What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Parallel translations
- WEB What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
- BSB What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!
- NKJV What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
- NASB What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Far from it!
- NLT Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!
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 anticipates the charge that God's electing choice is unjust and emphatically rejects it. God's sovereign mercy involves no unrighteousness.
Overview
Having taught that God chooses freely (vv. 11-13), Paul raises the natural objection: Is God unjust? His response, May it never be, dismisses the idea forcefully. The following verses defend God's righteousness by appealing to his own self-revelation as a God of mercy. Paul insists that God's freedom to show mercy is entirely consistent with his perfect justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 2 Chr 19:7Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
- Ps 145:17The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
- Deut 32:4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
- Rev 16:7And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
- Job 34:10–12Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
- Ps 92:15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
- Job 8:3Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
- Gen 18:25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Job 34:18–19Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
- Rev 15:3–4And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
- Job 35:2Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
- Rom 3:5–6But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
- Jer 12:1Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
- Rom 3:1What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:14 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.