Paul's Favorite Verse

What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," (Rom 4:3).

In one of his recent lessons on the book of Galatians, Dan Lancaster alludes to the fact that the passage above must have been Paul’s favorite Hebrew text citation because he quotes it so often. I began to wonder if that was true and how many quotations of the Hebrew text appear in the New Testament.

According to people who research such matters, there are upwards of 300 quotations in the Greek text originating from 34 books in the Hebrew text. Only the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon are not quoted. The actual number of references may double when inferences are added to the direct quotations. With so many quotations and inferences, it makes me ashamed that I ever purchased those New Testament only books.

Almost one-half of the quotations appear in the gospel accounts including Acts, with the balance in the epistles. The most quoted scriptures appear to be:

Isa 6:9-10: “Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Matt 13:14-15)(Mark 4:12)(Luke 8:10)(John 12:40)(Acts 28:26-27)

Ps 118:22-23: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” (Matt 21:42)(Mark 12:10-11)(Luke 20:17)(Acts 4:11)(1 Pet 2:7)

Lev 19:18: "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” (Matt 22:39)(Mark 12:31)(Rom 13:9)(Gal 5:14)(James 2:8)

Ps 110:1 “The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'" (Matt 22:44)(Mark 12:36)(Luke 20:42-43)(Acts 2:34-35)(Heb 1:13)

Gen 15:6: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Rom 4:3, 4:9, 4:22, Gal 4:22, James 2:23).

Those honorable mentioned passages include: Gen 2:24, The two will become one flesh [Matt 19:5, Mark 10:7-8, 1 Cor 6:16, Eph 5:31]; Psa 117:26, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD [Matt 21:9, Luke 13:35, Luke 19:38, John 12:13]; Psa 95:7-11, Today if you hear His voice do not harden your heart [Heb 3:7-11, 3:15, 4:3-5, 4:7], and Psa 109:4, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek [Heb 5:6, 5:10, 7:17:7:21]

It does appear that Gen 15:6 was Paul’s favorite verse as he quotes it four times and in two different espistles. James also quotes the same passage to argue a seemingly contradictory position to Paul. Oh well, on the one hand this and on the other hand that.

It is interesting to note that Paul does not continue to quote the same passages throughout the epistles. For example, Gen 15:6 does not appear in Paul’s later epistles. This may be due in part to differing matters that Paul was addressing or it may be a reflection of Paul’s continuing study of the Tanakh and new revelations from the Lord.

To put it another way, it appears that even Paul kept finding new material to preach on (2 Cor 12:7). This becomes an example to us to continually search out scripture to discern additional insights that God would have us know to be made into the image of Yeshua the Messiah.