Romans:4
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What then shall we say about Abraham ,
our forefather according to the flesh ?
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For if Abraham was justified by works ,
he has something to boast about ,
but not before God .
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For what does the scripture say ? "
Abraham believed God ,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness ."
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Now to one who works ,
his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due .
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And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly ,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness .
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So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works :
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Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven ,
and whose sins are covered ;
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blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin ."
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Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised ,
or also upon the uncircumcised ?
We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness .
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How then was it reckoned to him ?
Was it before or after he had been circumcised ?
It was not after ,
but before he was circumcised .
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He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised .
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them ,
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and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised .
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The promise to Abraham and his descendants ,
that they should inherit the world ,
did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith .
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If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs ,
faith is null and the promise is void .
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For the law brings wrath ,
but where there is no law there is no transgression .
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That is why it depends on faith ,
in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants --
not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham ,
for he is the father of us all ,
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as it is written , "
I have made you the father of many nations " --
in the presence of the God in whom he believed ,
who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist .
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In hope he believed against hope ,
that he should become the father of many nations ;
as he had been told , "
So shall your descendants be ."
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He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body ,
which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old ,
or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah '
s womb .
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No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God ,
but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God ,
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fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised .
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That is why his faith was "
reckoned to him as righteousness ."
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But the words , "
it was reckoned to him ,"
were written not for his sake alone ,
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but for ours also .
It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord ,
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who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification .
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