Except for the last sentence in this verse, all of verses 3-5 is one sentence in Greek. The patriarchs were the noted ancestors of the Jewish race (in particular Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) with whom God made his covenant. The culmination of all Israel’s blessings is the fact that Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. The term patriarchs can involve two important components: (1) they are ancestors, and (2) they are important. This may simply be expressed in some languages as “the great ancestors,” “the ancestors from which each tribe comes,” or “the great ancestors from which the tribes are named.”
It is important to indicate that Christ is the last element in the series by which God’s chosen people are related to him in a special way, but it is essential to avoid any implication that the people were descended “from the patriarchs and Christ.” Moreover, to indicate that Christ is the last element in this series, it may be useful to begin the last clause as “finally Christ….” The Greek text literally reads “the Christ,” which some translators take as a title rather than a proper name (New English Bible “the Messiah”). However, this is not a necessary conclusion, since in verse 3 Paul also uses the definite article “the” before Christ (there New English Bible has “Christ”), where apparently all translations render by a proper name.
As a human being is literally “as far as the flesh is concerned,” but this only means “insofar as Christ was a human being” or “insofar as Christ was a man.” The final phrase, belongs to their race, is often equivalent to “belongs to the same tribe” or “is a member of the same nation.” Another means of expressing race may be “he is one with them.”
Since the earliest New Testament manuscripts were without any systematic punctuation, it is necessary for scholars to punctuate the text according to what seems appropriate to the syntax and the meaning. Basically, the question is whether the doxology has reference to God (Good News Translation May God, who rules over all, be praised forever!), or to Christ (TEV alternative rendering “And may he, who is God ruling over all, be praised forever!”). Although there are strong grammatical arguments to the contrary, the UBS textual committee prefers the reading represented in the Good News Bible, principally on the basis that Paul elsewhere never calls Christ God. Most modern English translations prefer the rendering presented in the Good News Bible (so Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, An American Translation*, Moffatt), but some do prefer the rendering represented in the alternative rendering of the Good News Bible (so Jerusalem Bible and Phillips).
The passive expression may God … be praised forever must be translated in some languages as “all men should forever praise God who rules over everything.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .