In whose judgement

There is an interesting ambiguity in Paul's grammar in Romans 3:4. The NIV reads:

Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."

While the quote reads a little differently in the ESV:

"That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged."

The change of the final word makes us ask: "Is God judging, or being judged?". We'll go into the fascinating use of Psalm 51 in this chapter tomorrow, but for today it will suffice to ask the question, "in whose judgement?".

Why did the different translations choose to make the meaning of the words different?

The answer is that in Greek the phrase is ambiguous. The words are:

kai nikeseis en tw krinesthai se

Or, word for word translated,

and be victorious in the judging you

So is the phrase objective or subjective? Is it 'in your judging' with God doing the judging of with God being judged?

The implications of the decisions are interesting (though not completely earth-shattering). The change from the NIV to the ESV brings the verse to mean that when God stands trial his testimony will always be found true, and the verdict will always display him victorious. In any proceedings. The implications of this are vast, especially given our propensity not to trust God. There is no situation we find ourselves in in which God's words and actions will not be shown to be right.

With context being the basis for the decision as to which we should go with, we've got plenty to help us think through the answer, especially given that it's an OT quote. But that's for tomorrow...