Abraham Justified by Faith
1 What then shall we say thatAbraham ourfather has found according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham wasjustified by works, he hassomethingto boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say?“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
4 Nowto him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him whodoes not work but believes on Him who justifiesthe ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David alsodescribes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessedarethosewhose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessedistheman to whom theLordshall not impute sin.”
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Doesthis blessedness thencomeupon the circumcisedonly,or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
11 Andhe received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith whichhehadwhilestilluncircumcised, thathe might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
12 and the father of circumcision to those who not onlyareof the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our fatherAbrahamhadwhilestilluncircumcised.
The Promise Granted Through Faith
13 For the promise that he would be theheir of the worldwasnot to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 Forif those who are of the lawareheirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,
15 becausethe law brings about wrath; for where there is no lawthereisno transgression.
16 Thereforeitisof faith thatitmightbeaccording to grace,so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham,who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written,“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God,who gives life to the dead and calls thosethings which do not exist as though they did;
18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken,“So shall your descendants be.”
19 And not being weak in faith,he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old),and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully convinced that what He had promisedHe was also able to perform.
22 And therefore“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
23 Nowit was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believein Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, andwas raised because of our justification.