Romans 3:8

"For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?"

Key Reflection

Romans 3:8 poses a challenging question that underscores Paul's argument about the inherent righteousness of God and the fallibility of human judgment. Essentially, it asks why a person who is trying to glorify God through their own lies (hypocritically) should still be judged as a sinner by God. This verse highlights the tension between human efforts to achieve righteousness on our own and the divine standard that judges us based on our true nature rather than our attempts at goodness. Paul uses this rhetorical question to emphasize that genuine righteousness comes from faith in God, not from our own actions or intentions.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 8. And not rather. This is the answer of the apostle. He meets the objection by showing its tendency if carried out, and if it were made a principle of conduct. The meaning is, "If the glory of God is to be promoted by sin, and if a man is not therefore to be condemned, or held guilty for it; if this fact absolves man from crime, why not carry the doctrine out, and make it a principle of conduct, and DO ALL THE EVIL WE CAN, in order to promote his glory?" This was the fair consequence of the objection. And yet this was a result so shocking and monstrous, that all that was necessary in order to answer the objection was merely to state this consequence.

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