TRV
Translation
King James Version
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Complete Jewish Bible
the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be Adonai for ever! Amen.
Berean Standard Bible
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.
American Standard Version
whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
World English Bible Messianic
of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Messiah as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Of whome are the fathers, and of whome concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is God ouer all, blessed for euer, Amen.
Young's Literal Translation
whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed to the ages. Amen.
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Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers . Public domain.
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Clement of RomeAD 99
Letter to the Corinthians (Clement)
Whosoever will candidly consider each particular, will recognise the greatness of the gifts which were given by him. For from him have sprung the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also [was descended] our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. [Romans 9:5] From him [arose] kings, princes, and rulers of the race of Judah. Nor are his other tribes in small glory, inasmuch as God had promised, "Your seed shall be as the stars of heaven." All these, therefore, were highly honoured, and made great, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness which they wrought, but through the operation of His will.
IrenaeusAD 202
Against Heresies Book III
And again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he says: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever."
TertullianAD 220
Against Praxeas
But when Christ alone (is mentioned), I shall be able to call Him "God," as the same apostle says: "Of whom is Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever." For I should give the name of" sun" even to a sunbeam, considered in itself; but if I were mentioning the sun from which the ray emanates, I certainly should at once withdraw the name of sun from the mere beam.
TertullianAD 220
An Answer to the Jews
Joseph, again, himself was made a figure of Christ in this point alone (to name no more, not to delay my own course), that he suffered persecution at the hands of his brethren, and was sold into Egypt, on account of the favour of God; just as Christ was sold by Israel-(and therefore, ) "according to the flesh," by His "brethren" -when He is betrayed by Judas.
Hippolytus of RomeAD 235
Hippolytus Dogmatical and Historical Fragments
Let us look next at the apostle's word: "Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." This word declares the mystery of the truth rightly and clearly. He who is over all is God; for thus He speaks boldly, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." He who is over all, God blessed, has been born; and having been made man, He is (yet) God for ever. For to this effect John also has said, "Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." And well has he named Christ the Almighty. For in this he has said only what Christ testifies of Himself. For Christ gave this testimony, and said, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; " and Christ rules all things, and has been appointed Almighty by the Father. And in like manner Paul also, in setting forth the truth that all things are delivered unto Him, said, "Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For all things are put under Him. But when He saith, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him. Then shall He also Himself be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." If, therefore, all things are put under Him with the exception of Him who put them under Him, He is Lord of all, and the Father is Lord of Him, that in all there might be manifested one God, to whom all things are made subject together with Christ, to whom the Father hath made all things subject, with the exception of Himself. And this, indeed, is said by Christ Himself, as when in the Gospel He confessed Him to be His Father and His God. For He speaks thus: "I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." If then, Noetus ventures to say that He is the Father Himself, to what father will he say Christ goes away according to the word of the Gospel? But if he will have us abandon the Gospel and give credence to his senselessness, he expends his labour in vain; for "we ought to obey God rather than men."
Origen of AlexandriaAD 253
COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
It is clear from this passage that Christ is the “God who is over all.” The one who is over all has nothing over him, for Christ does not come after the Father but from the Father. The Holy Spirit is also included in this, as it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord fills the earth, and whoever contains all things knows every sound.” So if the Son is God over all and the Spirit is recorded as containing all things, it is clear that the nature and substance of the Trinity are shown to be one and over all things.
Methodius of OlympusAD 311
Of the gods, but which teaches us the wondrous condescension to us men of the awful glory of Him who is God over all.
AmbrosiasterAD 384
COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES
Paul lists so many indications of the nobility and dignity of the Jewish people and of the promises they received in order to deepen his grief for all these things, because by not accepting the Savior they lost the privilege of their fathers and the merit of the promises, and they became worse than the Gentiles, whom they had previously detested when they were without God. For it is a worse evil to lose a dignity than never to have had it.As there is no mention of the Father’s name in this verse and Paul is talking about Christ, it cannot be disputed that he is called God here. For if Scripture is speaking about God the Father and adds the Son, it often calls the Father God and the Son Lord. If someone does not think that it is said here about Christ that he is God, then let him name the person about whom he thinks it is said, for there is no mention of God the Father in this verse.
John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily on Romans 16
"To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the father's, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
And what is this? one asks. For if with a view to the belief of others he was willing to become accursed, he ought to have also wished for this in the Gentiles' behalf. But in fact if he had prayed for the Gentiles only, this would not have been equally clear. But since it is for the Jews only, it is a clear proof that it is only for Christ's glory that he is thus earnest.
