In this verse Paul deals with a question which he imagines his opponents can raise on the basis of his statement in verse 4. Paul imagines his Jewish opponents saying, But what if my untruth (“my unfaithfulness”) serves God’s glory (“serves to bring God greater honor”) by making his truth (“his faithfulness”) stand out more clearly? Why should I still be condemned as a sinner?

Though the meaning of verse 7 seems to be clear, it is extremely difficult to translate this verse adequately into some languages. There are two basic problems. The first has to do with the terms untruth and truth, and the second with the very complex relations between the various parts of the first question. My untruth is actually a causative agent for people recognizing more clearly God’s glory, but this is done by the means of making his truth more conspicuous, in the sense of people thus being able to see it more clearly. Though the Greek text contrasts truth with untruth (or lie), the real significance is that of faithfulness verses unfaithfulness or, as in this context, righteousness versus unrighteousness. It is not “my speaking a lie which serves God’s glory” but “my unrighteousness” or even “my sin,” since in this context untruth is parallel to doing wrong introduced at the beginning of verse 5. The parallelism between the questions in verse 5 and verse 7 is evident. The meaning, therefore, may be given as “But what if my doing wrong enhances God’s glory by making his doing right stand out more clearly?” Of course, when the contrast between untruth and truth can be preserved, one should attempt to do so, but in some languages “untruth” and “truth” can only be stated in terms of “when someone speaks a lie” and “when someone speaks the truth,” and this is clearly not the central meaning in the present context.

Despite a shift of untruth and truth to the corresponding doing wrong and doing right, there are difficulties in stating precisely the relationships between the parts of the sentence. In fact it may be necessary to break up some of the parts into smaller or more isolatable units—for example, “But suppose that I do wrong. Do you think this helps God’s glory because then people will see more clearly that he does right?” There is also a serious problem involved in translating serves God’s glory. In some languages one can speak of “helping God’s glory,” “making God’s glory conspicuous,” or “lifting up God’s glory.” In other instances one can only employ a causative “causes people to see God’s glory better,” since in some languages one cannot speak of “enhancing God’s glory” as this is an integral element of God’s own nature. It cannot be increased or diminished; it can only be made more conspicuous or less conspicuous.

For languages which do not permit the use of such rhetorical questions as occur in verse 7, the questions may be changed into statements introduced by some such expression as “some men may argue” or “some men may say.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .