Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
The comma does not change the meaning, though due to modern people's lack of English skills some folks may arrive at an erroneous conclusion. It isn't a translation issue (nothing was translated by any comma as there is no comma in the Greek, and Greek commas do not necessarily mean what modern English commas do anyway).
.... I haven't found a commentary yet that takes the phrase to mean Christ is blessed by God. Which inclines me to think the interpretation "blessed by God forever" is a modern result of bad English skills.
All commenters seem divided into either "Christ is over all, He is God who is blessed forever", or "Blessed be God forever who is over all". That latter however I believe is sufficiently refuted by both the English and the Greek grammar. The former is a perfectly good rendering of both the Greek and English.
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Romans 9:5 (AV)
Whose are the fathers,
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is over all,
God blessed for ever.
Amen.
A comma after God does in fact make a radical change in meaning.
a) it creates the definite apposition, Christ == God.
b) it separates God from blessed, which is a natural association
You might claim (a) without the comma, but you have to work with a double or triple ellipsis. It is an awkward claim at best.
Thus without the comma leads to different interpretations than with the comma. In fact, many writers who discuss this verse simply quietly add the comma after God.
Early Greek manuscripts often do have punctuation, as do some dozens of cursives. This is not really relevant, since we are studying the AV text, but I want to correct what you say above.
You are right that most all commentators fall into that dichotomy. And many early church writers like the Christ is God understanding. There seems to be a bandwagon effect, with the taking of sides. No middle ground, no nuanced understanding. Simply reading the AV text for its plain sense, you have a high Christology, but you do not have Christ is God.
My side is whatever the pure Bible, the AV, tells me
. We should let the pure Bible text inform our doctrine, and not change the text to match our doctrines.