as he recounted some of the favors God lavished upon Israel, culminating with the greatest blessing one could ever be granted:

“who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” Romans 9:4-5

Here’s another rendering of this verse:

“Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” New International Version (NIV)

According to Paul, Israel’s God honored his people by choosing to become a human being from their race.

In other words, Israel was given the blessing of having the one true supreme God of all creation become an Israelite, from the tribe of Judah and the line of David, by choosing to be born of a Jewish woman:

“concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Romans 1:3-4

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5  

“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,” 2 Timothy 2:8

“For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.” Hebrews 7:14

Here are the other texts confirming Jesus’ physical descent and lineage from Judah and David:

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:” Matthew 1:1

“Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” Mark 10:46-48

“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:32-33

“ Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah,the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er,the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim,the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David,the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,” Luke 3:23-33

“And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus—” Acts 13:22-23

These next examples are rather significant since they also affirm the Deity of Christ:

“But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignantand said to Him, ‘Do You hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes. Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise”?’” Matthew 21:15-16

Christ justified the praise he received from the children by citing the following Psalm,

“O LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above. From the mouths of children and nursing babies you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy.” Psalm 8:1-2 New English Translation (NET)

“O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth! for thy magnificence is exalted above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise, because of thine enemies; that thou mightest put down the enemy and avenger.” Psalm 8:2-3 LXX

Where David refers to YHVH enabling babes to magnify him in order to silence his enemies for being less wise than even sucklings since they refused to worship him due to their arrogance and ignorance!

As such, Jesus was claiming to be that very YHVH God whose enemies failed to recognize who he was, even though the children knew that this was the Lord God who was worthy of their worship and glorification!

There’s more:

“‘Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” Acts 2:29-38

In the aforementioned passage, Peter identifies the risen Christ as the YHVH God whom the prophet Joel stated would pour out his Holy Spirit upon believers and whose name people must invoke and call on in order to be saved:

“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.”’” Acts 2:14-21

At the same time, the holy Apostle is careful to distinguish Jesus from the Father, showing his awareness that God, Christ and the Spirit are three distinct divine Persons.

In these next examples,

“But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’” Revelation 5:5

“‘And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last… I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.’… He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:12-16, 20

The heavenly Christ claims to be the Root of David, and therefore the Life and Source of the Davidic dynasty, as well as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last who comes to judge and repay each individual for what s/he has done!

These are titles and functions that point to the Son being uncreated, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, since they are ascribed to God Almighty elsewhere in the Holy Bible:  

“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.” Isaiah 40:10

“Who has performed and done it, Calling the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first; And with the last I am He.’” Isaiah 41:4

“Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.” Isaiah 48:12

“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:10

“And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.’” Revelation 21:6-7

In light of the above, pay attention to all the evidence provided by following Evangelical authors which conclusively proves that Romans 9:5 describes the risen Jesus as the eternally praised God:

According to the NASB and most recent major English versions, Paul refers to the Christ as “God,” whereas in the NWT and some other (mostly older) translations, he does not. In other texts that apparently call Jesus “God,” we have encountered various textual and translation disputes. Here, the difference comes down to punctuation.

If we break up the verse into lines and translate it word for word in order without punctuation, it will help us see what the issues are:

a. whose [are] the fathers

b. and from whom [is] the Christ according to the flesh

c. the one who is over all

d. God blessed unto the ages amen

Put very simply, the main options³⁵ for punctuating the verse boil down to three: (1) Put a period at the end of line b, so that lines c and d are a separate sentence. This would mean that the verse does not say that Christ is “over all” or that he is God.³⁶ (2) Put a period at the end of line c, so that line d is a separate sentence. This would mean that the verse says that Christ is “over all” but does not call him God.³⁷ (3) Treat all four lines as part of the same sentence (which may start in verse 3). This would mean that the verse says that Christ is “over all” and also calls him God.³⁸

Two considerations lead most translators to choose the third option. First, grammatically, “who is over all” most naturally modifies “the Christ” in the preceding part of the verse: “and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, the one who is over all” (translating literally). In addition, “who is” or “the one who is” (ho on) agrees grammatically with “the Christ” (ho Christos), leading the reader to understand that “who is over all” is continuing to say something about the Christ. Paul’s wording here closely parallels a similar outburst of praise directed to God the Father in another of Paul’s epistles: “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows, the one who is [ho on] blessed forever, that I am not lying” (2 Cor. 11:31, authors’ translation). This means that the third line of Romans 9:5 most likely is part of the sentence that begins in verse 3. The thought that the Messiah is “over all” is certainly consistent with Paul’s teaching; in fact, the idea is repeated just one chapter later (Rom. 10:12).

The second consideration is the position of the word for “blessed” (eulogetos), which in Greek follows the word for “God” (theos). In biblical doxologies that stand as separate sentences and that use blessed, it always precedes the divine name or title (God, YHWH, etc.) in the sentence. Here are some typical examples.

Blessed be God . . . (Pss. 66:20; 68:35)

Blessed be the Lord . . . (Exod. 18:10; Ruth 4:14; Pss. 28:6; 31:21)

Blessed be the Lord forever. (Ps. 89:52)

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel . . . (1 Sam. 25:32; Pss. 41:13; 106:48; cf. Luke 1:68)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . (2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3)

The fact that Romans 9:5 does not follow this standard biblical pattern for a doxology that stands as a separate sentence (which Paul himself uses elsewhere) makes it reasonably certain that “God blessed forever” is part of the same sentence as the preceding lines. Paul uses this sentence structure in other places in his writings, including earlier in the same epistle.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is [hos estin] blessed forever! Amen. (Rom. 1:25).

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is [ho on] blessed forever. . . . (2 Cor. 11:31 NASB)

For these reasons, we can be quite confident that Romans 9:5 does, indeed, call Jesus “God.”³⁹ This text is all the more significant when we consider that it is the earliest New Testament writing that calls Jesus “God” (dating to about A.D. 57, about a quarter-century after Jesus’ death and resurrection).⁴⁰  Moreover, in Romans 9:5 we see three of the five elements we are discussing in this book pertaining to the deity of Jesus: he receives the divine honor of eternal praise; he has the divine name “God”; he shares God’s seat, holding the highest position of ruling over all creation. (Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ [Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 2007], Part 3: Name Above All Names: Jesus Shares the Names of God, 12. Immanuel: God with Us, pp. 146-148; bold emphasis mine)

With the foregoing in perspective, I will provide more proofs in the next part of my discussion: JESUS CHRIST: THE ETERNALLY PRAISED GOD PT. 2.

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