Romans 9:5

the fathers Cp. Romans 11:28. The reference is probably specially to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But David is also "the patriarchDavid;" Acts 2:29. These sacred Persons are now mentioned, after the previous sacred Things, so as to usher in the mention of the Christ Himself.

of whom out of whom; not merely "whose," as in previous clauses; perhaps to keep the thought in view that He was not exclusively forIsrael, though wholly ofIsrael.

as concerning the flesh In respect of His human Parent's descent He also was Jewish. His blessed Humanity was indeed, on the Paternal side, "of God;" (Meyer;) but this distinction is not in view here, where the plain meaning is that, by human parentage, He was Jewish.

who is over all, God blessed for ever The Gr. may (with more or less facility) be translated, (1) as in E. V.; or (2) who is God over all, &c.;" or (3) blessed for ever [be] the God who is over all. Between (1) and (2) the practical difference is slight, but (1) is the easier and safer grammatically: between (3) and the others the difference is, of course, complete. If we adopt (3) we take the Apostle to be led, by the mention of the Incarnation, to utter a sudden doxology to the God who gave that crowning mercy. In favour of this view it is urged, (not only by Socinian commentators and the like, but by some of the orthodox, as Meyer,) that St Paul nowhere else styles the Lord simply "God;" but always rather "the Son of God," &c. By this they do not mean to deny or detract from the Lord's Deity, but they maintain that St Paul always so states that Deity, under Divine guidance, as to mark the "Subordination of the Son" that Subordination which is not a difference of Nature, Power, or Eternity, but of Order; just such as is marked by the simple but profound words Father and Son. But on the other hand there is Titus 2:13, where the Gr. is (at least) perfectly capableof the rendering "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." And if, as St John is witness, it is divinely true that "the Word is God," it is surely far from wonderful if here and there, in peculiar connexions, an equally inspired Teacher should so speak of Christ, even though guided to keep another side of the truth habitually in view. Now, beyond all fair question, the Greek here (in view of the usual order of words in ascriptions of praise) is certainly best rendered as in E. V.: had it not been for controversy, probably, no other rendering would have been suggested. And lastly, the context far rather suggests a lament(over the fall of Israel) than an ascription of praise; while it also pointedly suggests some allusionto the super-human Nature of Christ, by the words "according to the flesh." But if there is such an allusion, then it must lie in the words "over all, God." We thus advocate the rendering of the E. V., as clearly the best grammatically, and the best suited to the context. Observe lastly that while St John (John 1:1; John 20:28; and perhapsJohn 1:18, where E. V. "Son;") uses the word God of Christ, and in John 12:41 distinctly implies that He is Jehovah, (Isaiah 6:5,) yet his Gospel is quite as full of the Filial Subordination as of the Filial Deity and Co-equality. So that the wordsof St Paul here are scarcely more exceptional in him than they would be in St John.

for ever Lit. unto the ages; the familiar phrase for endless duration, under all possible developements, where God and the other world are in question.

Amen The word is properly a Hebrew adverb (" surely"), repeatedly used as here in O. T. See e.g. Deuteronomy 27:15; Psalms 72:19; Jeremiah 11:5 (marg. E. V.).