Or who has first given to Him, that it would be paid back to him?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
- KJV Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
- BSB “Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
- NKJV “Orwho has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”
- NLT And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?
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
No one has first given to God so as to put him in their debt.
Overview
Drawing on Job 41:11, Paul insists that God owes no one anything; everything we have is already from him. This destroys any notion that salvation could be earned or that God can be placed under obligation. It establishes grace as the only basis of our relationship with God, fulfilled freely in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 41:11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
- Job 35:7If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
- 1 Cor 4:7For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
- Matt 20:15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 11:35 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.