He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
⛓ Read Genesis 15 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation4
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
Verbatim LXX citation: 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' This is the foundational proof-text of Paul's whole justification-by-faith argument, repeated at Romans 4:3 and James 2:23, satisfying recurrence and high volume. Availability and coherence are maximal.
High confidenceFormal citation: 'the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness"' (v.23). This is a verbatim quotation of Genesis 15:6, here read as fulfilled in the Aqedah.
High confidenceThe governing text of the entire chapter, quoted verbatim in 4:3 ('Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness'). Paul launches a sustained midrash on this single verse, returning to its key term 'accounted/reckoned' (LXX elogisthe) throughout. Maximum volume and recurrence.
High confidenceThe pericope closes in 4:22 by re-quoting the governing text: 'Therefore it also was reckoned to him for righteousness.' Recurrence of Genesis 15:6 as the inclusio binding the demonstration of Abraham's faith back to its scriptural anchor.
High confidenceAllusion4
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
Righteousness 'from God by faith' rather than 'of my own from the law' is the Abrahamic credo 'he believed the LORD, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' Paul's standard proof that righteousness is faith-reckoned, not works-earned. High coherence with Pauline usage.
High confidenceThe pericope hangs entirely on the chronology of Genesis: faith reckoned (15:6) came BEFORE circumcision (chapter 17). 4:9-10 re-quotes 'faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness' and asks whether the reckoning happened in circumcision or uncircumcision — recurrence of the governing text used as a temporal argument.
High confidence'Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted' (4:23-24) explicitly thematizes the act of reading Genesis 15:6 as Scripture written for the church. The verb 'accounted/reckoned' is carried forward one last time, applied now to believers in the God who raised Jesus.
High confidence"Justified by faith" (5:1) is the conclusion Paul has just drawn from Abraham (Romans 4), and ultimately rests on Genesis 15:6, "Abram believed the LORD, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness." The faith-righteousness link governing 5:1 is verbally and conceptually the Genesis 15:6 logic carried forward into this pericope's opening clause.
High confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'Justified by faith apart from works of the law' (3:28) anticipates and is governed by the Abraham-reckoned-righteous text Paul will quote in 4:3; the faith-reckoning principle is already operative here.
Medium confidence