Limitless Word
and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
Romans 4:21 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
  • BSB being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
  • 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 nothing spoken by God is impossible.”
  • Jer 32:27“Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?
  • Luke 1:45Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
  • Jer 32:17“Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you,
  • Heb 11:19concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.
  • Gen 18:14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
  • 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
  • Matt 19:26Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
  • Rom 14:4Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
  • Ps 115:3But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
  • 2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
  • Rom 8:38For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
  • Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims 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.