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
Romiyim (Romans) 4
4
1What, then, shall we say Aḇraham our father, to have found, according to the flesh?
2For if Aḇraham was declared right by works, he has ground for boasting, but not before Elohim.
3For what does the Scripture say? “Aḇraham believed Elohim, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.”# Gen. 15:6#See also Gal. 3:6
4And to him who is working, the reward is not reckoned as a favour but as a debt.
5And to him who is not working but believes on Him who is declaring right the wicked, his belief is reckoned for righteousness,
6even as Dawiḏ also says of the blessedness of the man to whom Elohim reckons righteousness without works:
7“Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered,
8blessed is the man to whom יהוה shall by no means reckon sin.”# Psa. 32:1, 2
9Is this blessing then upon the circumcised only, or also upon the uncircumcised? For we affirm: Belief was reckoned unto Aḇraham for righteousness.# Gen. 15:6
10How then was it reckoned? Being in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
11And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the belief while in uncircumcision, for him to be a father of all those believing through uncircumcision, for righteousness to be reckoned to them also,
12and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the belief which our father Aḇraham had in uncircumcision.
13For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Aḇraham or to his seed through the Torah, but through a righteousness of belief.
14For if those who are of the Torah are heirs, belief has been made useless, and the promise has been nullified,
15for the Torah works out wrath, for where there is no Torah there is no transgression.
16On account of this it is of belief, that it be according to favour, for the promise to be made certain to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Torah, but also to those who are of the belief of Aḇraham, who is father of us all –
17as it has been written, “I have made you a father of many nations”# Gen. 17:5 – in the presence of Him whom he believed, even Elohim, who gives life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing,
18who against all expectation did believe, in expectation, so that he should become father of many nations, according to what was said, “So shall your seed be.”# Gen. 15:5
19And not having grown weak in belief, he did not consider his own body, already dead, being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb,
20he did not hesitate about the promise of Elohim through unbelief, but was strengthened in belief, giving esteem to Elohim,
21and being completely persuaded that what He had promised He was also able to do.
22Therefore also “it was reckoned to him for righteousness.”# Gen. 15:6
23And not because of him alone was it written that it was reckoned to him,# Gen. 15:6
24but also because of us, to whom it shall be reckoned, to us who believe in Him who raised up יהושע our Master from the dead,
25who was delivered up because of our trespasses, and was raised for us to be declared right.
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