Since there has been confusion spilling over into many threads of this topic, I'm posting this to clarify the meaning of "God blessed for ever" in Romans 9:5. It is a simple fact that a translation should match the meaning of the text it is translated from, and that rules in one language should not be applied to another.
In the English text, Paul refers to the Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, the giving of the law, etc. and from whom is Christ. After this, there are two clauses in the AV that give additional information about Christ and contrast with "according to the flesh": (1) that He is "over all" and (2) that He is "God blessed for ever." Mr. Avery has proposed rather insistently (in one thread after another) that "God blessed" is a compound adjective and the 2nd clause simply means Christ is blessed by God.
In the Greek, however, "God blessed" is two words in the nominative case: a noun θεὸς (God) and an adjective εὐλογητὸς (blessed). The two nominatives like this, where the adjective has no article, combine to form a predicate adjective construction, not a compound adjective. In Greek, every case except the nominative and vocative can receive the action of a verb or preposition. In order to form the construction proposed by Mr. Avery, an accusative or genitive construction would be necessary
We cannot bring it into English and then use it to form a compound adjective; this would be corrupting the text through exposition. Though repeatedly offered correction on this point, Mr. Avery continues to assert (with no background in the Greek language) that the "natural association" of θεὸς εὐλογητὸς in Greek is that of a compound adjective.
This highlights the inherent problem of attempting to apply English rules to Greek constructions. Our Greek text follows the Textus Receptus, from which the AV is translated, and not modern emendations forcing a doxology to the Father or making "Israelites" the subject. These are deliberate emendations of the text discussed elsewhere.
How should we read it? The Greek passage is not easy to bring into English and punctuate it, so there are many attempts but all have the same general meaning: that Christ is referred to as God, and that He is blessed forever.
The latest iteration is to add a period after "flesh" to force a doxology to the Father ("He who is God over all be blessed for ever"). This is forced punctuation based on the presupposition that Paul would not refer to Christ as God (which is itself a tacit admission that the passage, without the punctuation, refers to Christ as God). This creates a serious problem in the Greek, though when we translate we can make any interpretation sound good. The problem is that the attributive participle ὁ ὢν ("who is") most usually has an antecedent. Without an antecedent (or implied antecedent), it refers to the whole class of individuals to which the equation applies. In other words, "He who," as in "one who," in an indefinite sense. In the English, however, the resulting "He who" is used in a definite sense.
None of the Orthodox writers I have researched within this limited scope propose what Mr. Avery asserts, and not even the heterodox propose it even when it would have benefited them to do so.
In the English text, Paul refers to the Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, the giving of the law, etc. and from whom is Christ. After this, there are two clauses in the AV that give additional information about Christ and contrast with "according to the flesh": (1) that He is "over all" and (2) that He is "God blessed for ever." Mr. Avery has proposed rather insistently (in one thread after another) that "God blessed" is a compound adjective and the 2nd clause simply means Christ is blessed by God.
In the Greek, however, "God blessed" is two words in the nominative case: a noun θεὸς (God) and an adjective εὐλογητὸς (blessed). The two nominatives like this, where the adjective has no article, combine to form a predicate adjective construction, not a compound adjective. In Greek, every case except the nominative and vocative can receive the action of a verb or preposition. In order to form the construction proposed by Mr. Avery, an accusative or genitive construction would be necessary
We cannot bring it into English and then use it to form a compound adjective; this would be corrupting the text through exposition. Though repeatedly offered correction on this point, Mr. Avery continues to assert (with no background in the Greek language) that the "natural association" of θεὸς εὐλογητὸς in Greek is that of a compound adjective.
This highlights the inherent problem of attempting to apply English rules to Greek constructions. Our Greek text follows the Textus Receptus, from which the AV is translated, and not modern emendations forcing a doxology to the Father or making "Israelites" the subject. These are deliberate emendations of the text discussed elsewhere.
The English Construction
"Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
How should we read it? The Greek passage is not easy to bring into English and punctuate it, so there are many attempts but all have the same general meaning: that Christ is referred to as God, and that He is blessed forever.
"who is over all"
In this case, Christ is followed by what we call an appositive relative or nonrestrictive relative clause. What that means is that we are looking at a parenthetical clause giving additional information about who Christ is ("who is..."). We say nonrestrictive because it is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, it only gives additional information about the subject ("Christ"). No other part of the English sentence is dependent upon it."God blessed for ever"
After that, we find an appositional clause that further describes Christ as "God blessed for ever." An appositional clause is a relative clause where "who is," "which is," etc. has be left out, and the relative clause is set off by commas. Mr. Avery has denied that there is an apposition here, by misapplying rules that belong to restrictive clauses, but it is in fact what we are looking at even in his own interpretation."blessed"
Here is where it matters to preserve the meaning of the Greek in an English translation. As noted above, "blessed" in the Greek is a predicate adjective. It must therefore be treated the same way in the English. English allows us to form a predicate adjective in two ways:- With a linking verb ("I slept well," "I am tired," "The sky is blue" "The moon is full").
- When "who/that is" are involved, by forming an elliptical clause ("a lamp bright enough to light the room" = "a lamp that is bright enough to light the room." When we pronounce this, there should be a slight pause between lamp and bright).
"Christ . . . who is over all, God ˑ bles-sed for ever."
This is not just my interpretation of the passage. It is the one handed down through the generations from ancient times.
The Orthodox English commentators from 1611-1798 (the limited scope of my research thus far) are virtually unanimous in understanding the passage this way. The Greek writers also understand this passage as testifying of the Deity of Christ. The Socinians, Unitarians and Arians all stumbled over the passage trying to make it agreeable with their doctrine, and so numerous "alternatives" have been proposed. This is what happens when a group of individuals asserts a passage "can't mean that, so it must mean something else." Once the most obvious reading is discarded, controversial proposals follow.The latest iteration is to add a period after "flesh" to force a doxology to the Father ("He who is God over all be blessed for ever"). This is forced punctuation based on the presupposition that Paul would not refer to Christ as God (which is itself a tacit admission that the passage, without the punctuation, refers to Christ as God). This creates a serious problem in the Greek, though when we translate we can make any interpretation sound good. The problem is that the attributive participle ὁ ὢν ("who is") most usually has an antecedent. Without an antecedent (or implied antecedent), it refers to the whole class of individuals to which the equation applies. In other words, "He who," as in "one who," in an indefinite sense. In the English, however, the resulting "He who" is used in a definite sense.
None of the Orthodox writers I have researched within this limited scope propose what Mr. Avery asserts, and not even the heterodox propose it even when it would have benefited them to do so.
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