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Romans 9.5 is a verse that is believed by many to teach that Jesus is God over all. However, there is a certain ambiguity in the Greek that we should be made aware of. In order to bring this out consider the following translations of Romans 9.5.

translations that call Christ “God over all”

NET
To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

HCSB
The forefathers are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

ESV
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

NIV
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

translations that call Christ “God blessed”

NASB
whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

NRSV
to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

ASV
whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

KJV
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

translations that do not call Christ God

NAB
theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen.

RSV
to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.

CJB
the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be ADONAI for ever! Amen.

So which is it? Is Paul breaking out into praise to God for what he has done in sending the Messiah? Is Paul saying that the Messiah is the blessed God? Is Paul saying that the Messiah is blessed by God for ever? In order to gain some clarity we shall turn to the words of J. Schneider in the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, vol. 2, ed. Colin Brown, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), p. 80
Rom. 9:5 is disputed. After Paul has expounded the position of Israel in salvation history and has emphasized as an especial advantage the fact that Christ according to the flesh, stems from this people, he adds a relative clause, which runs lit. “who is over all God blessed for ever. Amen.” Even so, Christ would not be equated absolutely with God, but only described as a being of divine nature, for the word theos has no article. But this ascription of majesty does not occur anywhere else in Paul. The much more probable explanation is that the statement is a doxology directed to God, stemming from Jewish tradition and adopted by Paul. Overwhelmed by God’s dealings with Israel, Paul concludes with an ascription of praise to God. The translation would then read, “The one who is God over all be blessed for ever. Amen.” or alternatively, “God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.”