Romans 3:4

God forbid Lit. may it not be; be it not; and so always where the words "God forbid" occur in the Eng. N. T. The Apostle more than accepts the opponent's position, but not in his sense. God's promise should indeed stand; the mere thought of a failure there is shocking. But that promise had never said that impenitent individualsof the chosen race should be safe from doom.

let God be true, &c. Q. d., "If there is failure, it is safer and truer to believe the truest man false, than -God who cannot lie." " It is a profound characteristic of all Scripture to be always on the side of God. In this lies one pregnant evidence, to those who will think it out, of the "Supernatural Origin of the Bible."

that thou mightest, &c. The Gr. words are verbatim the LXX. of Psalms 51 (LXX. 50):4. The lit. Hebrew is exactly as E. V. there, "clear when thou judgest;" and probably the Gr. of LXX. and of St Paul here is really the same, or nearly so, in effect: "clear when thou impleadest; when thou procurest judgment." Same word as "go to law," 1 Corinthians 6:1. On the special force of this thought inPsalms 51 see paraphrase above.