For what he means is something of this kind: all were talking and accusing God, that after being counted worthy of the name of sons, and receiving the Law, and knowing Him beyond all men, and enjoying such great glory, and serving him beyond the whole world, and receiving the promises, and being from fathers who were His friends, and what was the greatest thing of all, having been forefathers of Christ Himself (for this is the meaning of the words, "of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came"), they are now cast out and disgraced; and in their place are introduced men who had never known Him, of the Gentiles. Now since they said all this, and blasphemed God, Paul hearing it, and being cut to the heart, and vexed for God's glory's sake, wished that he were accursed, had it been possible, so that they might be saved, and this blasphemy be put a stop to, and God might not seem to have deceived the offspring of those to whom He promised the gifts.
PelagiusAD 418
PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS
The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul writes here against the Manicheans, Photinus and Arius because Christ is of the Jews according to the flesh, and God, blessed forever.
JeromeAD 420
Letter 121, Chapter 9
Why the Apostle Paul writes in the same Epistle to the Romans: I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites, to whom the adoption belongs, and the glory, and the testament, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises: Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:3 et seqq.) Indeed, a valid question, how can the Apostle who said above: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? (Romans 8:35) And again: But I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39), now confirm under oath and say: I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost: That I have great sadness, and continual sorrow in my heart. For I wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh. And so on. For if someone's love for God is so strong that he cannot be separated from His love, by neither the fear of death, nor the hope of life, nor persecution, nor hunger, nor nudity, nor danger, nor sword; and if Angels also, and Powers, both present and future, and all the Forces of heaven, and both the high and the deep, and every creature at once were to assail him, which cannot possibly be done: yet he would not be separated from the love of God, which he has in Christ Jesus: what is this great change, rather unheard-of prudence, that for the love of Christ, he would not want to have Christ? And lest we do not believe him, he swears and confirms in Christ, and calls his conscience as a witness, the Holy Spirit, that he has sadness, not light or casual, but great and unbelievable, and has sorrow in his heart, which does not sting for an hour and pass, but which continually remains in his heart. Where does this sadness lead? What profit is there in unceasing pain? Is it wished to be anathema from Christ, and to perish, so that others may be saved? But if we consider the voice of Moses asking God for the people of the Jews, and saying, "If thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of thy book, which thou hast written" (Exod. 32. 31. 32), we will see the same feelings in Moses and Paul towards the flock entrusted to them. For a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. But a hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and flees. And to say this same thing: I wished to be cursed by Christ; and erase me from your book which you have written. For those who are erased from the book of the living, and are not written with the just, are made anathema by the Lord. At the same time, see how great is the love of the Apostle for Christ, that he desires to die for him, and to perish alone, provided that the whole human race believes in him. To perish, however, not forever, but for the present. For whoever shall lose his life for Christ, shall save it (Matt. 10:39). Hence, he takes as an example the Forty-Third Psalm: For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Ps. 43:22). Therefore, the Apostle wishes to die in the flesh, so that others may be saved in the spirit; to pour out his blood so that many souls may be preserved. However, that anathema sometimes signifies slaying can be proved by many testimonies of the Old Testament. And lest we think the grief to be slight, and the cause of sorrow small, he joins it and says: For my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh. When he calls them kinsmen and brethren according to the flesh, he shows that they are strangers to him in spirit. Whose adoption," he says, "is signified more significantly in Greek as ὑιοθεσία; these things were spoken of by the Lord: 'You are my firstborn son, Israel,' and 'I have begotten sons and exalted them' (Isaiah 1:2), but now he says, 'Alien sons have lied to me' (Psalm 17:46). And their glory is that they were chosen from all nations to be a special people of God, and their covenants, one in the letter and the other in the spirit, meant that those who once served ceremonies of the abolished Law in the flesh would afterwards serve in the spirit the commands of the eternal Gospel. And the law addresses both the new and the old Testament. And worship, that is, true religion. And promises; to fulfill whatever was promised to the fathers in their descendants. And (which is greater than all) from whom Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. And in order that we might know who this Christ is, he embraces the causes of his pain in one speech, who is blessed above all God forever, amen. And this great and such, is not received from those from whom he was born. And nevertheless, he praises the truth of judgement, so that the sentence of God may not seem displeasing to his kindred and brothers, and be either austere or excessive. In which, therefore, such great goods were present, he laments why so many evils are present now.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 59
The Jews, who held only the first part of this confession, are refuted by the Lord. For when he asked them whose son they said Christ was, they answered “David’s.” This is true according to the flesh. But concerning his divinity … they answered nothing. Therefore the Lord said to them: “Why did David, in the Spirit, call him Lord?” in order that they might realize that they had only confessed that Christ is the son of David and had not said that Christ is Lord of this same David. The first fact is true according to his assumption of flesh, the other accordingto the eternity of his divinity.
