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
Abraham’s Faith Counted as Righteousness
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has found? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”#A quotation from Gen 15:6 4Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited according to grace, but according to his due. 5But to the one who does not work, but who believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness, 6just as David also speaks about the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7“Blessed are they whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
and whose sins are covered over.
8Blessed is the person against whom the Lord will never count sin.”#A quotation from Ps 32:1–2
9Therefore, is this blessing for those who are circumcised#Literally “the circumcision”, or also for those who are uncircumcised#Literally “the uncircumcision”? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.”#A quotation from Gen 15:6 10How then was it credited? While he#*Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was”) which is understood as temporal was circumcised#Literally “in circumcision” or uncircumcised#Literally “in uncircumcision”? Not while circumcised#Literally “in circumcision” but while uncircumcised#Literally “in uncircumcision”! 11And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal#Or “confirmation” of the righteousness by faith which he had while uncircumcised#Literally “in uncircumcision”, so that he could be the father of all who believe although they are uncircumcised#Literally “through uncircumcision”, so that righteousness could be credited to them,#Some manuscripts have “could be credited to them also” 12and the father of those who are circumcised#Literally “of the circumcision” to those who are not only from the circumcision, but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised#Literally “of the in uncircumcision faith of our father Abraham”.
The Promise to Abraham Secured through Faith
13For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith. 14For if those of the law are heirs, faith is rendered void and the promise is nullified. 15For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17(just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)#A quotation from Gen 17:5 before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, 18who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.”#A quotation from Gen 15:5 19And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, #Some manuscripts have “already as good as dead” because he#*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was”) which is understood as causal was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God 21and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do. 22Therefore#Some manuscripts have “Therefore, indeed,” it was credited to him for righteousness. 23But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him, 24but also for the sake of us to whom it is going to be credited, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over on account of our trespasses, and was raised up in the interest of our justification.#Or “vindication”; or “acquittal”
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