Romans 3:4-5

3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹  shown up as a liar, ²  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ³  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁴ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ⁵  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ⁶  (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁷ 

Romans 9:20

9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being ⁸  – to talk back to God? ⁹  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ¹⁰ 

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¹ tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.

² tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.

³ tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.

⁴ tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.

⁵ tn Or “shows clearly.”

⁶ tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”

⁷ sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.

⁸ tn Grk “O man.”

⁹ tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”

¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.