3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates 5 the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? 6 (I am speaking in human terms.) 7 3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances 8 his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. 9 (Their 10 condemnation is deserved!)
3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” 11
3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 12
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 13
3:14 “Their mouths are 14 full of cursing and bitterness.” 15
1 tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.
2 tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.
3 tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.
4 tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.
1 tn Or “shows clearly.”
2 tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”
3 sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.
1 tn Grk “abounded unto.”
1 tn Grk “(as we are slandered and some affirm that we say…).”
2 tn Grk “whose.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this relative clause was rendered as a new sentence in the translation.
1 sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.
1 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
2 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
1 tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
2 sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.