⁹ not by works,^(A) so that no one can boast.^(B)

⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’^(A) I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;^{(A) 18} if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(B) 22} You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?^{(C) 23} You who boast in the law,^(D) do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting?^(A) It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.^{(B) 29} Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,^{(C) 30} since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.^{(D) 31} Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^[a](A)