Romans 3:6-8 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
‘God forbid’ this answers the questions of Romans 3:5, that sin is not necessary to magnify God. If so, then God would be unjust Himself and could not rightly be justified in judging the world. “God forbid” is found 15 times in the New Testament (3:4, 6, 31; 6:2, 15; 7:7, 13; 9:14; 11:1, 11; Luke 20:16; 1Cor. 6:15; Gal. 2:17; 3:21; 6:14), and 9 times in the Old Testament (Gen. 44:7, 17; Jos. 22:29; 24:16; 1Sam. 12:23; 14:45; 20:2; 1Chron. 11:19; Job 27:5). Only in 1Chronicles 11:19 is it a literal translation of the original language. In all other places, it is a cultural idiom of the King James translators expressing a strong negative. Literally, may it never be.
‘For if the truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner’ Resuming his argument (of Romans 3:5) if the truth of God is magnified through their lies, or if the faithfulness of God in showing mercy and keeping promises to their fathers is through their unfaithfulness, then why should they be condemned as sinners? Why should they be blamed for something that must contribute so much to the honour and glory of God? Paul questions the Jews way of thinking as most of them wanted to live in sin and justified this idolatry with Christ’s grace. ‘And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just’ the answer to Romans 3:7. And why do you not say, seeing you assume that sin is necessary to magnify God and His pardoning grace, that we will go along with the apostles and Christianity, for it has been reported that they teach the same doctrine of doing evil that good may come. If you believe this slanderous report of Christians, then why persecute them? Those who report such slander are liable to just damnation just as anyone today who claim that a Christian can continue in sin (1Jn. 3).
Living the Word 