Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?
Parallel translations
- WEB May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
- KJV God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
- NKJV Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
- NASB Far from it! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?
- NLT Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Certainly not — if that objection held, God could not judge the world at all. God's role as righteous judge of all is bedrock truth.
Overview
Paul dismisses the objection with 'May it never be!' If God were unjust to punish sin that serves His glory, He could never judge anyone, since all sin ultimately occasions His glory. But that God will judge the world is an unshakable assumption of Scripture. Therefore the objection collapses, and God remains the just judge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 18:25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- Acts 17:31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Ps 98:9before the LORD, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.
- Ps 9:8He judges the world with justice; He governs the people with equity.
- Rom 2:16on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel.
- Ps 50:6And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah
- Job 34:17–19Could one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and mighty One,
- Ps 96:13before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
- Ps 11:5–7The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 3:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.