This statement by Paul cannot be represented in one verse. It’s about a longer sentence. It starts like this:

“I speak the truth in Christ (I do not lie, my conscience testifies to me in the Holy Spirit): Great sorrow is in me and unceasing pain in my heart – for I wish to be banished from Christ myself – for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
Rom 9:1-3 CNT*

Paul has something on his mind. He is saddened and feels pain. This pain affects his relatives in the flesh, who are Israelites. He feels connected to them. Paul sees himself as having a great treasure, a great experience that he would like to share with his fellow Jews. He says it here indirectly: “for I wish to be banished from Christ myself – for my brothers”. The apostle feels gifted by Christ, but wishes that his fellow Jews could also recognize this. The wealth he has obtained himself is so real to him that his knowledge and desire are no longer secondary. He even wishes that he himself were banished from Christ, if only his fellow Jews could recognize this. He would therefore be prepared to give up his wealth if this wealth were to reach his fellow Israelites.

Then comes the second part:

“My brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites …

to whom belong sonship and glory,
the alliances and legislation,
the divine service and the promises to which the fathers belong
and from whom Christ came according to the flesh,
who is above all, God, blessed for the eons! Amen!”
Rom 9:4-5 KNT

Paul speaks about Israel and about all the riches that the people have already received. He speaks about the whole people, from whom he himself comes, but from whom Christ also comes, who is over all, God, blessed for the eons (ages).

Is Christ God?

The title of this article was: “Is Jesus God”. However, the verse quoted from Romans speaks of Christ and mentions the word God in the same verse. Christ and Jesus are not the same thing. Christ is a function, a title, while Jesus is a name. That is why they are often mentioned together, such as “Jesus Christ” or, in the case of Paul, predominantly “Christ Jesus”. This states that Jesus is the Christ, or more precisely the Messiah. When Paul puts the designation before the name, it is after the resurrection and we should pay careful attention to these small changes because they each appear in their own context.

This letter to the Romans is about Christ, who comes from Israel. Christ means the same as the Hebrew word “Messiah”, but Paul is not explaining the idea of a Messiah as promised to Israel. He speaks to the Romans, to a congregation from all nations who had come to know this Jesus as “Christ”, as the Risen One. Paul writes about Christ from the gospel, as he explained earlier in Romans. This is not about a messianic expectation, but about something completely new, in which this Jewish Messiah became the Risen One, who now had a direct message for the nations outside the intended role of the Jewish prophets. That was new. The prophets thought of salvation being mediated by the people of Israel. Paul explains in these chapters that salvation today comes directly to the nations without mediation via Israel.

So much for the background to these terms.

But now the word “God” is in the sentence. Does this now mean that Jesus is “God Himself”, and from this that He is part of a Trinity? That is probably a little far from the truth. There are two things to consider carefully when looking at the Bible:

1. What is written directly
2. What is not written.

Let’s start with the last one. There is nothing here about Jesus being “God himself”, nor is there any reference to a Trinity. These two things are superimposed on the text.

But what does it say? It is this: “Christ, who is over all, God”. Both the word “Christ” and the word “God” are not proper names, but general titles and functions. Christ means “anointed one” and kings, prophets and priests were anointed. The anointing was confirmation of the task. The word “God” is also a designation and title. The same word was used in the Old Testament for the almighty God and for idols (Heb. Elohim). People were also called God, for example in Ex 7,1. It is clear from this that this word needs a context so that we can interpret it.

The word “God” is not clearly directed at a person, any more than the word “Messiah” was directed at a person.

God and Messiah

The word “God” is not clearly directed at a person, any more than the word “Messiah” was directed at a person. The fact that Jesus was now recognized as the promised deliverer and saviour and that the term Messiah was assigned to Him (cf. Dan 9:25 and John 1:41) is an insight that cannot be derived from the word itself. It is a realization of the people.

