God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That you might be justified in your sayings, and might overcome when you are judged.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Does God tell a lie? He does not. It is impossible for God to tell a lie. Is this an impossibility because of some weakness? Certainly not! How could he be the cause of all things if there were something which he could not cause? What then is impossible to him? Nothing that is difficult for his power but only that which is contrary to his nature. It is impossible, it is said, for him to tell a lie. The impossibility comes not from weakness but from his power and greatness, for truth admits of no lie.
Because God is true, he gives what he has promised. To fail is human, for the times and the foolishness of nature make man unstable in that he does not have foreknowledge. But God, for whom there is no future, remains unchanging, as he says: “I the Lord do not change.” Therefore Paul says that all men are liars, and this is true. For nature is fallible and is not unreasonably called a liar. It may be a liar intentionally or accidentally, but we must not expect God to be like that, for he is perfect and full of good will and will accomplish what he has promised. He even confirms this by the prophetic oracle: “Thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.” Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
If every man is a liar and God alone is true, what else ought we servants and bishops of God to do except to reject human errors and lies and to remain in the truth of God, obeying the precepts of the Lord? Letter
Even if all men loved a lie before the coming of the truth, the true God nevertheless remained just, holding fast to the things which were proper to God and fulfilling everything which was said that was fitting. .
God only is essentially true. All men in their own capacity are liable to lies and errors: nevertheless God, who is the truth, will make good his promise of keeping his Church in all truth. See St. John, xvi. 13. (Challoner)
The Greek text has, "may God be true "that is, may all men acknowledge him as such; let the whole world know, that he neither can be unfaithful to his word, nor his promises; and that, on the contrary, all men of themselves have but lies and vanity for their portion.
That thou mayest be justified The particle that, is not casual in this place, but only marks the event. Thy conduct shows that thou art faithful and true to thy promises, and that, notwithstanding the judgments of men, thou art always unchangeable and infallible. Thou art victorious, when judged by them; thou she west them the falsity and injustice of their judgments. (Calmet)
And that the infidelity of man, so far from affecting the fidelity of God, will only serve to set it off in a more striking ...
If everyone who utters a lie has already destroyed his soul, and all of us are liars, are we all going to perish? What Scripture says … we should interpret as referring to heretics…. The doer of the deed has indeed killed his own soul, but the heretic—the liar—has killed as many souls as he has seduced.
Paul is saying something like this: “Even if every one of the Jews was an unbeliever … God would only be the more justified.” What does the word justified mean? It means that if there were a trial and an examination of the things which God had done for the Jews and also of what they had done to him, the victory would be with God, and all the right would be on his side.
