Romans 4

¹ Then what do we say about Abraham, the ancestor from whom we are descended physical y?

² If Abraham had been justified because of what he had done, then he would have had something toboast about. But not before God:

³ does not scripture say: Abraham put his faith in God and this was reckoned to him as uprightness?

⁴ Now, when someone works, the wages for this are not considered as a favour but as due;

⁵ however, when someone, without working, puts faith in the one who justifies the godless, it is this faiththat is reckoned as uprightness.

⁶ David, too, says the same: he cal s someone blessed if God attributes uprightness to that person,apart from any action undertaken:

⁷ How blessed are those whose offence is forgiven, whose sin is blotted out.

⁸ How blessed are those to whom the Lord imputes no guilt.

⁹ Is this blessing only for the circumcised, or is it said of the uncircumcised as wel ? Wel , we said ofAbraham that his faith was reckoned to him as uprightness.

¹⁰ Now how did this come about? When he was already circumcised, or before he had beencircumcised? Not when he had been circumcised, but while he was still uncircumcised;

¹¹ and circumcision was given to him later, as a sign and a guarantee that the faith which he had whilestill uncircumcised was reckoned to him as uprightness. In this way, Abraham was to be the ancestor of albelievers who are uncircumcised, so that they might be reckoned as upright;

¹² as well as the ancestor of those of the circumcision who not only have their circumcision but who alsofol ow our ancestor Abraham along the path of faith that he trod before he was circumcised.

¹³ For the promise to Abraham and his descendants that he should inherit the world was not through theLaw, but through the uprightness of faith.

¹⁴ For if it is those who live by the Law who wil gain the inheritance, faith is worthless and the promise iswithout force;

¹⁵ for the Law produces nothing but God's retribution, and it is only where there is no Law that it ispossible to live without breaking the Law.

¹⁶ That is why the promise is to faith, so that it comes as a free gift and is secure for al thedescendants, not only those who rely on the Law but al those others who rely on the faith of Abraham, theancestor of us all

¹⁷ (as scripture says: I have made you the father of many nations). Abraham is our father in the eyes ofGod, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and cal s into existence what does not yet exist.

¹⁸ Though there seemed no hope, he hoped and believed that he was to become father of many nationsin fulfilment of the promise: Just so wil your descendants be.

¹⁹ Even the thought that his body was as good as dead -- he was about a hundred years old -- and thatSarah's womb was dead too did not shake his faith.

²⁰ Counting on the promise of God, he did not doubt or disbelieve, but drew strength from faith and gaveglory to God,

²¹ ful y convinced that whatever God promised he has the power to perform.

²² This is the faith that was reckoned to him as uprightness.

²³ And the word 'reckoned' in scripture applies not only to him;

²⁴ it is there for our sake too -- our faith, too, wil be 'reckoned'

²⁵ because we believe in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus who was handed over to deathfor our sins and raised to life for our justification.