Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 3:6
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
6. how shall God judge the world? ] The emphasis is on “judge,” not on “world.” It is needless to suppose the word “world” here to stand in opposition to the Jewish people. The point of the question is, that if God could not righteously punish sin when sin illustrated His glory, not only would He not punish those particular sins, but He would (as to principle) entirely abdicate His office as “Judge of all the earth.” All sin, in one respect or another, illustrates His glory, if only as a black contrast: therefore, in no case would punishment be just! On the truth that the Lord is the “Judge of all” the Apostle falls back as on a “first ground.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
God forbid – Note, Rom 3:4.
For then – If it be admitted that it would be unjust for God to inflict punishment.
How shall God … – How will it be right or consistent for him to judge the world.
Judge – To judge implies the possibility and the correctness of condemning the guilty; for if it were not right to condemn them, judgment would be a farce. This does not mean that God would condemn all the world; but that the fact of judging people implied the possibility and propriety of condemning those who were guilty. It is remarkable that the apostle does not attempt to explain how it could be that God could take occasion from the sins of people to promote his glory; nor does he even admit the fact; but he meets directly the objection. To understand the force of his answer, it must be remembered that it was an admitted fact, a fact which no one among the Jews would call in question, that God would judge the world. This fact was fully taught in their own writings, Gen 18:25; Ecc 12:14; Ecc 11:9. It was besides an admitted point with them that God would condemn the pagan I world; and perhaps the term world here refers particularly to them.
But how could this be if it were not right for God to inflict punishment at all? The inference of the objector, therefore, could not be true; though the apostle does not tell us how it was consistent to inflict punishment for offences from which God took occasion to promote his glory. It may be remarked, however, that God will judge offences, not from what he may do in overruling them, but from the nature of the crime itself. The question is not, what good God may bring out of it, but what does the crime itself deserve? what is the character of the offender? what was his intention? It is not what God may do to overrule the offence when it is committed. The just punishment of the murderer is to be determined by the Law, and by his own desert; and not from any reputation for integrity and uprightness which the judge may manifest on his trial; or from any honor which may accrue to the police for detecting him; or any security which may result to the commonwealth from his execution; or from any honor which the Law may gain as a just law by his condemnation. Nor should any of these facts and advantages which may result from his execution, be pleaded in bar of his condemnation. So it is with the sinner under the divine administration. It is indeed a truth Psa 76:10 that the wrath of man shall praise God, and that he will take occasion from peoples wickedness to glorify himself as a just judge and moral governor; but this will be no ground of acquittal for the sinner.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. APOSTLE. God forbid] , by no means. God cannot be unjust; were he unjust, he could not be qualified to judge the world, nor inflict that punishment on the unfaithful Jews, to which I refer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God forbid; he rejects the cavil with his usual note of detestation, as not thinking it worthy of answer.
For then how shall God judge the world? q.d. If God were in the least unrighteous, how could he govern the world at present, and judge it at last in righteousness? Which is affirmed, Psa 96:13; 98:9. Or, how could he be God and supreme, if he were not just by his nature and essence, and his will the very rule of righteousness: see Gen 18:25; Job 34:12.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. God forbid; for then how shallGod judge the world?that is, “Far from us be such athought; for that would strike down all future judgment.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world?] , “far be it”; such a notion is detestable and abominable, nor can it be fairly deduced from what is asserted; for it is the unrighteousness of his own people, on whom he takes no vengeance personally, and not the unrighteousness of others, on whom he does take vengeance, which commends his righteousness; and supposing it was that of others, God cannot be unrighteous in performing his threatenings, in a way of righteousness: moreover, unrighteousness is sin, and does not of itself but by accident, illustrate the righteousness of God; wherefore God is not unjust in punishing it; for how should God “judge the world?” whereas nothing is more certain than that he will do it, and that this will be done in righteousness; which could not be, was he unrighteous in taking vengeance; which will be one considerable part of that righteous judgment.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For then how ( ). There is a suppressed condition between and , an idiom occurring several times in the N.T. (1Cor 15:29; Rom 11:6; Rom 11:22). “Since, if that were true, how.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “God forbid,” (me genoito) “May it not be so;” may none accuse God of being unrighteous in his condemnation and judgment of sin alike on Jews and Gentiles, individually and nationally, for their sins, Gal 6:7-8.
