Romans 4

¹What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather by physical descent, has found? ²For if Abraham was made just by his own works, he has a ground for pride—but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham trusted God, and it was credited to him as justice.” ⁴Now to the one who works, the wage is not credited as a favor, but as an obligation. ⁵But to the one who does not work, but instead trusts in the one who justifies the impious, that person’s faith is credited as justice.

⁶Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits justice apart from works: ⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless acts have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over; ⁸blessed is the man against whom the Lord will never calculate sin.”

⁹Is this blessing, then, only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we are saying: “Faith was credited to Abraham as justice.” ¹⁰How then was it credited? While he was in a state of circumcision, or while uncircumcised? It was not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the justice he had through faith while still uncircumcised. This was so that he might be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised—so that justice might be credited to them— ¹²and also the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the tracks of the faith our father Abraham had while he was uncircumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham or his offspring—that he would be heir of the world—did not come through the law, but through the justice of faith. ¹⁴For if those who hold to the law are the heirs, faith has been emptied and the promise has been nullified. ¹⁵For the law produces wrath; but where there is no law, there is no stepping across the line.

¹⁶Because of this, it is by faith, so that it may be according to favor, in order that the promise might be secure for all the offspring—not only for those under the law, but also for those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of us all, ¹⁷just as it is written: “I have appointed you a father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of the God in whom he trusted—the one who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist.

¹⁸Beyond hope, yet based on hope, he trusted, so that he might become the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: “So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹Without weakening in faith, he considered his own body—which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was empowered by faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also powerful enough to do. ²²Therefore, “it was credited to him as justice.”

²³But the words “it was credited to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but also for ours. It is going to be credited to us who trust in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead— ²⁵who was handed over because of our lapses and was raised because of our being made just.