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being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
Romans 4:21 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
  • KJV And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
  • NKJV and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
  • NASB and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
  • NLT He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

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

Abraham was fully convinced that God could do what he had promised. Faith rests on God's power to keep his word.

Overview

Paul sums up Abraham's faith as full assurance that God is 'able to perform' what he promised. Faith is confidence in God's faithfulness and omnipotence. Such assurance is the proper response to the gospel, in which God promises and accomplishes salvation through Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Luke 1:37For no word from God will ever fail.”
  • Jer 32:27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
  • Luke 1:45Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord’s word to her will be fulfilled.”
  • Jer 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
  • Heb 11:19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
  • Gen 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
  • 2 Tim 1:12For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.
  • Matt 19:26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
  • Rom 14:4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
  • Ps 115:3Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
  • 2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
  • Rom 8:38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
  • Heb 11:13All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (8)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 4:21YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 4:21 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.