2) “For then how shall God judge the World?” (epei pos krinei ho theos ton kosmon) “Otherwise, how will God judge the World?” If he be not righteous, how could he be impartial as a judge, see? God does and will do right in judgment, Gen 18:25; Job 34:21-22; Act 17:30-31; He will “judge the world in righteousness,” by Jesus Christ; 1Pe 4:5; Psa 50:6; Psa 75:7. There is no respect of person in salvation or judgment with God, Deu 10:17; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; 1Pe 1:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. By no means, etc. In checking this blasphemy he gives not a direct reply to the objection, but begins with expressing his abhorrence of it, lest the Christian religion should even appear to include absurdities so great. And this is more weighty than if he adopted a simple denial; for he implies, that this impious expression deserved to be regarded with horror, and not to be heard. He presently subjoins what may be called an indirect refutation; for he does not distinctly refute the calumny, but gives only this reply, — that the objection was absurd. Moreover, he takes an argument from an office which belongs to God, by which he proves it to be impossible, — God shall judge the world; he cannot then be unjust.
This argument is not derived, so to speak, from the mere power of God, but from his exercised power, which shines forth in the whole arrangement and order of his works; as though he said, — “It is God’s work to judge the world, that is, to rectify it by his own righteousness, and to reduce to the best order whatever there is in it out of order: he cannot then determine any thing unjustly.” And he seems to allude to a passage recorded by Moses, in Gen 18:25, where it is said, that when Abraham prayed God not to deliver Sodom wholly to destruction, he spoke to this purpose, —
“
It is not meet, that thou who art to judge the earth, shouldest destroy the just with the ungodly: for this is not thy work nor can it be done by thee.”
A similar declaration is found in Job 34:17, —
“
Should he who hates judgment exercise power?”
For though there are found among men unjust judges, yet this happens, because they usurp authority contrary to law and right, or because they are inconsiderately raised to that eminence, or because they degenerate from themselves. But there is nothing of this kind with regard to God. Since, then, he is by nature judge, it must be that he is just, for he cannot deny himself. Paul then proves from what is impossible, that God is absurdly accused of unrighteousness; for to him peculiarly and naturally belongs the work of justly governing the world. And though what Paul teaches extends to the constant government of God, yet I allow that it has a special reference to the last judgment; for then only a real restoration of just order will take place. But if you wish for a direct refutation, by which profane things of this kind may be checked, take this, and say, “That it comes not through what unrighteousness is, that God’s righteousness becomes more illustrious, but that our wickedness is so surpassed by God’s goodness, that it is turned to serve an end different from that to which it tends.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) For then how shall God judge the world?St. Paul considers it a sufficient answer merely to propound this question. He and those to whom he was writing all assumed that there must be a future judgment.
The way in which Bishop Butler deals with the argument from necessity is very similar to this, substituting only present for future judgment. It is fact that God does govern even brute creatures by the method of rewards and punishments in the natural course of things. And men are rewarded and punished for their actionspunished for actions mischievous to society as being so, punished for vicious actions as suchby the natural instrumentality of each other under the present conduct of Providence, &c. Hence the necessitarian is in this dilemma: either his opinion is not true, or else it must be capable of being harmonised with these facts. The facts themselves are postulated.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. How judge the world? For this plea, by which the Jew makes himself so righteous a sinner, cannot be monopolized by the Jew alone. If his sin is made righteousness by the fact that it brings the righteousness of God into powerful relief by the contrast, then all sin performs the same office, and all sin is then righteous, and God can condemn no sinner in the world.
There are those who argue that sin is for the best good of the universe. They thus make sin a sort of good, a dark-bright thing. They might better say that the permission of free agency and the allowance of the free agent, by whom sin is able to be committed, is for the best good of the system of the world.
The apostle, however, does not entertain the metaphysical question. It is sufficient for him to remind the Jew that as to the excellence and uncondemnability of his sin he stands just on the same footing with the rest of the world. If God judge the world for sin he will judge the Jew.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Let it not be. For then how will God judge the world?’
Paul’s reply is then again to refer indirectly to Scripture. What has been suggested could not possibly be true because Scripture says that God will judge the world (e.g. Gen 18:25; Deu 32:4; Job 8:3; Job 34:10). And He could not justly judge the world if the argument in Rom 3:5 was carried through. In other words God must visit all men who are unrighteous with wrath, because it is His very nature. And there can be no exceptions. The judge of all the earth must do right.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 3:6. God forbid! This verse is the Apostle’s answer to the Jews, which he crowds in while the Jew is going on with his observation. In reverence of the Divine Majesty, who is perfectly righteous, he qualifies the mere supposition for a moment of his being unrighteous (though this is proposed only for the sake of argument) three ways; first, by putting it into the form of a question, Is God un-righteous? Secondly, by adding immediately, that he spoke in the person of another, and as a man might say who was arguing that the casting off the Jews was a thing inconsistent with God’s righteousness. Thirdly, by interrupting the Jew with a strong assertion of the most perfect righteousness of God, in the words of Abraham, Gen 18:25. We have a similar instance of crowding in an answer while another person is speaking, Hor. lib. 2: sat. 3 ver. 187.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
Ver. 6. I speak as a man ] q.d. Is there not such language heard in some men’s hearts?
