Abraham Justified by Faith

¹What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, tour forefather according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but unot before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? v“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now wto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but xbelieves in1 him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷y“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

⁸blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not zcount his sin.”

⁹Is this blessing then only for athe circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? bFor we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹cHe received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was dto make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, ¹²and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

¹³For ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For hthe law brings wrath, but iwhere there is no law jthere is no transgression.

¹⁶That is why it depends on faith, kin order that the promise may rest on grace and lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, mwho is the father of us all, ¹⁷as it is written, n“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence pthe things that do not exist. ¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, q“So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ras good as dead (ssince he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered tthe barrenness2 of Sarah's womb. ²⁰No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that uGod was able to do what he had promised. ²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³But vthe words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us wwho believe in xhim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ²⁵ywho was delivered up for our trespasses and raised zfor our justification.