terpretation of this important passage which can, with the least regard to the rules of construction, be maintained. Paul evidently declares that Christ, who he had just said was, as to his human nature, descended from the Israelites, is, in another respect, the supreme God, or God over all, and blessed for ever. That this is the meaning of the passage is evident from the following reasons. 1. The relative who must agree with the nearest antecedent. There is no other subject in the context sufficiently prominent to make a departure from this ordinary rule, in this case, even plausible. " Of whom Christ came, who is," &c. Who is? Certainly Christ. 2. The context requires this interpretation, be- cause, as Paul was speaking of Christ, it would be very unnatural thus suddenly to change the subject and break out into a doxology to God. Frequently as the pious feelings of the apostle led him to use such ex- clamations of praise, he never does it except when God is the immediate subject of discourse. See ch. 1 : 25, " Who worship and serve the crea- ture more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore ;" Gal. 1 : 5. 2 Cor. 11 : 31. Besides, it was the very object of the apostle to set forth the great honour to the Jews of having Christ born among them, and this, of course, would lead to his presenting the dignity of the Re- deemer in the strongest light. For the greater he was, the greater the honour to those of whose race he came. 3. The antithesis, which is evidently implied between the two clauses of the verse, is in favour of this interpretation. Christ, according to the flesh, was an Israelite, but, according to his higher nature, the supreme God. See the strikingly analogous passage in ch. 1:3, 4, where Christ is said, according to one nature, to be the Son of David, according to the other, the Son of God. 4. No other interpretation is at all consistent with the grammatical con- Btruction, or the relative position of the words. To suppose that this passage is a doxology, referring not to Christ, but to God, is in the highest degree unnatural, because God is not mentioned in the context, and because the constant form of doxology in the Scriptures is " Blessed be God ;" and never " God be blessed." The word for blessed always stands first, and the word for God after it with the article. As the word God, in the original, is without the article in this case, it must be the pre- dicate and not the subject of the sentence ; that is, the meaning must be, ivho is God, and not God is. In the strongest and clearest language, therefore, Paul declares that Christ is the supreme God.
Over all is equivalent to most high, supreme. The same words oc- cur in Eph. 4:6, " One God, who is above all." This passage, there- fore, shows that Christ is God in the highest sense of the word. Amen is a Hebrew word signifying true. It is used in the New Testament often adverbially, and is rendered verily; or, at the close of a sentence, as expressing desire, let it he, or merely approbation. It does not, there- fore, necessarily imply that the clause to which it is attached contains a wish. It is used here, as in Rom. 1 : 25, for giving a solemn assent to