Book of Common Prayer
Abraham is the father of all believers
13 The promise, you see, didn’t come to Abraham or to his family through the law—the promise, that is, that he would inherit the world. It came through the covenant justice of faith. 14 For if those who belong to the law are going to inherit, then faith is empty, and the promise has been abolished. 15 For the law stirs up God’s anger; but where there is no law, there is no lawbreaking.
16 That’s why it’s “by faith”: so that it can be in accordance with grace, and so that the promise can thereby be validated for the entire family—not simply those who are from the law, but those who share the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all, 17 just as the Bible says, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist.
Abraham’s faith—and ours
18 Against all hope, but still in hope, Abraham believed that he would become the father of many nations, in line with what had been said to him: “That’s what your family will be like.” 19 He didn’t become weak in faith as he considered his own body (which was already as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old), and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He didn’t waver in unbelief when faced with God’s promise. Instead, he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God had the power to accomplish what he had promised. 22 That is why “it was calculated in his favor, putting him in the right.”
23 But it wasn’t written for him alone that “it was calculated to him.” 24 It was written for us as well! It will be calculated to us, too, since we believe in the one who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was handed over because of our trespasses and raised because of our justification.
The question about John
23 Jesus went into the Temple. As he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him.
“By what right are you doing these things?” they asked him. “Who gave you this right?”
24 “I’m going to ask you one question, too,” replied Jesus, “and if you tell me the answer then I’ll tell you by what right I’m doing these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from? Was it from heaven, or from this world?”
They debated this among themselves. “If we say ‘from heaven,’ ” they said, “he’s going to say to us, ‘So why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say ‘from this world,’ we’ll have to watch out for the crowd, because they all reckon that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
“Well, then,” said Jesus, “nor will I tell you by what right I’m doing these things.
28 “What d’you think?” he went on. “Once upon a time there was a man who had two sons.
“He went to the first one and said, ‘Now then, my boy, off you go and do a day’s work in the vineyard.’
29 “ ‘Don’t want to,’ replied the son; but afterwards he thought better of it and went.
30 “He went to the other son and said the same thing.
“ ‘Certainly, Master,’ he said; but he didn’t go.
31 “So which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Jesus said to them. “The tax-collectors and prostitutes are going into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32 Yes: John came to you, in accordance with God’s righteous covenant plan, and you didn’t believe him—but the tax-collectors and prostitutes believed him. But when you saw it, you didn’t think better of it afterwards and believe him.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.