For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
The verse voices the unbeliever's objection that if human lying and unrighteousness cause God's truth and righteousness to stand out more clearly to His glory, the sinner ought not still be judged as a sinner. That excuse fails, for unrighteousness is not made acceptable by bringing God glory, and if such reasoning were valid God would be unjust to judge and could not judge the world. It leads to the slanderous claim to do evil that good may come, whose condemnation is just. It stands in Paul's proof that Jews and Gentiles alike are guilty sinners under the same universal moral law, which condemns all and gives knowledge of sin. Therefore forgiveness for past offenses comes only by grace through faith in Christ's blood, and that faith does not void the law but establishes it and brings obedience.
Setting and Speaker
The verse comes after the rebuke of Jews who boasted of godliness while dishonoring God by iniquity, showing that the unfaithfulness of many does not make the faithfulness of God of no effect and that God remains true in judgment. It is part of the questions and answers that make up the first part of the third chapter, where every possible objection is anticipated and answered in order to make the argument more emphatic. It voices the objection a Pharisee would raise against the truths set forth in the second chapter that God judges all sin without respect of persons, and it does not express any difficulty in Paul's own mind, as is made clear by the parenthetical clause, I speak as a man.
It raises the unbeliever's objection that if Jewish unbelief and lying cause God's faithfulness and truth to abound more unto His glory, they should not still be judged as sinners. It stands in the second, third, and fourth chapters to show that there is no difference between Jew and Greek, that God is not partial and favors no one nation or people over another, and that the gospel call of grace is whosoever to all alike. Those chapters already show who are Israelites, who are heirs of God's promise, and how alone that inheritance is to be obtained, and the same subject is carried out in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters rather than a change of subject being introduced. It belongs to the proof in the third chapter that all are under sin irrespective of nationality, opening the argument for justification and life through Jesus Christ.
Meaning of Objection
The verse puts forward the human objection that if a person's unrighteousness and falsehood cause God's truth and righteousness to be seen more clearly to His glory, that person should not still be judged as a sinner. Forgiveness of past sins comes through Christ's blood by faith, while faith is no excuse for continuing in sin or neglecting the obedience that shapes the Christian life. Human sin does not become acceptable or cease to be transgression because God's righteousness is shown through it or because grace is made to abound.
Human unrighteousness by contrast making God's righteousness stand out and bringing Him glory does not make that unrighteousness acceptable or remove the ground for judgment. Jewish unbelief and lying, though making God's faithfulness and truth abound more to His glory, do not make God's faithfulness of no effect, for if they did God could not judge the world. Condemning such unrighteousness does not undermine God's righteousness, since otherwise there would be no just judgment of the world. The law entrusted to Israel in the oracles of God is the rule of that judgment, the living oracles given through Moses for all, whose chief benefit was that trust.
That objection runs on to the slanderous claim that evil may be done so that good may come, whose condemnation is just. The unfaithfulness of many does not nullify the faithfulness of God, who remains true in judgment even when Jews boasting of godliness dishonor Him by iniquity. The following verses reject the false charge that Christians teach people to do evil for good to result, and affirm that Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin. The passage therefore gives no support to the idea that knowledge of Christ is unnecessary for salvation.
No one can excuse sin by arguing that his lie makes God's truth more evident and brings God glory, or by using the display of God's grace as a reason to keep transgressing His law. If that reasoning were valid, God would be unjust to judge the sinner. Evil is not made good nor guilt removed because good comes from it, for good comes only from God and human beings cannot produce goodness by themselves. The thought gives no ground for the charge that Paul lacked veracity.
All Guilty Under Law
The verse belongs to the summing up that all men, Jews or Gentiles, so-called heathen or professed Christians, are to be judged by the same law and are alike guilty. The law is universal in its jurisdiction and condemns all, so none can get righteousness by it, although it is the statement of the righteousness of God. The oracles of God entrusted to the Jews are the law, the living oracles Moses received to give to all. They were held in trust for a time and through them handed down to others, so the moral law was not given to the Jews exclusively.
