---
title: Romans 9:5
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-9-5/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-9-5.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 9:5
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 9:5

## Text (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.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "from whom Christ sprang according to the flesh: God, who is over all, be blessed forever. Amen."
- NWT (2013 revision): "and from whom the Christ descended according to the flesh. God, who is over all, be praised forever. Amen."

## JW Usage

Jehovah's Witnesses argue that Romans 9:5 does not call Jesus "God." The NWT repunctuates the verse to separate the doxology from Christ, rendering it so that "God, who is over all" is a separate sentence praising the Father rather than a description of Christ. This allows the Watchtower to maintain that Paul never directly calls Jesus "God" in this passage. The verse appears in the NWT's unidirectional bias pattern: every doctrinally significant divergence from standard translations moves away from Christ's deity, and Romans 9:5 is one of the clearest examples.

## Protestant Usage

Most standard translations render Romans 9:5 as a single sentence in which Paul identifies Christ as "God over all, blessed forever" (or similar). The Greek text contains no punctuation — ancient manuscripts lacked it — so the question is purely syntactical. The natural reading of the Greek takes "the one being over all, God blessed forever" as a relative clause describing Christ, the nearest antecedent. Paul is making a climactic statement about Israel's privileges, culminating in the Messiah "who is God over all, forever praised." This reading fits the literary context (Paul lists Israel's greatest blessings, ending with the highest claim) and is supported by the Granville Sharp pattern and the overwhelming majority of Greek scholars. Combined with Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1, it forms part of Paul's pattern of identifying Jesus within the divine identity — consistent with the Christian Shema of 1 Corinthians 8:6.

## NWT Issue

The NWT repunctuates Romans 9:5 to separate "God" from Christ. Where most translations read the doxology as describing Christ — "who is God over all, blessed forever" — the NWT inserts a break so that "God, who is over all, be praised forever" becomes an independent sentence about the Father. This is part of the NWT's documented unidirectional bias: the change moves away from Christ's deity, consistent with every other doctrinally significant NWT divergence.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- ['A God' = Polytheism](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john1-polytheism.md) — John 1:1 + Exodus 20:3 + Isaiah 43:10 [Deity of Christ]
- [The NWT's One-Way Mirror](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-unidirectional-bias.md) — Every Change Points the Same Direction [NWT Translation]
- [The Christian Shema — Paul Splits the Shema to Include Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christian-shema.md) — 1 Corinthians 8:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ]
- [Paul's Greeting Puts Jesus Beside the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pauline-greeting-formula.md) — Galatians 1:1-3 — Co-Source of Grace and Peace [Deity of Christ]
- [When Scholars Write Back — The Watchtower's Quote-Mining Pattern](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-quote-mining-tactic.md) — Julius Mantey's 1974 letter, plus Westcott, Robertson, Alford, Harner, Barclay [Authority]