3:3a–b

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?: The Greek New Testament punctuates this verse so that it reads: “What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?” The beginning two words are the same as in Philippians 1:18. Many scholars support this punctuation, but few English versions do. Many English versions support the punctuation as in the Berean Standard Bible.

3:3a

What if some did not have faith?: This is a rhetorical question. It introduces the fact that some Jews were unfaithful. Paul’s readers knew that. But it causes the readers to think about that fact. Translate it with that meaning. Here are some ways:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

But what if some of them were not faithful? (Good News Translation)

• As a statement. For example:

some of them were unfaithful (New Living Translation (2004))

did not have faith: There are two ways to interpret the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as did not have faith :

(1) It means be unfaithful or fail to act in a loyal way here. The Jews made a covenant with God but some of them later broke that promise and stopped following it. For example:

were not faithful (Good News Translation)

(English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version (2011), Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)

(2) It means do not believe. Some Jews refused to believe in God’s message (3:2c). For example:

did not believe (New American Standard Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (1984), New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, King James Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the contrast in 3:3–4 is between God being faithful to his promises, and the Jews not being faithful to theirs.

3:3b–4a

Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Certainly not!: This is a rhetorical question and its answer. The rhetorical question causes the reader to think of what might be the answer. Paul then told what the answer was. Here are some ways to translate this:

• As a rhetorical question and its answer. For example:

Will their lack of faith cancel the faithfulness of God? 4 Certainly not! (Revised English Bible)

• As a statement. You will need to combine 3:3 and 3:4. For example:

3-4 What if some lacked faith? Their lack of faith certainly does not cancel/nullify the faithfulness of God….

3:3b

Will their lack of faith: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lack of faith is the noun form of the word translated “did not have faith” in 3:3a. You should follow the same interpretation choice here as in 3:3a. For example:

Does ⌊the fact that⌋ they were not faithful

nullify: This word means “to make ineffective/useless.” Some Jews broke their promises, but that did not make God break his promises. Here are other ways to translate this word:

cancel (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
destroy/ruin
-or-
But even so, God nonetheless stayed/remained keeping his word/promise.

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