Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin
John Calvin may be taken actively as well as passively, yet the Greek translators, I have no doubt, rendered it passively, contrary to the meaning of the Prophet. 91
Romans 3:5-8
Romans 3:5-8
5. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
5. Quod si injustitia nostra Dei justitiam commendat, quid dicemus? Num injustus est Deus qui infert iram? Secundum hominem dico.
6. God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 6. Ne ita sit: nam quomodo judicabit Deus mundum? 7. For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
7. Si enim veritas Dei per meum mendacium excelluit in ejus gloriam; quid etiammum et ego velut peccator judicor;
8. And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
8. Et non (quemadmodum exprobratur nobis, et quemadmodum aiunt quidam nos dicere) Faciamus mala, ut veniant bona? quorum judicium justum est.
5 But if our unrighteousness, etc. Though this is a digression from the main subject, it was yet necessary for the Apostle to introduce it, lest he
91Whenever there is a material agreement between the Greek and the Hebrew, we ought not to make it otherwise. If the verb {κρίνεσθαι}, as admitted by most critics, may be taken actively and be thus made to agree with the Hebrew, what reason can there be to take it in another sense? The only real difference is in one word, between {νικήσης}, "overcomest," and {,{" תזכהart clear:" but the meaning is the same, though the words are different. To overcome in judgment, and to be clear in judgment, amounts to the same thing. The parallelism of the Hebrew requires }κρίνεσθαι} to be a verb in the middle voice, and to have an active meaning. The two lines in Hebrew, as it is often the case in Hebrew poetry, contain the same sentiment in different words, the last line expressing it more definitely; so that to be "justified," and to be "cleared," convey the same idea; and also "in thy word," or saying — {{בדברךand "in thy judgment" .{}בשפטךIn many copies both these last words are in the plural number, so that the first would be strictly what is here expressed, "in thy words," that is, the words which thou hast declared; and "in thy judgments," that is, those which thou hast announced, would be fully rendered by "when thou Judgest." Commentators, both ancient and modern, have differed on the meaning of the verb in question. Pareus, Beza, Macknight, and Stuart, take it in an active sense; while Erasmus, Grotius, Venema, and others, contend for the passive meaning. Drusius, Hammond, and Doddridge render it, "when thou contendest in judgment," or, "when thou art called to judgment:" and such a meaning no doubt the verb has according to Matthew ,5:40 and 1 Corinthians ,6:1 .6 But in this case regard must be had, especially to the meaning which corresponds the nearest with the original Hebrew. Some have maintained that "in thy judgment" {}בשפטךmay be rendered "in judging thee;" but this would not only be unusual and make the sentence hardly intelligible, but also destroy the evident parallelism of the two lines. The whole verse may be thus literally rendered from the Hebrew, — Against thee, against thee only have I sinned; And the evil before thine eyes have I done; So that thou art justified in thy words, And clear in thy judgments. The conjunction ,{}למעןadmits of being rendered so that; see Psalm ;30:12 Isaiah ;41:20 Amos ;2:7 and }ὅπως} in many instances may be thus rendered; see Luke 2:35; Philemon 6; 1 Peter 2:9. It is what Schleusner designates {ἐκβατικῶς}, signifying the issue or the event. Pareus connects the passage differently. He considers the former part of the verse parenthetic, or as specifying what is generally stated in the previous verse, the third; and with that verse he connects this passage: so that the rendering of the two verses would be the following, — 3. For my transgression I acknowledge, And my sin is before me continually, — 4. (Against thee, against thee only have I sinned, and the evil before thine eyes have I done,) That thou mightest be justified in thy saying, And clear in thy judgment. This is certainty more probable than what Vatablus and Houbigant propose, who connect the passage with the second verse, "Wash me thoroughly," etc. But the sense given by Calvin is the most satisfactory — Ed.