Standing in Romans 3:1-9, the verse helps prove by the law that all the world, both Jews and Gentiles, stand proved sinners. This shows the law is universal, binding on all classes in all the world, as befits the law of God the Universal Governor. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and by this rule character is determined. A law with no jurisdiction could not condemn, for condemnation by a law proves responsibility and jurisdiction under that law, and the same law that condemns the transgressor would justify the doer, as one straight edge both approves what is straight and condemns what is crooked.
Although the Jews received God's oracles and had an advantage, the law exposes the whole world as guilty before God, so its authority is not limited to the Jews. Its moral principles are older than Sinai and applied to the whole human family. Gentiles like Jews are answerable to God's law and condemned when they violate it, contradicting the claim that the silence of Acts 15 releases Gentiles from the law. The Gentiles had transgressed the moral law and were therefore under its curse, which keeps transgressors from claiming the blessing of Abraham and the gospel, though Christ redeems those who come to Him by faith, and God's truth and glory do not excuse the sinner.
God's moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments has bound all people, not only a particular class, from Eden onward. The law discussed in Romans 2 and 3 is the decalogue including the fourth commandment enjoining the Sabbath kept by the Jews, proving the Sabbath was made for mankind as a race and not for the Jews only. The passage testifies that no one completely obeys God's law, and fallen human weakness keeps the law from making people perfect. Man is utterly unable of himself to do God's will, being without strength, carnal, sold under sin, taken by his own iniquities and held by the cords of his sins, with no power to make himself like Christ and no riches to purchase the change or redeem his brother.
People have no power in themselves to cleanse themselves or produce God's righteousness, and efforts to save themselves or assist God through human plans and fleshly schemes lead to bondage. The law is kept distinct from the faith of Christ and from the gospel and new covenant, showing it cannot mean the gospel. It is the moral law containing Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and the prohibition of idolatry, which exposes the sinful condition of all, proves the whole world guilty, condemns sin and kills but never justifies the sinner or gives relief and life.
Justification by Faith Alone
Romans 3:7 belongs to Paul's discussion of justification by faith, which concerns sinners under condemnation; that discussion is not an argument that the law is abolished or that Christians need not keep it. There is no middle ground between condemnation and justification, and justification comes through faith in Christ.
Works do not justify a person for past offenses, which can only be forgiven through the gospel and Christ's blood by faith and grace. Obedience belongs to the justified person's future life and prevents further sin; it is not a way to earn justification for past sins, for no one can work out a justification for a sin already committed. The chapter treats justification for past offenses as a work of faith and grace through Christ, not something achieved by works, and it is contrasted with the call to live obediently after justification, since the gospel both forgives past sin and provides for its prevention.
Remission of past offenses is by faith and cannot be procured by works, yet faith does not save without works, so Paul is in complete harmony with James. Justification by faith for past offenses is distinct from the obedience of faith, and faith does not make works the means of receiving remission nor save apart from that obedience.
God has promised righteousness to men, so they must get it apart from works of the law, namely in Christ. In His blood there is redemption for Jew and Gentile alike. A man is made a doer of the law by faith alone, without the deeds of the law, which is the mystery of the gospel, Christ in men the hope of glory, God in Christ working His own righteousness.
Justification is by faith alone for past offenses, through grace by the blood of Christ for remission of sins past, with works entirely excluded, because no one can work out a justification for a sin already committed. That justification frees from condemnation for past transgression, but it belongs with prevention as well as cure, since God does not favor future sin. Christ also saves from sin itself, removes the carnal mind that is enmity against God and not subject to His law, writes the law in the heart, and makes the justified at peace with God and subject to His law so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit. It provides remission of past sin through the blood of Christ, not license to sin or exemption from future obedience, while the obedience of faith patiently continues in well doing, keeps the commandments of God, adds virtue to faith, and fulfills the righteousness of the law by strength imparted by Christ, so that all obedience afterward is by grace with no ground for boasting.
Faith does not make God's law void, for deliverance from the law's curse or condemnation does not remove the obligation to obey it. Christ's atonement upholds the moral law rather than abolishing it: the law condemns sin, and His death makes pardon possible without erasing the law's claims. Faith in His blood justifies the sinner before the God whose law has been broken; this faith does not cancel the law but establishes it, and grace does not give permission to continue in sin.
The law exposes people as sinners and condemns them, and the gospel recognizes their sentence of death and offers pardon through Christ's blood. The law of faith excludes boasting, a lesson applying to people who boast of possessing the gospel.
Law Established and Obeyed
The oracles committed to the Jews were not made of no effect but continued twenty-seven years after Christ's death as the only rule of righteousness known. By that law God judges the world, Jews and Gentiles alike according to conduct and therefore by the same law. Every promise of God has reference to that law and hangs upon it, and the types and their Antitype all aim at vindication of the divine law and man's restoration to loving obedience of it. Without that law there can be no conditions of salvation or distinction of character, for sin is not imputed where there is no law, and if one could be saved without it all must be. Its continued force is proved because the apostles preached repentance after the resurrection, and the one condition of salvation offered in the gospel to Jew or Gentile, repentance and faith, both recognize the law.
The chapter affirms the continuing authority of God's law as the standard that exposes human guilt and for which Christ laid down His life. It affirms the perpetuity of the law of the ten commandments. The law here is the moral law of God that proves all men to be guilty sinners condemned before God, so that Christ had to lay down His life for a guilty world, and not the law of ordinances that was abolished and blotted out by His death. The royal law remains in force and is established, not made void, distinct from the ceremonial ordinances blotted out at the cross.
The passage establishes the law of God and shows Paul kept the commandments of God and did not abolish them or make them nothing. This agrees with Romans 7 and with his teaching to the Galatians, to the Corinthians, and to the Hebrews about the law written in the heart in the new covenant. The Ten Commandments are part of Christ's law, established by Christ and His apostles, and apply to Gentiles as well as Jews. They are not binding as an old covenant obligation to earn life, nor are they the Levitical priesthood.
The verse voices the unbeliever's objection that if human lying and unrighteousness cause God's truth and righteousness to stand out more clearly to His glory, the sinner ought not still be judged as a sinner. That excuse fails, for unrighteousness is not made acceptable by bringing God glory, and if such reasoning were valid God would be unjust to judge and could not judge the world. It leads to the slanderous claim to do evil that good may come, whose condemnation is just. It stands in Paul's proof that Jews and Gentiles alike are guilty sinners under the same universal moral law, which condemns all and gives knowledge of sin. Therefore forgiveness for past offenses comes only by grace through faith in Christ's blood, and that faith does not void the law but establishes it and brings obedience.
Setting and Speaker
The verse comes after the rebuke of Jews who boasted of godliness while dishonoring God by iniquity, showing that the unfaithfulness of many does not make the faithfulness of God of no effect and that God remains true in judgment. It is part of the questions and answers that make up the first part of the third chapter, where every possible objection is anticipated and answered in order to make the argument more emphatic. It voices the objection a Pharisee would raise against the truths set forth in the second chapter that God judges all sin without respect of persons, and it does not express any difficulty in Paul's own mind, as is made clear by the parenthetical clause, I speak as a man.
It raises the unbeliever's objection that if Jewish unbelief and lying cause God's faithfulness and truth to abound more unto His glory, they should not still be judged as sinners. It stands in the second, third, and fourth chapters to show that there is no difference between Jew and Greek, that God is not partial and favors no one nation or people over another, and that the gospel call of grace is whosoever to all alike. Those chapters already show who are Israelites, who are heirs of God's promise, and how alone that inheritance is to be obtained, and the same subject is carried out in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters rather than a change of subject being introduced. It belongs to the proof in the third chapter that all are under sin irrespective of nationality, opening the argument for justification and life through Jesus Christ.
