Romans 4
1 What, then, shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, gained?
2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by works, he has reason to boast—but not before God.
3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now, to someone who works, wages are not credited as a favor but as a debt.
5 But to someone who does not work, yet believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, that person’s faith is credited as righteousness.
6 David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.
8 Blessed is the person whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
9 Is this blessing, then, only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”
10 How, then, was it credited? When he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not when circumcised, but when uncircumcised.
11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had while still uncircumcised. So he is the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, so that righteousness may also be credited to them.
12 And he is the father of the circumcised: those who are not only circumcised, but also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his offspring through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if those who belong to the Law are the heirs, faith has been emptied of meaning and the promise has been nullified.
15 For the Law brings wrath; and where there is no Law, there is no transgression either.
16 That is why it is by faith, so that it may be by grace, and the promise may be secure for all the offspring—not only those who belong to the Law, but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
17 As it is written: “I have made you the father of many nations.” He is our father before God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist.
18 Against hope, he believed in hope that he would become the father of many nations, in keeping with what had been said: “So shall your offspring be.”
19 Without weakening in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20 He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise; instead, he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God.
21 He was fully convinced that God was also able to do what he had promised.
22 That is why it was also credited to him as righteousness.
23 It was not written for his sake alone that this was credited to him.
24 It was also for our sake, to whom it will be credited—we who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He was handed over because of our transgressions and raised because of our justification.
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