Romans 3:4 - Let God be True and Every Man a Liar

 

Romans 3:3-4 -  What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written [in Psalm 51:4]: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

 

•        In the Old Testament, God had repeatedly promised to be faithful to the Jews and make them His people:

–       Exodus 6:7 - I [God] will take you [Jews] as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you [Jews] will know that I am the LORD your God

–       Leviticus 26:12 -  I will walk among you and be your God, and you [Jews] will be my people.

–       Jeremiah 31:33-34 -  "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

 

•        And yet Paul has made it clear in Romans 2:1-29, that God will judge those Jews who have been unfaithful to Him.

–       Romans 2:5 - You [Jews] are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.

–       Romans 2:12 - All [Jews] who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

 

•        Therefore Paul anticipates that someone might object to God judging those unfaithful Jews. God would not be released from His obligation to remain faithful to them, even though they were unfaithful to Him.

 

•        Their reasoning was that God would be guilty of lying when He promised to be faithful to the Jews!

 

•        Later in the Roman letter, Paul explains why God was not being unfaithful by judging the Jews. (Romans 9:6 ff.).

 

•        But at this point Paul responds to the objection using another principle: “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4)

 

•        If everyone in the whole world believes that God is wrong, then everyone in the whole world is wrong and they are liars because God is always faithful and true!

 

•        If you, like Paul’s imaginary objector, come to believe that God is wrong in something that He has said or done, then you need to realize that you are wrong!

 

•        To document this principle, Paul quotes King David in Psalm 51:4: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

 

•        In this Psalm, David confesses that he (rather than God) was wrong when God confronted David concerning his sin through Nathan the prophet. Therefore God would be “proved right” when He spoke against David’s sin and would “prevail” when He judged him for it.