Passage

Paul states an objection

Source and translation

World English Bible, Protestant Edition · Public domain · en

⁵But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.

Romans 3:5World English Bible, Protestant Edition

The scene

Paul asks whether God would be unjust to punish wrongdoing if that wrongdoing makes God's righteousness evident.

To understand

He marks the question as a human way of speaking. Verse 6 rejects the objection and asks how God could otherwise judge the world; verse 5 belongs to an argument.

A question

Why should verse 5 be read with the rejection that immediately follows it?