{"id":1298,"date":"2009-10-19T20:22:41","date_gmt":"2009-10-20T02:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2009-10-19T20:22:41","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T02:22:41","slug":"romans-34-god-is-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-34-god-is-true\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 3:4 – God is True"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Romans 3:4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.”<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God is true and always does what is right.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly not!<\/span>\u201d is translated from the two Greek words m\u0113 genoito<\/span><\/em>, which literally mean \u201cmay it not have come to pass.\u201d I suppose in today\u2019s vernacular we would say, \u201cNo way!\u201d This is an expression used often by Paul when he wants to emphatically say \u201cno!\u201d<\/p>\n

The words \u201clet \u2026 be<\/span>\u201d are from the Greek verb ginomai<\/span><\/em>, which is a verb of being, roughly meaning \u201cto come into existence\u201d or simply \u201cto be.\u201d It is expressed here in the imperative mood, indicating the force of a command. The way we express this in English is to use the word \u201clet.\u201d The phrase \u201clet God be true\u201d does not mean \u201callow God to be true\u201d but \u201cGod is true!\u201d or even \u201cGod is truth!\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul now answers the second rhetorical question that he posed, <\/span>\u201cSo what if some (many) did not believe in Jesus? <\/span>Does that mean that God is not faithful in saving His special people (the Jews)?\u201d <\/span>His answer is, \u201cNo way!\u201d<\/p>\n

He then enforces what he just said by declaring, \u201cGod is true, and every man a liar;\u201d Paul follows with a quote from Psalms.<\/p>\n

This Psalm was written in response to God\u2019s judgment David received through Nathan the prophet. David had lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of a man in his army and had committed adultery with her. When David discovered that she was pregnant, he had her husband placed in the most dangerous part of the battle where he was killed. Afterward, David took Bathsheba as his wife.<\/p>\n

In his own heart David did not see anything wrong with this. But God did not allow David\u2019s sin to go unnoticed. He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. In response, David humbled himself before God. He recognized that God is righteous and truthful and he (David) is a liar and a sinner.<\/p>\n

Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight; that You might be justified when You speak, and<\/span> be clear when You judge.<\/span> (Psalms 51:4<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Just like Paul in the current passage, David did not dare call into question God\u2019s truthfulness or His righteousness. Paul\u2019s point is that God is righteous and He always does what is right and true. Therefore, if some of the Jews who had been entrusted with the Holy Writings did not believe and were ultimately judged and condemned by God, then that was the true and righteous thing to do. No one can blame God if He condemns those who do not believe because He is righteous!<\/p>\n

There are some who ask, \u201cHow can God extend His grace to some and send others to Hell? That\u2019s just not right.\u201d According to Paul, it is right because God always does what is right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, that we all would recognize the righteousness of our Holy God and the utter wretchedness of our own sins.<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 3:4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.” Truth to Learn God is true and always does what is right. Behind the Words \u201cCertainly not!\u201d is translated from the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[558,75,276],"class_list":["post-1298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god-is-true","tag-righteousness","tag-sin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-kW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}