Romans 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Abraham believed God
4 Abraham was the ancestor of all of us who are Jews. Think about what he discovered. 2 God did not accept Abraham as right with him because Abraham had done good things. If God had done that, then Abraham would have been able to boast about himself. But he could not boast to God. 3 Remember what the Bible tells us. It says: ‘Abraham believed God. As a result, God accepted Abraham as right with him.’[a]
4 When a person works to get money, it is right for him to receive his money. That money is not a gift. It is what that person ought to receive as a result of his work. 5 But someone may believe in God. He does not work to cause God to accept him. God accepts that person because of their faith. God says that people who have turned away from him are right with him, if they trust him. That is God's gift to them. 6 David also wrote about the same thing. He describes those people that God has accepted as right with himself. God has not accepted them because they have done good things, but as his gift to them. David tells us how happy people like that are. 7 David says:
‘The people that God has forgiven are really happy.
They have done wrong things, but he has forgiven them.
8 A person is really happy when the Lord accepts him.
The Lord does not think about that person's sin any more.’[b]
9 God does this for all people, both Jews and Gentiles. All people can be really happy like this, when God accepts them. As we have said, Abraham believed God. As a result, God accepted Abraham as right with him. 10 They circumcised Abraham to show that he was a Jew. Think about the time when God accepted Abraham. Did it happen before they circumcised him, or after that? We know that it was before they circumcised him! 11 Some time after that, God told Abraham that someone should circumcise him. That would be a mark on his body to show that God had accepted him. God had already accepted Abraham because Abraham believed in him. God did not accept Abraham because they had circumcised him as a Jewish man. This shows that Abraham is like a father to everyone that God has accepted. Like Abraham, God has accepted them because they have believed in him. It is not important that nobody has circumcised them. 12 But Abraham is also like the father of all Jews who believe in God. Someone has circumcised those Jews, but they have copied Abraham's example. They have believed in God, as Abraham believed before anyone had circumcised him.[c]
13 God promised to Abraham, and to his descendants, that the world would belong to them one day.[d] God did not promise that because Abraham obeyed any rules. God promised it because Abraham believed in him. That is why God accepted Abraham as right with him. 14 People cannot get what God promised because they obey rules. If they could get it like that, then faith in God would be worth nothing. And what God promised would be worth nothing. 15 The rules in Moses' Law say that God will punish people who do not obey those rules. But without any rules, there is nothing for people to obey.
16 So God gives us his promise as a gift, because he is very kind. We receive it when we trust him. If we believe in God like Abraham did, then God accepts us. That is God's promise to all of Abraham's family. If we believe in God, we can call Abraham our ancestor. We can all receive what God has promised. It is not only for those who have Moses' Law to obey. 17 In the Bible, God said to Abraham, ‘I have chosen you to become the ancestor of many different people.’[e] That is what God himself promises, because Abraham believed in him. God is the one who causes dead people to become alive again. He speaks about things that are not yet there as if they were already there.
18 Abraham continued to trust God. He hoped to receive what God had promised. He continued to hope even when he had no good reason to hope. That is why he became the ancestor of many different people. It happened just like God had said: ‘You will have very many descendants.’[f]
19 Abraham was about 100 years old. His body was already so old that it was nearly dead. His wife, Sarah, was unable to have children. Abraham understood all that, but he did not stop trusting God. 20 He never stopped believing what God had promised. Instead, he believed in God more strongly. He trusted God's great power. 21 Abraham was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do. 22 So we see that it is true: Because Abraham believed God, God accepted Abraham as right with him.[g]
23 Think about those words, ‘God accepted him as right.’ They are not only speaking about Abraham. 24 They are written in the Bible to help us too. If we believe in God, he will accept us as right with him. God raised our Lord Jesus, so that he became alive again after his death. 25 God let people kill Jesus on the cross because of the wrong things that we have done. Then God raised Jesus from death, to show that he would accept us as right with him.
Footnotes
- 4:3 See Genesis 15:6. Genesis 12—22 tell us about how Abraham believed God.
