Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 3:8

"and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just." — Romans 3:8 (ASV)

And not rather.—And (why should we) not (say), as some people slanderously affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come. Some such phrase as “Why should we say” must be supplied; “why” from the previous clause, “say” from what follows. Or, (Why should we) not (do evil), as some people slanderously affirm that we say, Let us do evil, etc. The latter, perhaps, is best, as we might then suppose the phrase “let us do” is repeated precisely in the form in which it stands.

The Apostle does not care to answer this argument in detail; he will not engage with such a perversion of the moral sense, but simply says, Whose condemnation is just.

What pretext could anyone possibly have for attributing such an opinion to St. Paul? The charge was no doubt utterly false as applied to him, but we know that his teaching was made an excuse for Antinomian excesses, which would not unnaturally be attributed to the Apostle.

Or, taking his teaching as it stands, we might well imagine the Jews or the Judaizing party arguing with themselves, “This man openly breaks the Law, and yet he claims to be in the right way, and that all will go well with him; is not this doing evil that good may come? Does he think to win the Messianic kingdom by the breach of the Law, and not by its observance?”