For then how shall God judge the world ] How shall every transgression and disobedience receive a just recompence of reward? Heb 2:2 . God’s will is the absolute rule of right, nec tantum recta, sed regula. (Bonav.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] He does not enter into the objection and answer it in detail, but rejects at once the idea of God being unjust , alluding probably to Gen 18:25 , by recalling to mind, that the Judge of all the earth must do right .
, for (i.e. ‘if it were so,’ ‘alioquin’).
is not the Gentiles (Bengel, Reiche, Olsh., al.), nor is the respondent in Rom 3:7 a Gentile (Olsh., at., not Bengel), but one of the in Rom 3:5 , only individualized to bring out one such case of pretended injustice more strikingly.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
world. App-129. Compare Gen 18:26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] He does not enter into the objection and answer it in detail, but rejects at once the idea of God being unjust, alluding probably to Gen 18:25, by recalling to mind, that the Judge of all the earth must do right.
, for (i.e. if it were so, alioquin).
is not the Gentiles (Bengel, Reiche, Olsh., al.), nor is the respondent in Rom 3:7 a Gentile (Olsh., at., not Bengel), but one of the in Rom 3:5, only individualized to bring out one such case of pretended injustice more strikingly.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 3:6. , otherwise) The consequence is drawn [bound, connected] from the less to the greater, as it ought to be in the case of negatives. If God were to act unrighteously, in taking vengeance on the Jew who acts unrighteously, a thing too absurd to be mentioned, He certainly could not judge the whole world. Affirmatively, the process of reasoning would take this form: He who (justly) Judges the whole world, will doubtless also judge justly in this one particular case. [Vice versa] The conclusion is, in its turn, drawn from the greater to the less at 1Co 6:2.- , the world) For even the unrightousness of the whole world (which is put in opposition to the Jews, at ch. Rom 11:12), commends the righteousness of God; and yet God pronounces, and with justice, the whole world to be unrighteous, Gen 18:25. Nay, in the very judgment, the unrighteousness of man will greatly illustrate the righteousness of God. The Jew acknowledges the righteousness of the Divine judgment regarding the world; but Paul shows that there is the same ground for judgment regarding the unbelieving Jews.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 3:6
Rom 3:6
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?-By no means. Then, how could God judge and condemn the world, which by its sins gave occasion to God to manifest his mercy to man? [It is the first idea of God, as Governor of all intelligences, that he will judge those who are capable of being judged-as children of men, all of them assuredly ought to be; but if we hold that God cannot judge and punish evildoers, because they ultimately commend his righteousness, then he can no longer act as Supreme Judge. His highest honor is taken away, for his righteousness depends upon his judging all men righteously.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
God forbid: Rom 3:4
for then: Gen 18:25, Job 8:3, Job 34:17-19, Psa 9:8, Psa 11:5-7, Psa 50:6, Psa 96:13, Psa 98:9, Act 17:31
Reciprocal: Gen 12:13 – Say Gen 18:23 – Wilt Jos 7:8 – what shall Jos 22:29 – God forbid Jos 24:16 – General 1Ki 21:3 – The Lord 2Ch 19:7 – no iniquity Psa 96:10 – judge Psa 119:137 – General Psa 145:17 – righteous Isa 10:22 – with Jer 12:1 – Righteous Mar 16:16 – that believeth and Rom 2:16 – God Rom 9:14 – Is there unrighteousness 1Co 6:15 – God Gal 2:17 – God Gal 3:21 – God forbid
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:6
Rom 3:6. Men argued that since the unrighteousness of mankind commended or emphasized the righteousness of God, then He should not punish man for his wrongdoing. The apostle is here showing that on that principle God could not rightfully judge the world, although it was admitted (even by these objectors) that a general judgment was necessary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 3:6. Let it never be. Exactly as in Rom 3:4.
For then how, for otherwise how, etc. The denial rests on the universally accepted truth that God will judge the world, all mankind. This he does not prove, but assumes as an accepted truth. The argument is: God will judge the world; to do this He must be righteous; therefore He cannot be unrighteous. The argument would hold with his readers. In fact, when men deny that God will judge the world, argument with them is useless. The principle, that God cannot be the author of sin which He judges, is not expressed, but underlies the whole argument (Rom 3:3-8).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
6. It could not be so; then how will God judge the world? The apostle is answering the allegation of his opponent, who would excuse himself on the hypothesis that his failure has in no way affected the perfect purity and glory of the divine administration, since God, absolutely immutable, verifies and perfects the unimpeachable integrity, honor and majesty of His administration, despite all the irregularities and failures on the part of the world, whether religious or irreligious.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 6
For how shall God judge the world; that is, on the supposition referred to above,–if human sin must not be punished on account of its being the occasion of exalting the righteousness of God.