Abraham Justified by Faith^(A)

4 What then shall we say that ^(B)Abraham our ^(C)father^[a] has found according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was ^(D)justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? ^(E)“Abraham believed God, and it was ^[b]accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴ Now ^(F)to him who works, the wages are not counted ^[c]as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵ But to him who ^(G)does not work but believes on Him who justifies ^(H)the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

⁶ just as David also ^(A)describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹ And ^(C)he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that ^(D)he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father ^(E)Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would be the ^(A)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For ^(B)if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because ^(C)the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^(D)according to grace, ^(E)so that the promise might be ^[a]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^(F)who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, ^(G)“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, ^(H)who gives life to the dead and calls those ^(I)things which do not exist as though they did;

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5 Therefore, ^(A)having been justified by faith, ^[a]we have ^(B)peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ^2 (C)through whom also we have access by faith into this grace ^(D)in which we stand, and ^(E)rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but ^(F)we also glory in tribulations, ^(G)knowing that tribulation produces ^[b]perseverance; ^4 (H)and perseverance, ^[c]character; and character, hope. ^5 (I)Now hope does not disappoint, ^(J)because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Christ in Our Place

⁶ For when we were still without strength, ^[d]in due time ^(K)Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But ^(L)God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified ^(M)by His blood, we shall be saved ^(N)from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For ^(O)if when we were enemies ^(P)we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ^(Q)by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also ^(R)rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

⁵ So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that ^(A)Jacob ^(B)gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹ Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For ^(C)Jews have no dealings with ^(D)Samaritans.

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the ^(E)gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you ^(F)living water.”

¹¹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? ¹² Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but ^(G)whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him ^(H)will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

^15 (I)The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷ The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

¹⁹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, ^(J)I perceive that You are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on ^(K)this mountain, and you Jews say that in ^(L)Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming ^(M)when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² You worship ^(N)what you do not know; we know what we worship, for ^(O)salvation is of the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will ^(P)worship the Father in ^(Q)spirit ^(R)and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ^24 (S)God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah ^(T)is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, ^(U)He will tell us all things.”

²⁶ Jesus said to her, ^(V)“I who speak to you am He.”

The Whitened Harvest

²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a Man ^(W)who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹ In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³ Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, ^(X)“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^(Y)finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes ^(Z)the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, ^(AA)for they are already white for harvest! ^36 (AB)And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that ^(AC)both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this the saying is true: ^(AD)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; ^(AE)others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

The Savior of the World

³⁹ And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him ^(AF)because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of His own ^(AG)word.

⁴² Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for ^(AH)we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed ^[a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”