For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
Parallel translations
- WEB For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
- BSB However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?
- NKJV For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
- NASB But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?
- NLT “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?”
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
Paul restates the objection: if my lie magnifies God's truth and glory, why am I condemned as a sinner? He presents the faulty reasoning to expose it.
Overview
Paul personalizes the objection from v.5: if human falsehood somehow increases God's glory, why should the sinner still be judged? This is the kind of rationalization sinners use to excuse themselves. By stating it plainly, Paul prepares to show its moral bankruptcy in the next verse. The end never justifies sinful means before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Rom 3:4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
- Rom 9:19–20Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
- Acts 13:27–29For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
- Matt 26:69–75Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
- Isa 10:6–7I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Matt 26:34Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
- 2 Kgs 8:10–15And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the LORD hath shewed me that he shall surely die.
- Exod 3:19And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
- Gen 37:20Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
- Exod 14:30Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
- Gen 50:18–20And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
- Gen 37:8–9And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
- 1 Kgs 13:17–18For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
- Acts 2:23Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
- Gen 44:1–14And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.
- 1 Kgs 13:26–32And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.
- Exod 14:5And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 3:7 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.