Does Paul refer to Christ as God?

Explanation:

There is no punctation in the original Greek, and this has caused some confusion over what Paul means in Romans 9:5. As Paul reflects on the special status of Israel as God’s people, he writes that from their race is ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. It is not clear whether Paul is saying is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever, or the Christ according to the flesh. May God who is over all, be blessed forever. The lack of punctation in the ancient text makes it difficult for us to know how to understand Paul.

Still, the word order suggests that he wants us to interpret this phrase in the first sense above: Christ is over all, God blessed forever. For after writing the Christ according to the flesh, Paul writes who is over all. Thus, the word order suggests that after writing the Christ according to the flesh, Paul says who is over all before continuing. Of course, this word order implies that Paul is saying Christ is over all. That is, he is saying from the race of Israel is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all. So the word order commits us to the notion that Christ is the one who is over all.

Now, after writing that Christ is over all, Paul says, God blessed forever. If Christ is the one who is over all, the only sensible way to take the rest of the clause is for it to refer to Christ, so Paul is saying Christ is over all, God blessed forever.¹

Counterargument:

Word order in Greek is flexible, so we are not always required to translate according to the word order. Still, even if the word order is as this argument holds, Paul may be introducing a doxology at the end of Romans 9:5 in praise of God the Father. That is, it is possible that we should take Paul to be saying that Christ is over all, and then he blesses God the Father for this reality. Modern punctation can make this clear: the Christ according to the flesh, who is overall; may God be blessed forever. In other words, Paul may be stating that the Christ, born according to the race of Israel, is over all, before blessing God for his graciousness toward the Israelites.

Response to counterargument:

The phrase who is over all must be tied with the name God. For it is God who is over all, which implies that whoever is over all is also referred to as God in this section. So if the word order favours that it is Christ who is the one over all, then it also favours referring to Christ, who is over all, as God who is blessed forever.

Explanation:

To understand whether Paul refers to Christ as God or introduces a doxology to God the Father, it is important to notice the tension he creates in the text when he refers to Christ as according to the flesh.² For Paul is explaining the importance of Israel, including that they were given the covenants and laws, and that from their race is the Christ according to the flesh. That Christ is according to the flesh of the Israelites highlights the humanity of Christ, but it also creates a tension. For not only is Christ born of Israelite flesh, but he is also God. The tension created by articulating that Christ is born of Israelite flesh demands an antithesis, which is that Christ is God.³ Thus, we should take it that the phrase who is over all, God blessed forever refers to Christ.

Counterargument:

There is a significant problem with this argument, which is that nowhere else does Paul explicitly refer to Jesus as God.⁴ Relatedly, the fact that Paul was a Hebrew and writing to Jews makes it unlikely that Paul would refer to Jesus explicitly as God. For the Jews were strict monotheists, which means they stressed the fact that God is one. While Christians are also monotheists, they would eventually develop the doctrine of the Trinity to explain that both the Christ and the Father are two persons of the one God. Since Paul did not have these categories yet, while he believed the Christ was God, he never explicitly says so.

Response to counterargument:

There is another passage where Paul explicitly refers to Christ as God.⁵ Specifically, in Titus 2:13 Paul says that we eagerly await our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Added to this, even if it were the case that Paul nowhere else specifically refers to Christ as God, we know that Paul believed Jesus was God (Philippians 2:6), and this could be the one and only time that he makes this belief explicit. So this counterargument is overturned for two reasons. First, Paul does explicitly refer to Christ as God in another passage. Second, even if he did not, given the tension he creates by referring to the Christ as being of Israelite flesh, it makes sense that he would make his belief that the Christ is God explicit in this passage.

The one weakness of this view is that Paul uses a similar expression to refer to God the Father in his letter to the Ephesians. Specifically, in Ephesians 4:6 Paul refers to one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. That Paul would state God the Father is over all in Ephesians 4:6 favours the notion that he would do the same in Romans 9:5.

Explanation:

Paul intends to write that the Christ was born of the race of Israel, before giving praise to God in a benediction. That is, we should punctuate Romans 9:5b as follows: From their race is the Christ. God who is over all, may he be blessed forever. The reason we should take it that Paul adds a benediction of praise to the Father as opposed to indicating that the Christ is God over all, is Paul’s Jewish background. Paul is an Israelite, and he has just articulated a list of blessings related to Israel:. To Israel belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and from their race is the Christ (Romans 9:4–5). It was conventional for Jews, after articulating such a list of blessings, to offer praise to God the Father in the form of a doxology, such as God who is over all, may he be blessed forever. Thus, given that Paul is an Israelite, that he articulates a list of blessings, and that it was standard for Jews to praise God after articulating such a list, we can take it that after stating that the Christ is an Israelite according to the flesh, Paul offers a word of praise to the Father.⁶

Counterargument:

While it might be conventional for Jewish writers to offer a doxology of praise to the Father when enumerating a list of blessings, such a doxology of praise is out of place for Romans 9:5. For Paul’s real point here is not one of praise but one of sorrow. He explains in Romans 9:3 that he wishes he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his fellow Israelites. He then goes on to articulate the blessings bestowed on them before concluding that from their race is the Christ. Given that the theme for Romans 9:3–5 is one of sorrow and lament, it is unlikely that Paul would conclude this section with a word of praise to God.⁷ On the other hand, there is no contextual issue with taking him to refer to the Christ as God over all. Thus, it is more likely that Paul writes that the Christ is God over all, rather than giving doxological praise to the Father for the blessings of Israel.

Response to counterargument:

Whether or not Paul is sorrowful over the state of Israel is not to the point. The point is, in Romans 9:4–5 he articulates a list of blessings from the Father. Out of respect for the Father, as an Israelite writer, it would be conventional even in the context of sorrow to praise God for his blessings. Thus, that Paul expresses sorrow is not enough to overturn the Jewish convention of offering a doxology after articulating a list of blessings from God.

Explanation:

There is some uncertainty over how to punctate Romans 9:5b. Is Paul saying that Christ is God over all, or does Paul say that the Christ is of Israel before praising God the Father as the one who is over all? Likely, Paul praises God the Father as the one who is over all. We can detect that Paul praises God the Father who is over all because of what he wrote earlier about the extent of God’s blessings moving beyond Israel. For earlier, Paul wrote that God is the God not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles also (Romans 3:29–30). Likewise, in Romans 4:16 Paul explains that the promises to Abraham are to all who have faith, not just the adherents to the law. In Romans 9:5b, Paul subtly reiterates that God is the God of all, for after listing the blessings that were specifically to Israel, Paul implies that these blessings also extend beyond Israel by stating, God the Father, who is over all, may he be blessed forever. In other words, God is over all, just as the blessings extend to all.⁸

Counterargument:

This is not a strong argument. For the immediate context has to do not with the extent of God’s blessings to all people but with God’s specific favour toward Israel. In other words, the immediate context has to do with Paul’s sorrow over Israel because they have rejected the Saviour, even though God privileged their race in important ways. For example, God initially gave the adoption, the law, the covenants, and so on to Israel. In fact, even the Christ is from their race, but still, they have not recognized the gospel. Thus, Paul is not extending the blessings of Israel to all people in this section but focusing on how God specifically blessed Israel in a unique way and lamenting over the fact that they still denied the Christ.

One weakness of this view is that since Christ is God, it would make sense for Paul to praise him as God shortly after explaining that he was born of Israel. In fact, it might even confuse his audience to praise God the Father in this moment because this might imply that Jesus’ status does not match the divine nature of God.