FLOGVIT
.bible

RomansChapter 4

+ Secondary textOriginal text← PreviousNext →Contribute
What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? What did he find?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
But to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, that faith is credited as righteousness.
David says the same when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
Is this blessing, then, only for the circumcised, or for the uncircumcised as well? We say that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Under what circumstances, then, was it credited? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? He was not yet circumcised—he was still uncircumcised.
He received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness he had by faith while still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness might be credited to them as well;
and he is also the father of the circumcised—those who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For it was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
For if those who live by the law are the heirs, then faith is empty and the promise is void.
For the law brings wrath; and where there is no law, there is no transgression either.
That is why the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all of Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who share Abraham's faith. He is the father of us all,
as it is written: "I have made you the father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Against all hope, Abraham hoped and believed, and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him: "So shall your offspring be."
His faith did not weaken when he considered his own body, as good as dead—he was about a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He did not waver in unbelief concerning God's promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
fully convinced that God had power to do what he had promised.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
Now the words "it was credited to him" were not written for his sake alone,
but also for us, to whom it will be credited—us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
He was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
←→