What Does Romans 3:4 Mean?
Let it never be so. But let God be true, and every human a liar. As it is written, that you may be aligned in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.THE KEY
God’s truth does not need to escape judgment; it prevails inside it.
THE MEANING
Even when every person is shown to be lying, God remains true. God’s words stand as right, and God prevails when placed under judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Human unfaithfulness does not prove that God has failed too.
THE ROOT
δικαιωθῇς
dikaiōthēs
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Rightness, justice, and alignment; the verb can mean to show someone to be right or vindicate them.
“aligned” in this verse is dikaiōthēs. Here, God’s sayings are vindicated as right. This word family links that verdict with alignment (δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē), so the verse presents God’s words as standing in right relation to what is true.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just, right, aligned
δίκαιος
This related word shows the quality the verse says God’s sayings possess.
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
The same family connects being vindicated with the state of being aligned.
dikaiōma: A just act, requirement, or verdict
δικαίωμα
This branch carries the family into the concrete decisions and judgments that express what is right.
ἀληθής
alēthēs
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ-
alēth-
True, real, trustworthy; what is true rather than false.
“true” in this verse is alēthēs. The verse sets God’s truth directly against the human lie, without making God’s truth depend on human agreement. The same word family reaches from truth itself to truthful speech, joining what is real with the words that witness to it.
ALSO GROWS
alētheia: Truth, what is true
ἀλήθεια
The related noun names the reality the verse says remains true even when human speech fails.
alēthōs: Truly, really
ἀληθῶς
This adverb carries the same claim into the way something is said to be so.
alētheuō: Speak the truth
ἀληθεύω
This verb links truth to speech, the very ground on which the verse says God is vindicated.
κρίνεσθαι
krinesthai
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
To separate, decide, or judge; to reach a verdict by evaluating.
“judged” in this verse is krinesthai. The line places God in the position of one being evaluated, yet says God prevails within that judgment. The Greek keeps the act of examining and deciding in view, so the claim is about what stands when a verdict is being reached.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: Judgment, decision
κρίσις
This noun names the decision or examination in which the verse says God prevails.
kritēs: Judge
κριτής
This branch names the one who evaluates, underscoring the verse’s striking picture of God being judged.
krima: Judgment, verdict
κρίμα
This word carries the root into the resulting judgment that the verse says God overcomes.
THE PATTERN
God’s truth remains dependable when human speech and judgment contradict it.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should relent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not make it stand?Set them apart through your truth; your word is truth.In hope of the life of the ages, which the God who does not lie promised before the times of the ages.THE THREAD
Against you alone have I missed the mark, and done the evil in your eyes, so that you are aligned in your word and clear when you judge.This is the line Romans 3:4 echoes: God’s speech is vindicated, and God’s judgment stands clear under examination. The Greek wording shares δικαιόω (dikaioō, vindicate or show right) and κρίνω (krinō, judge) with the verse’s claim.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us