(8) Jlnd not rather {as we he slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say) Let us do evil, that good may come ? whose damnation is just. The sense of this verse is obvious, though the grammatical construction of the original is irregular. One of the simplest and most common me- thods of resolving the passage, is to supply the word say. ' Why not say at once (as some slanderously affirm that we say) Let us do evil that good may come.' A second method is the following : ' Why not let us do evil that good may come, as some slanderously affirm that we teach.' Paul here, most probably, as often elsewhere, changes the construction of the sentence in his progress through it ; see Gal. 2 : 3 — 5. He seems to have intended to say, ' Why not let us do evil, &c. ;' but having inter- rupted himself, he makes the latter clause grammatically dependent on the word say in the parenthesis, instead of connecting it with the words with which the sentence commences. It, therefore, stands thus, 'And why not (as some slanderously affirm that we say) that we may do evil that good may come.' Our version skilfully avoids the difficulty, and pre- sents the meaning clearly.
Whose condemnation, &c., that is, the condemnation of those who adopt the principle, that it is right to do evil that good may come ; not those who slandered the apostle. This verse contains Paul's answer to the principle on which the wicked Jews hoped for exemption from pu- nishment. ' Our unfaithfulness serves to commend the faithfulness of God, therefore we ought not to be punished.' According to this reason- ing, Paul answers, ' The worse we are the better. For the more wicked we are, the more conspicuous will be the mercy of God in our pardon ; we may, therefore, do evil that good may come.' Paul, frequently, a? here, recognises the authority of the instinctive moral feelings of men. He has reduced the reasoning of the Jews to a conclusion shocking to the moral sense, and has thereb)'' refuted it. Having thus demonstrated that the Jews cannot expect exemption on the ground of being the peculiar people of God, except on principles incompatible with the government of the world, and inconsistent with the plainest moral truths, he draws, in the next verse, the conclusion, that the Jew, as to the matter of justi- fication, has no pre-eminence over the Gentile.