Although it is common among Christ to refer to Jesus as “Christ”, Jews often use other terms. Nathanael, for example, testified: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). These were the usual designations. The link with the word “Christ” can be traced, but not everywhere in the Old Testament, but only later, as in the prophet Daniel, as well as in the New Testament. Nathanael had obviously not yet jumped on this bandwagon and found other terms that applied just as well.

So in Romans 9:5 we are dealing with two function designations, Christ and God. They are both applied here to the Risen One, Jesus Christ, but this does not make these terms “exclusive designations” or names. The context of the verse is quite clear: “Christ, who is over all, God”.

The doctrine of the Trinity attempts to relate “God” to “Christ” in order to prove the deity of Jesus. However, it is not explicitly written that way. It seems simpler to me if you read it like this: God refers to “he who is above all”. God refers to someone who is above all in one word. What is meant must be clear from the context. An absolute claim cannot be derived from this.

The Greek word for God is “Theos”, derived from the root word “the” or “set”. God is the one who stands above all and assigns everything to its own place or puts it there. God is who is in charge. However, this statement does not mean that God is used “therefore” in an absolute sense, i.e. to denote the Most High. The word God is used in several ways, namely demonstrably for the only God as well as for idols and even for people. That is precisely the point here.

Example:
When Jesus mentioned that God the Father and He were “one”, the Jews carried stones to stone Him for blasphemy. It was wrongly concluded here that the word “God” is only unambiguous, which it is not. Jesus then quotes Psalm 82:6, where people are called “God” and “sons of the Most High”. They are ordinary people. It was therefore unnecessary to stone him, because he did not make himself equal to God.

Everything under Christ

When it is testified that Christ “is above all” and therefore God, we learn the following from First Corinthians:

“For He subordinated everything to Him: Under His feet. When He then says “Everything has been subordinated to Him”, it is obvious that God is the one who subordinated the universe to Him. But if the universe is subordinate to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subordinate to Him who subordinated the universe to Him, so that God may be all in all.”
1Cor 15:27-28

Paul teaches that Christ subordinates everything and when this is achieved, the Son will also subordinate himself to God so that God can be “all in all”. This is the goal. We are working towards this goal. Everything is to come under Christ, but this is merely the preliminary stage to Christ subordinating himself to God. The goal is not “Christ all in all”, but “God all in all”.

The letter to the Ephesians says:

“He (God) subordinates everything to Him (Christ), at His feet; and He (Christ) gives Him (God) as head over everything to the called-out church, which is His body, the completion of Him who completes the universe in everything.”
Eph 1:22-23

These are strong indications that Christ “is above all”, which is why the term “God” is correct, but this does not mean that He is God Himself. Submission to Christ is an intermediate goal, not a final goal. It in no way means that Christ is therefore God, because God makes it possible for everything to be subsumed under Christ.

Paul taught very clearly:

“We know that an idol is nothing in the world and it there is no other God but the One. For although there are so-called gods (whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords), for us only One God, the Father, from whom is the universe (and we are turned to Him), and only One Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom the universe has become (and we are through Him). But not in all of them is that realization.”
1Cor 8:4-7

Who is God?

There is only one God. This is the father. Neither Jesus nor Christ are God, even if they are called the Son of God or simply God. God is not a proper name or a unique designation. The term God is used for people, idols and also for the One God. It is not an exclusive designation from which exclusive values can be derived. The context shows this, especially the connections that Paul himself gives in his letters.

Does that make me a Unitarian? Well, I don’t think so, because Unitarians often not only speak of God the Father as the only true God, but also define Jesus as a human being. Although this is also explicitly mentioned in the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:5), it leaves other New Testament testimonies untouched (for example Colossians 1:15). The fact that Jesus is neither “deity” nor part of the Trinity does not make Him a creature. So this article did not refute all possible ideas about Jesus, but only wanted to clarify this one aspect: Is Jesus God, and what does that mean?