Romans 3:3-8
New English Translation
3 What then? If some were unfaithful, their unfaithfulness will not nullify God’s faithfulness, will it? 4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being[a] shown up as a liar,[b] just as it is written: “so that you will be justified[c] in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”[d]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates[e] the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.)[f] 6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances[g] his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”?—as some who slander us allege that we say.[h] (Their[i] condemnation is deserved!)
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- Romans 3:4 tn Grk “every man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.
- Romans 3:4 tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.
- Romans 3:4 tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.
- Romans 3:4 tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.
- Romans 3:5 tn Or “shows clearly.”
- Romans 3:5 sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.
- Romans 3:7 tn Grk “abounded unto.”
- Romans 3:8 tn Grk “(as we are slandered and some affirm that we say…).”
- Romans 3:8 tn Grk “whose.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this relative clause was rendered as a new sentence in the translation.
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