In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”
- KJV Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
- BSB So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
- NKJV just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
- NASB Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul cites Abraham, who believed God and was counted righteous. Justification by faith is no novelty but rooted in Scripture.
Overview
Turning to Genesis, Paul shows that Abraham himself was justified by faith, long before the law was given. This grounds the gospel in the Old Testament and answers those who appealed to Moses. Abraham becomes the pattern of all who are made right with God by believing rather than by works.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 15:6He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness.
- Rom 4:21–22and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
- Jas 2:23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.
- Rom 4:3–6For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
- Rom 4:24but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
- Rom 4:9–11Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
- Gal 3:9So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.
- Rom 9:32–33Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;
- 2 Cor 5:19–21namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 3:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.