Me Genoito: I Would Never Say That!

Word of the Week

August 23, 2025

Mē Genoito: I Would Never Say That!

 

May it never be! (Romans 6:2 NASB95)

By no means! (Romans 6:2 NIV)

Certainly not! (Romans 6:2 NKJV)

Absolutely not! (Romans 6:2 CSB)

Of course not! (Romans 6:2 NLT)

God forbid. (Romans 6:2 KJV)

Far from it! (Romans 6:2 NASB20)

 

We have all watched press conferences that turned into ambushes.  The mayor is at the podium explaining a new policy when a reporter in the rear jumps in with a question:  “Doesn’t this new approach mean that you plan to ignore the latest Supreme Court decision?”  Or “Doesn’t your program require you to go way above the budget guidelines?”

Such a query is actually an objection, a way of saying, “Your first presentation sounds good, but it logically involves ideas that none of us would accept.”

Confrontations between politicians and media reps are standard practice today, but they are not new.  The apostle Paul faced similar critics almost two thousand years ago.  They twisted his words and misrepresented his ideas, and he used a memorable Greek phrase to answer their attacks.

We can listen to Paul’s debating technique most easily in the book of Romans.  Paul pioneered much of the spread of Christianity to the Gentile world, and he made it clear that the path to God was by faith in Jesus, not by obedience to the Old Testament Law.  His opponents declared that Paul’s approach disregarded God’s Word and encouraged sinful lifestyles.  “This is what Paul really teaches!” they said.

Ten times in Romans Paul answers their charges.  When they say, “This is what Paul teaches,” he denied it, using the strongest Greek expression available to him.

Mē genoito [may geh-NOY-tah] was his response.  The long list of translations at the top of this page shows how strongly he denied the accusations.  As you can see, it’s hard to agree on the single best translation for this phrase in English.

Let’s take a closer look.

Mē is one of the standard Greek words for “not.”

Genoito comes from the Greek word ginomai, translated “be, become, happen.”

Paul could have picked the word eimi, which means “to be.”  This is the usual word to describe some thing that is an unchanging fact.

Ginomai, on the other hand, is more often used to describe something that wasn’t originally true – but it became true.  It might be an event that happens, making a change to something new.

When John 1:1 says, “The Word was God,” it uses eimi because Jesus had always been deity.  But John 1:14 uses ginomai to tell us that “The Word became flesh.”  At a point in time, the Son took on human nature.

So when Paul says mē genoito, he is denying that this idea could ever become true.

The spelling of this Greek word reveals that Paul is using the aorist tense.  He could have used the present tense, which would be the best way to describe something that happens consistently.  Instead, he picked aorist, which is the typical way to describe something that just happens once.

So Paul is denying that this idea could ever happen a single time.

Paul also chose the “optative” spelling of the word.  This is a relatively rare piece of grammar, and you can get lost in technical discussions of the details.  However, one fact stands out:  optative is the spelling to use when you want to talk about something that is a remote possibility.

So Paul denies that he would ever teach this idea, even as a remote possibility.

Bottom line:  Mē genoito means, “May this not become true – not even once – not as a remote possibility.”  It’s an explosively strong way to say, “Not true!”

You can see why English translators have such trouble agreeing on the best way to render it.

Why did Paul need to use such strong language so often in the book of Romans?

Because he was planning to visit Rome for the first time, hoping to establish a solid relationship with the church there.  Knowing that hurtful rumors about his ministry could have circulated, he wanted the believers in Rome to have an accurate picture of his teaching.  He wrote the letter to explain exactly what he did teach, and to deny the distortions of his critics.

The accusations:

• Paul teaches that God is not faithful to keep His promises to Israel (Romans 3:4).
• Paul teaches that our sins make God’s holiness more obvious, so it is unfair for God to condemn us for enhancing His reputation (Romans 3:6)
• Paul nullifies the Law by teaching salvation by grace (Romans 3:31).
• Paul teaches that grace covers all of our sins, so we should sin more freely so that God could show even more of His grace (Romans 6:1-2)
• Paul teaches that we are free from the Law, so we are free to sin (Romans 6:15)
• Paul teaches that the law led to sin and death, so the Law must be sinful (Romans 7:7).
• Paul says that he was alive until the Law brought death to him, so the Law must result in death (Romans 7:13).
• Paul teaches that God chose Jacob over Esau, and that seems unjust (Romans 9:14).
• Paul teaches that God has opened salvation to Gentiles, so Israel has been rejected (Romans 11:1).
• Paul teaches that the Jews stumbled over Christ, and therefore their fall is total (Romans 11:11)

To all of these accusations, Paul says, “Mē genoito!”

1 Peter 3:15 tells us to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us.  And Romans reminds us that this can include a clear explanation of what we believe and a firm denial of what we do NOT believe.

 

 

Study Hint:

The phrase mē genoito appears a few times outside of Romans, and these passages are also worthy of close attention.

1 Corinthians 6:15

Galatians 2:17

Galatians 3:21

Galatians 6:14

Luke 20:16

 

Coming Up

Christmas is far away, but we still give gifts for birthdays and anniversaries.  Next week, we will present a word study on the Greek word for “present.”

Ezra Project 2025