How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

Graph View — tap the constellation icon in the top bar to see this page's connections as a web of light: gold points are passages, and the coloured threads are the connection types. Click any type in the graph's own legend to filter it in or out, and use the expand control for the full-screen night sky.

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Intertextuality Pair

Romans 4:18 → Genesis 15:5

Quotation

Later text

Romans 4:18BSB

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

Earlier text

Genesis 15:5BSB

And the LORD took him outside and said, "Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able." Then He told him, "So shall your offspring be."

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square7:55

Significance

Paul quotes God's promise to Abraham — "So shall your offspring be," spoken as Abraham looked at the innumerable stars — to illustrate the nature of Abraham's faith. Abraham believed "against hope, in hope" that God would fulfill this promise of countless descendants despite his and Sarah's physical inability. Paul uses this to demonstrate that justifying faith trusts God's promise even when circumstances appear impossible, and that the promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the vast multinational family of believers.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment

Linked Mentions 1

Anchor Texts 1

Genesis 15:6 — Abraham Believed God