“For what saith the scripture?”
The full verse · Romans 4:3 · KJV
the ? , it was unto .
Asked by
Paul: the apostle to the Gentiles, writing to the believers in Rome whom he had not yet visited (Romans 1:7, 13)
The Scene
Paul has just said that if Abraham were justified by works, he would have something to glory in, "but not before God" (Romans 4:2).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionPaul stops reasoning and opens the Book. The question about Abraham (Romans 4:1) will not be settled by opinion but by what God has written. Barnes explains "what saith the scripture" as "The inspired account of Abraham's justification." Matthew Henry draws the lesson: "In all controversies in religion this must be our question, What saith the scripture?" By asking instead of simply quoting, Paul invites his readers to listen to Genesis with him.
The Response
What Scripture recordsPaul answers with Genesis 15:6: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3). He then explains it. To the worker, wages are "of debt," but to the one who "believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5). He adds David's witness from Psalm 32: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:6-8).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsGenesis 15:6 comes when God brought Abram outside and told him to count the stars: "So shall thy seed be" (Genesis 15:5). Barnes notes that the Hebrew reads "Abraham believed Yahweh," and that "The faith which Abraham exercised was, that his posterity should be like the stars of heaven in number."
The word "counted" is the Greek logizomai, a bookkeeping word. Thayer defines it "to reckon, count" and, in this kind of phrase, "to pass to one's account, to impute." The same verb returns in Romans 4:9-10, where the KJV says "reckoned." Gill explains the sense: not that Abraham credited righteousness to God, "but that God reckoned him righteous, or imputed it to him for righteousness."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows a God who has spoken and who keeps His word. Paul's whole case rests on what God had already written centuries before. The righteousness Abraham received came from God's side of the ledger: God counted it.
Paul then says plainly that this sentence was "not written for his sake alone" but "for us also," if we believe on Him "that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Romans 4:23-24). The same verse is quoted again in Galatians 3:6 and James 2:23. God's way of counting people righteous through faith runs from Abraham to every believer.
Look Closer
What promise had Abraham just believed in Genesis 15?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, when my own opinions or other voices are loud, what does Your Word show me about how You make me right with You?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- When you face a hard question about faith, where do you go first: your feelings, other people, or the Scriptures? Why?
- Share a time when a passage of Scripture settled a question you had been wrestling with.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Make Paul's question your own habit. When you are unsure where you stand with God, or when people disagree about the gospel, ask, "What saith the scripture?" Matthew Henry adds, "It is not what this great man, and the other good man, say, but What saith the scripture?"
And hear what it says to you: righteousness is counted to those who believe, not paid to those who work (Romans 4:4-5). This does not mean faith is a work you perform to earn credit. Abraham simply took God at His word, and God did the counting.
Scripture's own application: Romans 4:23-24
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?”
“Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?”
“How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision?”
“Do we then make void the law through faith?”