Bible Strands
Romans 4:3
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Roman church, mid-argument, to show that Abraham's standing before God rested on faith, not works. He is answering the implicit objection that a patriarch with a law-adjacent life might have been justified by performance.
The words — ἐπίστευσεν (episteusen) is aorist active: a single, decisive act of trusting, not a sustained habit. The grammar marks belief as an event, not a process.
The thread — The quotation is Genesis 15:6, the original account of Abram's trust. Paul reuses the same line in Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23 cites it while arguing that faith was proven by action.
Why it lands — The verse removes human merit from the equation entirely: righteousness is credited, not earned. A reader is asked to stop measuring their standing before God by what they have done.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Cross-references
- Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
- James 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
- Galatians 3:6 So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Romans 4:9 Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
- Romans 4:22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- Romans 4:5 However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.
- Psalms 106:31 It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
- Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
- Romans 11:2 God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:
- Romans 10:11 It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”