What does Paul mean by, “Let God be true though every one were a liar”?

Explanation:

Paul writes, Let God be true though every one were a liar. We can understand what Paul means by considering the immediate context. In Romans 3:3, Paul explains that the faithlessness of some Jews does not nullify God’s faithfulness. Paul then writes, Let God be true though every one were a liar. Considering that Paul just wrote that the faithlessness of the Jews does not nullify God’s faithfulness, we can see that the phrase in Romans 3:4 is meant to back this up. That is, Paul backs up the fact that if some Jews were faithless, this does not nullify God’s faithfulness, by articulating the principle, Let God be true though every one were a liar. ³ In other words, God is faithful to his covenant promises even when the Jews are faithless liars.  

Counterargument:

This argument suggests that Paul is reinforcing the idea that God is faithful to his covenant promises to the Jews. The problem is that Paul uses the adjective all when he says that every one were a liar. The adjective all indicates that Paul has all of humanity in mind, not the Jews only. Thus, he is saying that God is true even if all of humanity were a liar, which means he does not have God’s covenant promises to the Jews in mind.

Response to counterargument:

While it is true that the second half of the clause includes the adjective all, this does not affect the fact that Paul is saying God is faithful to his covenant promises, even if the Jews are not. For the clause, Every one were a liar, is a quote from Psalm 116:11. ⁴ Paul quotes from Psalm 116:11 to show that what he teaches about God’s covenant faithfulness aligns with Scripture. And Paul uses the fact that according to Scripture, every one is a liar, to support the fact that if some Jews were unfaithful, God remains faithful to his covenant promises. So Paul uses an assertion that applies to all humanity, to support the notion that God is faithful to his covenant promises to the Jews.

Explanation:

Paul writes, Let God be true though every one were a liar. To understand what Paul means, it is important to notice that the adjective ἀληθής (true), along with the noun ἀλήθεια (truth, truthfulness), are often used in the Greek translation of the Psalms to refer to God’s covenant faithfulness.⁵ Relatedly, the clause though every one were a liar, is a quote from Ps 116:11. ⁶ So we can detect that Paul has the Psalms on his mind. He means that although the Jews are unfaithful to the covenant, God remains faithful.

Counterargument:

While the Psalms may use the adjective ἀληθής (true) to refer to God’s faithfulness, this does not imply that Paul has God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel in mind. For we know he writes to the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome, and the gospel has to do with the inclusion of the Gentiles. Thus, when Paul says, Let God be true though every one were a liar, he likely has in mind God’s faithfulness to his covenant promises to all people, which would not change even through every one were a liar.

Response to counterargument:

 We have to understand the meaning of a phrase based on the immediate context. In this case Paul is stating that God entrusted the Jews with the oracles, but their unfaithfulness does not nullify God’s faithfulness (Romans 3:2–3). Paul then writes, Let God be true though every one were a liar. This phrase was likely a well-known Jewish aphorism, and Paul includes it here because it supports his point that God is faithful even though the Jews are not. ⁷ That God is true implies that he is true to all people, but the immediate context suggests that in this case, Paul uses the quote to support the fact that God is faithful to his covenant promises to the Jews.

It is hard to see what the weakness of this view might be. Paul seems to clearly use the quote to support the fact that God is always faithful to his covenant promises. This does raise theological questions about election and God’s covenant faithfulness to all believers, but that is no weakness.

Explanation:

Paul writes, Let God be true though every one were a liar. We do not need the immediate context to understand the meaning of this. So what does the phrase mean on its own? Paul is saying that God is true though every one were a liar. In other words, what God does is always true, even if God doing what he does implies that every human is a liar. ¹⁰ For instance, if every human contended that God should not be faithful to his covenant with Israel, but God was faithful to his covenant, this would show that every human is a liar, not that God should not be faithful to his covenant.¹¹

Counterargument:

We should not interpret phrases outside of the immediate context. The immediate context influences what Paul means. In this case, we notice Paul is saying that God is faithful to the covenant, even though the Jews are not (Romans 3:3). Clearly, Paul uses Romans 3:4 to support the fact that it is right for God to do this, for God is true though every one were a liar. So we can see that the clause, Let God be true though every one were a liar, has to do with God being faithful to the covenant, not simply the notion that if every human disagreed with God, every human would be a liar, because God is true.

The weakness of this view is that the clause in question is not unambiguous. For example, the phrase could mean that God is faithful even when other people are not. Or it could mean that God’s faithfulness sometimes implies that others are liars.