Romans 4:3-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed[a] God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”(A) 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.(B) 5 But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6 So also David pronounces a blessing on those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered;(C)
8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”
9 Is this blessing, then, pronounced only on the circumcised or also on the uncircumcised? We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 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. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith[b] while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe[c] without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,(D) 12 and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.
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.(E)
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