Romans 11:35 asks who could ever give God something first, so that God would have to pay them back. The answer implied is no one, because every good thing we have comes from God in the first place. Paul writes this near the end of his long argument about God’s plan for Israel and the nations, after he has praised the depth of God’s wisdom and mercy. He is speaking to the believers in Rome, both Jewish and Gentile, who needed to hear that God’s grace is never a transaction.
“Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
Romans 11:35 (WEB)
What Romans 11:35 Means
The verse is a question with an obvious answer. Paul asks who has given God anything first, in a way that would create a debt God must repay. The picture is of a business arrangement, where one party gives and the other is obligated to return the favor. Paul is saying that this picture does not fit God at all.
The word “first” carries the weight of the verse. Every gift we could bring to God has already come from him. Our abilities, our time, our faith, even the breath we use to pray, are all received. So nothing we offer puts God in our debt. When we give to God, we are returning what was his to begin with.
The verse does not promise that God will reward human effort in a neat, earned way, and it does not say God is distant or indifferent to what we do. It corrects the idea that we can build up a credit balance with God and then collect on it. Grace is free, and that freedom is what keeps the relationship from being a bargain.
The Context of Romans 11:35
Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, traditionally attributed to him and generally accepted by scholars as his work, probably from Corinth around the middle of the first century. The church in Rome included Jewish believers who had returned after a period of expulsion and Gentile believers who had come to outnumber them. Paul’s discussion of Israel in chapters 9 to 11 addresses fears that God had abandoned his promises to Israel, and that Gentile Christians might look down on Jewish people.
Just before verse 35, Paul writes that God has shut up all people in disobedience so that he might show mercy to all. Verse 33 bursts into praise of God’s unsearchable judgments, and verse 34 borrows words from Isaiah about the mind of the Lord. Verse 35 is the second of three rhetorical questions drawn from Scripture, and it leads into verse 36, which says all things are from him, through him, and to him. Read in that setting, verse 35 is not a complaint about divine fairness. It is one more step in a hymn of wonder at a God whose mercy no one could ever earn or repay.
Key Phrases in Romans 11:35
Romans 11:36
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
(WEB)
The verse immediately following Romans 11:35 completes the thought by declaring that all things are from God, through God, and to God. It answers the question by showing that nothing exists outside of his giving and his glory.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast.
(WEB)
Paul makes the same point about grace in another letter, explaining that salvation is a gift received through faith and not earned by works. It reinforces the idea that nothing we bring to God creates an obligation on his part.
A Short Prayer From Romans 11:35
Father, you have given me everything I have, including the very desire to come to you. I confess that I sometimes act as if I have earned your favor or that you owe me a return for my faithfulness. Teach me to receive your grace with open hands and to offer my life back to you as thanks, not as a payment. Thank you that your gifts have no strings attached and that you give first, every day. Amen.