Cyril of AlexandriaAD 444
EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS
God chose Israel for himself from the beginning, which is why he called it the firstborn. But the Israelites fell because they were proud, wicked and, worst of all, murderers of their Lord. Therefore they perished, for they were rejected and abandoned and excluded from God’s company, placed behind even the Gentiles and cut off from the hope promised to their ancestors.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Romans 9:5 stands as a pivotal declaration within Paul's lament over Israel's unbelief, yet it simultaneously celebrates their unparalleled heritage. This verse climaxes a list of divine privileges bestowed upon the Israelites, culminating in the profound truth that from their lineage, according to human descent, came the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is unequivocally declared to be God supreme over all, eternally blessed. It is a foundational statement affirming both the genuine humanity and the absolute deity of Christ, essential for understanding the Christian faith.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Romans 9:5 employs several powerful literary devices. The verse functions as a Climax within Paul's list of Israel's privileges, building from covenant and law to the ultimate gift of the Messiah. The final clause, "who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen," serves as a profound Doxology, a formal expression of praise to God. This doxological statement, directed toward Christ, underscores His divine nature and worthiness of eternal worship. Furthermore, the verse utilizes Juxtaposition by placing Christ's human lineage ("as concerning the flesh") immediately before His divine sovereignty ("who is over all, God blessed for ever"). This stark contrast highlights the mystery and wonder of the Incarnation, affirming both His true humanity and His absolute deity. The "Amen" at the end acts as a powerful Affirmation, sealing the truth of the preceding declaration with solemnity and certainty.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Romans 9:5 is a cornerstone text for Christian theology, serving as a robust affirmation of the dual nature of Jesus Christ: fully human and fully divine. Theologically, it asserts that the one who walked the earth, born of a Jewish woman, is simultaneously the eternal, sovereign God. This truth is foundational for understanding the efficacy of Christ's work. His humanity allowed Him to truly represent humanity, to suffer, die, and rise again as our substitute, experiencing the full weight of human existence and sin. His deity, however, ensured that His sacrifice was of infinite value, capable of atoning for the sins of all humanity and conquering death itself. Without His full deity, His sacrifice would be insufficient; without His full humanity, it would be irrelevant to our condition. This verse compels us to worship Christ not merely as a great teacher or prophet, but as the God who became man for our salvation, "blessed for ever."
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Romans 9:5 invites believers into a deeper apprehension of who Jesus truly is, calling us to worship Him with profound reverence and gratitude. To grasp that the one who suffered on the cross is also the "God blessed for ever" transforms our understanding of His love and power. This truth should inspire unwavering trust in His ability to save, sustain, and ultimately bring all things to their proper end. It reminds us that our faith is not in a mere historical figure, but in the living God who entered our world. It also serves as a powerful reminder of God's faithfulness to His promises, even when human expectations or actions seem to contradict them. We are called to live lives that reflect the sovereignty of Christ, submitting to His rule "over all" and joining in the eternal blessing of His name.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Romans 9:5 explicitly state that Jesus is God?
Answer: Yes, Romans 9:5 is one of the clearest and most direct New Testament affirmations of the deity of Jesus Christ. The phrase "who is over all, God blessed for ever" is a direct attribution of divine identity to Christ. While some ancient manuscripts and interpretations have attempted to punctuate the verse differently to separate "God blessed for ever" as a separate doxology to the Father, the overwhelming scholarly consensus, supported by Greek grammar and the flow of Paul's argument, understands this phrase as referring directly to Christ. The structure "ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας" (literally, "the one being over all, God blessed forever") naturally identifies the "who" (Christ) as "God blessed forever." This aligns with other New Testament passages that affirm Christ's deity, such as John 1:1 and Titus 2:13.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Romans 9:5 finds its profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus, who perfectly embodies both the human lineage promised to Israel and the divine nature of God Himself. His coming "as concerning the flesh" fulfills centuries of Old Testament prophecy regarding a Messiah born of Abraham's seed, from the tribe of Judah, and the house of David (e.g., Genesis 12:3, 2 Samuel 7:12-16). This human connection makes Him the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, able to identify with humanity in every way, even to the point of death on a cross for our sins (Hebrews 2:14-18). Yet, the verse culminates in the glorious truth that this same Jesus is "who is over all, God blessed for ever." This declaration of His absolute deity is crucial, for it is His divine nature that imbues His human suffering and sacrifice with infinite value and power, making Him capable of bearing the sins of the world and conquering death (Colossians 2:9). He is not merely a human deliverer, but the divine Savior, the Creator and Sustainer of all things (John 1:3), who condescended to take on flesh to reconcile a fallen humanity to a holy God (2 Corinthians 5:19). Thus, Romans 9:5 points to the Incarnation as the ultimate act of God's love and redemptive purpose, where the infinite God became finite man, so that finite man might be reconciled to the infinite God.