Meaning of Objection
The verse puts forward the human objection that if a person's unrighteousness and falsehood cause God's truth and righteousness to be seen more clearly to His glory, that person should not still be judged as a sinner. Forgiveness of past sins comes through Christ's blood by faith, while faith is no excuse for continuing in sin or neglecting the obedience that shapes the Christian life. Human sin does not become acceptable or cease to be transgression because God's righteousness is shown through it or because grace is made to abound.
Human unrighteousness by contrast making God's righteousness stand out and bringing Him glory does not make that unrighteousness acceptable or remove the ground for judgment. Jewish unbelief and lying, though making God's faithfulness and truth abound more to His glory, do not make God's faithfulness of no effect, for if they did God could not judge the world. Condemning such unrighteousness does not undermine God's righteousness, since otherwise there would be no just judgment of the world. The law entrusted to Israel in the oracles of God is the rule of that judgment, the living oracles given through Moses for all, whose chief benefit was that trust.
That objection runs on to the slanderous claim that evil may be done so that good may come, whose condemnation is just. The unfaithfulness of many does not nullify the faithfulness of God, who remains true in judgment even when Jews boasting of godliness dishonor Him by iniquity. The following verses reject the false charge that Christians teach people to do evil for good to result, and affirm that Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin. The passage therefore gives no support to the idea that knowledge of Christ is unnecessary for salvation.
No one can excuse sin by arguing that his lie makes God's truth more evident and brings God glory, or by using the display of God's grace as a reason to keep transgressing His law. If that reasoning were valid, God would be unjust to judge the sinner. Evil is not made good nor guilt removed because good comes from it, for good comes only from God and human beings cannot produce goodness by themselves. The thought gives no ground for the charge that Paul lacked veracity.
All Guilty Under Law
The verse belongs to the summing up that all men, Jews or Gentiles, so-called heathen or professed Christians, are to be judged by the same law and are alike guilty. The law is universal in its jurisdiction and condemns all, so none can get righteousness by it, although it is the statement of the righteousness of God. The oracles of God entrusted to the Jews are the law, the living oracles Moses received to give to all. They were held in trust for a time and through them handed down to others, so the moral law was not given to the Jews exclusively.
Standing in Romans 3:1-9, the verse helps prove by the law that all the world, both Jews and Gentiles, stand proved sinners. This shows the law is universal, binding on all classes in all the world, as befits the law of God the Universal Governor. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and by this rule character is determined. A law with no jurisdiction could not condemn, for condemnation by a law proves responsibility and jurisdiction under that law, and the same law that condemns the transgressor would justify the doer, as one straight edge both approves what is straight and condemns what is crooked.
Although the Jews received God's oracles and had an advantage, the law exposes the whole world as guilty before God, so its authority is not limited to the Jews. Its moral principles are older than Sinai and applied to the whole human family. Gentiles like Jews are answerable to God's law and condemned when they violate it, contradicting the claim that the silence of Acts 15 releases Gentiles from the law. The Gentiles had transgressed the moral law and were therefore under its curse, which keeps transgressors from claiming the blessing of Abraham and the gospel, though Christ redeems those who come to Him by faith, and God's truth and glory do not excuse the sinner.
God's moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments has bound all people, not only a particular class, from Eden onward. The law discussed in Romans 2 and 3 is the decalogue including the fourth commandment enjoining the Sabbath kept by the Jews, proving the Sabbath was made for mankind as a race and not for the Jews only. The passage testifies that no one completely obeys God's law, and fallen human weakness keeps the law from making people perfect. Man is utterly unable of himself to do God's will, being without strength, carnal, sold under sin, taken by his own iniquities and held by the cords of his sins, with no power to make himself like Christ and no riches to purchase the change or redeem his brother.
People have no power in themselves to cleanse themselves or produce God's righteousness, and efforts to save themselves or assist God through human plans and fleshly schemes lead to bondage. The law is kept distinct from the faith of Christ and from the gospel and new covenant, showing it cannot mean the gospel. It is the moral law containing Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and the prohibition of idolatry, which exposes the sinful condition of all, proves the whole world guilty, condemns sin and kills but never justifies the sinner or gives relief and life.
