What is the meaning of Romans 3:6? Certainly not! Paul’s emphatic answer slams the door on any notion that God could ever be unjust. Earlier he had asked, “If some did not believe, will their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? Certainly not!” (Romans 3:3–4). In the same spirit, verse 6 begins with the same two words—“Certainly not!”—to remind us: • God’s character is immovable. “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Numbers 23:19). • His faithfulness never depends on our faithfulness. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). • Whenever human logic suggests God might act unrighteously, Scripture cuts it off with this determined refusal: “Far be it from the LORD to do wickedness” (Job 34:10). In that case, Paul is answering the hypothetical: “If our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, is He unjust to inflict His wrath?” (Romans 3:5). By repeating the phrase “in that case,” he exposes how absurd the premise is. Consider: • If sin could ever excuse itself by showcasing grace, you would reach the same false conclusion condemned later: “Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1–2). • The entire fabric of God’s moral order would unravel. Genesis 18:25 presses the point: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” • God’s law judges motives as well as actions (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28); any theory that paints Him as unjust overturns both law and Gospel. how could God judge the world? Here is Paul’s decisive argument: if God were unjust, universal judgment would be impossible. Yet Scripture everywhere assumes and promises that judgment. • “He judges the world with justice; He governs the peoples with equity” (Psalm 9:8). • “God...will repay each person according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6). • “He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed” (Acts 17:31); that Man is the Son to whom “all judgment” has been given (John 5:22). Rejecting God’s right to judge would nullify these passages, but they stand firm. Therefore, the very existence of a coming judgment proves the premise false: God is perfectly righteous even while human sin magnifies His grace. summary Romans 3:6 meets a daring suggestion—that God might be unjust—with a thunderous “Certainly not!” If such a thought were true, moral order would collapse and final judgment would evaporate. Yet Scripture steadfastly portrays God as faithful, immutable, and perfectly righteous. Because He is holy, He will indeed judge the world through Christ; because He is faithful, His judgments will be just; and because He is gracious, our unrighteousness magnifies His glory without ever excusing sin. |
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