The Call of Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.^{(A) 2} I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.^{(B) 3} I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[a](C)

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.^(D)

The Example of Abraham

4 What then are we to say was gained by^[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.^{(A) 3} For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed^[b] God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”^{(B) 4} Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.^{(C) 5} But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.^{(A) 14} For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.^(B)

¹⁶ For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,^{(C) 17} as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed,^[a] who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.^(D)

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”^{[a](A) 3} This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

⁴ Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.^{(C) 5} Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.^(D)

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his^[b] baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?^{(E) 8} Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance,^{(F) 9} and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.^{(G) 10} Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.^(H)

¹¹ “I baptize you with^[c] water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with^[d] the Holy Spirit and fire.^{(I) 12} His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”^(J)

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.^{(K) 14} John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.^{(L) 17} And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved,^[e] with whom I am well pleased.”^(M)