Romans 4
4
The Example of Abraham
1So what can we say about Abraham, the father of our people? What did he learn about faith? 2If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to boast about himself. But God knew different. 3That’s why the Scriptures say, “Abraham believed God, and because of this he was accepted as one who is right with God.”#Quote from Gen. 15:6.
4When people work, their pay is not given to them as a gift. They earn the pay they get. 5But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him. Then he accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. He is the one who makes even evil people right. 6David said the same thing when he was talking about the blessing people have when God accepts them as good without looking at what they have done:
7“It is a great blessing
when people are forgiven for the wrongs they have done,
when their sins are erased!
8It is a great blessing when the Lord accepts people
as if they are without sin!” Psalm 32:1-2
9Is this blessing only for those who are circumcised? Or is it also for those who are not circumcised? We have already said that it was because of Abraham’s faith that he was accepted as one who is right with God. 10So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? God accepted him before his circumcision. 11Abraham was circumcised later to show that God accepted him. His circumcision was proof that he was right with God through faith before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the father of all those who believe but are not circumcised. They believe and are accepted as people who are right with God. 12And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised. But it is not their circumcision that makes him their father. He is their father only if they live following the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
God’s Promise Received Through Faith
13Abraham and his descendants received the promise that they would get the whole world. But Abraham did not receive that promise because he followed the law. He received that promise because he was right with God through his faith. 14If people could get God’s promise by following the law, then faith is worthless. And God’s promise to Abraham is worthless, 15because the law can only bring God’s anger on those who disobey it. But if there is no law, then there is nothing to disobey.
16So people get what God promised by having faith. This happens so that the promise can be a free gift. And if the promise is a free gift, then all of Abraham’s people will get that promise. The promise is not just for those who live under the Law of Moses. It is for all who live with faith as Abraham did. He is the father of us all. 17As the Scriptures say, “I have made you a father of many nations.”#Quote from Gen. 17:5. This is true before God, the one Abraham believed—the God who gives life to the dead and speaks of things that don’t yet exist as if they are real.
18There was no hope that Abraham would have children, but Abraham believed God and continued to hope. And that is why he became the father of many nations. As God told him, “You will have many descendants.”#Quote from Gen. 15:5. 19Abraham was almost a hundred years old, so he was past the age for having children. Also, Sarah could not have children. Abraham was well aware of this, but his faith in God never became weak. 20He never doubted that God would do what he promised. He never stopped believing. In fact, he grew stronger in his faith and just praised God. 21Abraham felt sure that God was able to do what he promised. 22So that’s why “he was accepted as one who is right with God.”#Quote from Gen. 15:6. 23These words (“he was accepted”) were written not only for Abraham. 24They were also written for us. God will also accept us because we believe. We believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from death. 25Jesus was handed over to die for our sins, and he was raised from death to make us right with God.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Romans 4
4
The Example of Abraham
1What then are we to say was gained by#4.1 Other ancient authorities read say about Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”
9Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” 10How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, 12and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.
God's Promise Realized through Faith
13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already#4.19 Other ancient authorities lack already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22Therefore his faith#4.22 Gk Therefore it “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.