Book of Common Prayer

The Promise Was Not Through The Law But Faith, Making It Firm To All

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his seed^[a] that he should be the inheritor of the world was not through the Law^[b], but through the righteousness of faith! ¹⁴ For if the ones of the Law are inheritors, faith has been made-empty^[c] and the promise has been nullified^[d]. ¹⁵ For the Law brings-about wrath. But where there is no Law, neither is there transgression^[e]. ¹⁶ For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be based on grace, so that the promise might be firm^[f] to all the seed— not to the seed of the Law only^[g], but also to the seed of the faith of Abraham,

Abraham Is The Father of All Who Believe

... who is the father of us all— ¹⁷ just as it has been written [in Gen 17:5] that “I have made you a father of many nations”— before God^[h] Whom he believed, the One giving-life-to the dead and calling the things not being as^[i] being,

He Believed God’s Promise, Contrary To All His Human Circumstances

¹⁸ ... who believed contrary-to^[j] hope, upon hope, so that he might become^[k] the father of many nations in accordance with the thing having been spoken [in Gen 15:5]: “So shall your seed be”. ¹⁹ And not having weakened in faith, he considered^[l] his own body already having become impotent^[m], being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of the womb of Sarah. ²⁰ But he did not waver in unbelief with reference to the promise of God, but became-strong in faith— having given glory to God, ²¹ and having been fully-convinced that what He had promised He was able also to do.

His Faith Was Credited To Him As Righteousness, And So Is Ours

²² Therefore indeed it was credited to him for righteousness. ²³ And it was not written for his sake only that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but also for our sake to whom it is going-to be credited— the ones putting-faith upon the One having raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ Who was handed-over for^[n] our trespasses and was raised for^[o] our justification.

20 ¹ For the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who is a house-master, who went out together-with early-morning to hire workers into his vineyard. ² And having made-an-agreement with the workers for a denarius^[a] for the day, he sent them out into his vineyard. ³ And having gone out around the third^[b] hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴ And to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever may be right’. ⁵ And the ones went. And again having gone out around the sixth and the ninth hour, he did similarly. ⁶ And having gone out around the eleventh^[c] hour, he found others standing there. And he says to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle the whole day? ⁷ They say to him, ‘Because no one hired us’. He says to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard’. ⁸ And having become evening, the master of the vineyard says to his manager^[d], ‘Call the workers, and pay them the wages— beginning from the last ones, up to the first ones’. ⁹ And having come, the ones hired around the eleventh hour received a denarius apiece. ¹⁰ And having come, the first ones thought that they would receive more. And they also themselves received the denarius apiece. ¹¹ And having received it, they were grumbling against the house-master, ¹² saying, ‘These last ones did one hour, and you made them equal to us— the ones having borne the burden of the day and the burning-heat’. ¹³ But the one, having responded, said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not wronging you. Did you not make-an-agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one as I also gave to you. ¹⁵ Or is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my things? Or is your eye^[e] evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶ Thus the last ones will be first, and the first ones, last”.