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So also David pronounces a blessing on those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven
    and whose sins are covered;(A)
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

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[a] while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe[b] without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,(B) 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.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 4.11 Or trust
  2. 4.11 Or trust