Could using the phrase “God forbid” generally be considered irreverent and vain?<\/p>\n\t
“Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’<\/em>” (Matthew 16:22 NASB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This translator chose “God forbid” for a Greek phrase that literally means “not not shall be.”<\/p>\n
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world<\/em>” (Galatians 6:14 NKJV).<\/p>\n
“God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged<\/em>” (Romans 3:4 KJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?<\/em>” (Romans 3:6 KJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This translator chose “God forbid” for a Greek phrase that literally means “not may it be” in Romans 3:4,6,31, etc. (a total of 14 times). The New King James only uses “God forbid” in Galatians 6:14 for the same phrase.<\/p>\n
“God forbid” is an English idiom expressing a strong feeling that something should never happen.\u00a0 Since the word for God doesn’t actually appear in the text, most translators choose to use a slightly less intense phrase, such as “may it never be!” or “certainly not!” While they convey less emotion, they are believed to be better choices in today’s English. However, there is nothing wrong with the phrase “God forbid.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Could using the phrase “God forbid” generally be considered irreverent and vain? Answer: “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’” (Matthew 16:22 NASB). This translator chose “God forbid” for a Greek phrase that literally means “not not shall be.” “But God…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1558],"class_list":["post-70839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-speech"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-forbid\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":0},"title":"God Forbid!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Benjamin M. Shropshire via Lifeline, 7\/15\/00 My use of the New King James Version in my preaching and teaching was criticized a few years ago on the basis that the phrase \"Certainly not!\" is used in place of \"God Forbid!\" in the old King James Version (see Romans 3:4,6,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-who-but-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":1},"title":"Not Who But What","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Albert Gardner \"It is not who is right-but what is right, that counts.\" The crowd does not make a thing right or wrong. If something is wrong, it remains wrong even if everybody does it. If it is right, it is still right even if nobody does it. Moses\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-forbid-priests-who-had-defects-from-serving\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":2},"title":"Why did God forbid priests who had defects from serving?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Leviticus 21:18, those people were not responsible for being that way. How can I explain this to others, especially that of a flat-nosed person? Answer: Many of the laws regarding worship under the Old Testament existed because they symbolically represented something under the New Testament. Thus, sacrifices had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-in-the-bible-is-instrumental-music-forbidden\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":3},"title":"Where in the Bible Is Instrumental Music Forbidden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry Fite Nowhere in the Bible does God explicitly forbid the use of instrumental music in worship. Some find implicit condemnation in Amos 6:1-5, where the prophet writes, \"they invent for themselves instruments of music, like David.\" But upon a closer contextual examination, one must conclude that the self-indulgent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-till-my-raptured-soul-shall-find-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":4},"title":"What does “Till my raptured soul shall find” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the song, \"Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross\", what does \"Till my raptured soul shall find\" mean? Answer: \"In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever; Till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river.\" \"Rapture\" is an older English word for \"a feeling of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5950,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-say-not-to-forbid-the-non-follower-from-casting-out-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":70839,"position":5},"title":"Why did Jesus say not to forbid the non-follower from casting out demons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering what Jesus meant in Mark 9:38-40 where John told Him of a man who was casting out devils in Jesus' name but forbade the man from doing so because he didn't follow with them. How does the verse \"For he that is not against us is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}