Abraham believed God
1What shall we say, then, that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, found? 2If 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 counted to him as righteousness.” 4Now to someone who works, the pay is not counted as a gift but as a debt. 5But to someone who does not work and instead trusts the God who justifies the ungodly, that faith is counted as righteousness. 6David says the same when he speaks of the happiness of the person to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7“Happy are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered over. 8Happy is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” 9Is this happiness, then, for the circumcised only, or for the uncircumcised as well? We are saying that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. 10And when was it counted? After he was circumcised, or before? Not after—before. 11He received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness he already had by faith while still uncircumcised. So he is the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them too, 12and the father of the circumcised—of those who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.
The promise rests on faith
13For the promise to Abraham and his offspring, that he would inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If those who live by the law are the heirs, then faith has been emptied out and the promise cancelled. 15The law brings wrath; and where there is no law, there is no breaking of it either. 16That is why it rests on faith: so that it may be by grace, and so that the promise may stand firm for all Abraham’s offspring—not only for those who are of the law, but also for those who share his faith. He is the father of us all, 17as it stands written: “I have made you the father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of the God he trusted, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist. 18Hoping where there was no hope, he believed, and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told: “So shall your offspring be.” 19His faith did not weaken when he took stock of his own body, as good as dead—he was about a hundred years old—and of the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20He did not waver at God’s promise in unbelief; his faith made him strong, and he gave glory to God, 21fully convinced that what God had promised, God was able to do. 22That is why it was counted to him as righteousness. 23And the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone; 24they were written for us too, to whom it is to be counted—we who believe in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