Justification by Faith Alone
Romans 3:7 belongs to Paul's discussion of justification by faith, which concerns sinners under condemnation; that discussion is not an argument that the law is abolished or that Christians need not keep it. There is no middle ground between condemnation and justification, and justification comes through faith in Christ.
Works do not justify a person for past offenses, which can only be forgiven through the gospel and Christ's blood by faith and grace. Obedience belongs to the justified person's future life and prevents further sin; it is not a way to earn justification for past sins, for no one can work out a justification for a sin already committed. The chapter treats justification for past offenses as a work of faith and grace through Christ, not something achieved by works, and it is contrasted with the call to live obediently after justification, since the gospel both forgives past sin and provides for its prevention.
Remission of past offenses is by faith and cannot be procured by works, yet faith does not save without works, so Paul is in complete harmony with James. Justification by faith for past offenses is distinct from the obedience of faith, and faith does not make works the means of receiving remission nor save apart from that obedience.
God has promised righteousness to men, so they must get it apart from works of the law, namely in Christ. In His blood there is redemption for Jew and Gentile alike. A man is made a doer of the law by faith alone, without the deeds of the law, which is the mystery of the gospel, Christ in men the hope of glory, God in Christ working His own righteousness.
Justification is by faith alone for past offenses, through grace by the blood of Christ for remission of sins past, with works entirely excluded, because no one can work out a justification for a sin already committed. That justification frees from condemnation for past transgression, but it belongs with prevention as well as cure, since God does not favor future sin. Christ also saves from sin itself, removes the carnal mind that is enmity against God and not subject to His law, writes the law in the heart, and makes the justified at peace with God and subject to His law so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit. It provides remission of past sin through the blood of Christ, not license to sin or exemption from future obedience, while the obedience of faith patiently continues in well doing, keeps the commandments of God, adds virtue to faith, and fulfills the righteousness of the law by strength imparted by Christ, so that all obedience afterward is by grace with no ground for boasting.
Faith does not make God's law void, for deliverance from the law's curse or condemnation does not remove the obligation to obey it. Christ's atonement upholds the moral law rather than abolishing it: the law condemns sin, and His death makes pardon possible without erasing the law's claims. Faith in His blood justifies the sinner before the God whose law has been broken; this faith does not cancel the law but establishes it, and grace does not give permission to continue in sin.
The law exposes people as sinners and condemns them, and the gospel recognizes their sentence of death and offers pardon through Christ's blood. The law of faith excludes boasting, a lesson applying to people who boast of possessing the gospel.
Law Established and Obeyed
The oracles committed to the Jews were not made of no effect but continued twenty-seven years after Christ's death as the only rule of righteousness known. By that law God judges the world, Jews and Gentiles alike according to conduct and therefore by the same law. Every promise of God has reference to that law and hangs upon it, and the types and their Antitype all aim at vindication of the divine law and man's restoration to loving obedience of it. Without that law there can be no conditions of salvation or distinction of character, for sin is not imputed where there is no law, and if one could be saved without it all must be. Its continued force is proved because the apostles preached repentance after the resurrection, and the one condition of salvation offered in the gospel to Jew or Gentile, repentance and faith, both recognize the law.
The chapter affirms the continuing authority of God's law as the standard that exposes human guilt and for which Christ laid down His life. It affirms the perpetuity of the law of the ten commandments. The law here is the moral law of God that proves all men to be guilty sinners condemned before God, so that Christ had to lay down His life for a guilty world, and not the law of ordinances that was abolished and blotted out by His death. The royal law remains in force and is established, not made void, distinct from the ceremonial ordinances blotted out at the cross.
The passage establishes the law of God and shows Paul kept the commandments of God and did not abolish them or make them nothing. This agrees with Romans 7 and with his teaching to the Galatians, to the Corinthians, and to the Hebrews about the law written in the heart in the new covenant. The Ten Commandments are part of Christ's law, established by Christ and His apostles, and apply to Gentiles as well as Jews. They are not binding as an old covenant obligation to earn life, nor are they the Levitical priesthood.