- 4:8 See Psalms 32:1-2.
- 4:12 See Genesis 17:1-27.
- 4:13 Genesis 22:17-18 shows us what God promised to Abraham.
- 4:17 See Genesis 17:5.
- 4:18 See Genesis 17:7.
- 4:22 See Genesis 18:14;.
Romanos 4
Nueva Versión Internacional (Castilian)
Abraham, justificado por la fe
4 Entonces, ¿qué diremos en el caso de nuestro antepasado Abraham?[a] 2 En realidad, si Abraham hubiera sido justificado por las obras, habría tenido de qué jactarse, pero no delante de Dios. 3 Pues ¿qué dice la Escritura? «Le creyó Abraham a Dios, y esto se le tomó en cuenta como justicia».[b]
4 Ahora bien, cuando alguien trabaja, no se le toma en cuenta el salario como un favor, sino como una deuda. 5 Sin embargo, al que no trabaja, sino que cree en el que justifica al malvado, se le toma en cuenta la fe como justicia. 6 David dice lo mismo cuando habla de la dicha de aquel a quien Dios le atribuye justicia sin la mediación de las obras:
7 «¡Dichosos aquellos
a quienes se les perdonan las transgresiones
y se les cubren los pecados!
8 ¡Dichoso aquel
cuyo pecado el Señor no tomará en cuenta!»[c]
9 ¿Acaso se ha reservado esta dicha solo para los que están circuncidados? ¿Acaso no es también para los gentiles?[d] Hemos dicho que a Abraham se le tomó en cuenta la fe como justicia. 10 ¿Bajo qué circunstancias sucedió esto? ¿Fue antes o después de ser circuncidado? ¡Antes, y no después! 11 Es más, cuando todavía no estaba circuncidado, recibió la señal de la circuncisión como sello de la justicia que se le había tomado en cuenta por la fe. Por tanto, Abraham es padre de todos los que creen, aunque no hayan sido circuncidados, y a estos se les toma en cuenta su fe como justicia. 12 Y también es padre de aquellos que, además de haber sido circuncidados, siguen las huellas de nuestro padre Abraham, quien creyó cuando todavía era incircunciso.
13 En efecto, no fue mediante la ley como Abraham y su descendencia recibieron la promesa de que él sería heredero del mundo, sino mediante la fe, la cual se le tomó en cuenta como justicia. 14 Porque, si los que viven por la ley fueran los herederos, entonces la fe no tendría ya ningún valor y la promesa no serviría de nada. 15 La ley, en efecto, acarrea castigo. Pero donde no hay ley, tampoco hay transgresión.
16 Por eso la promesa viene por la fe, a fin de que por la gracia quede garantizada para toda la descendencia de Abraham; esta promesa no es solo para los que son de la ley, sino para los que son también de la fe de Abraham, que es nuestro padre en común 17 delante de Dios, tal como está escrito: «Te he confirmado como padre de muchas naciones».[e] Así que Abraham creyó en el Dios que da vida a los muertos y que llama las cosas que no existen como si ya existieran.
18 Contra toda esperanza, Abraham creyó y esperó, y de este modo llegó a ser padre de muchas naciones, tal como se le había dicho: «¡Así de numerosa será tu descendencia!»[f] 19 Su fe no flaqueó, aunque reconocía que su cuerpo estaba como muerto, pues ya tenía unos cien años, y que también estaba muerta la matriz de Sara. 20 Ante la promesa de Dios no vaciló como un incrédulo, sino que se reafirmó en su fe y dio gloria a Dios, 21 plenamente convencido de que Dios tenía poder para cumplir lo que había prometido. 22 Por eso se le tomó en cuenta su fe como justicia. 23 Y esto de que «se le tomó en cuenta» no se escribió solo para Abraham, 24 sino también para nosotros. Dios tomará en cuenta nuestra fe como justicia, pues creemos en aquel que levantó de entre los muertos a Jesús nuestro Señor. 25 Él fue entregado a la muerte por nuestros pecados, y resucitó para nuestra justificación.
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