Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Abraham’s Faith Counted as Righteousness

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has found? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”^{[a] 4} Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited according to grace, but according to his due. ⁵ But to the one who does not work, but who believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks about the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁹ Therefore, is this blessing for those who are circumcised^[c], or also for those who are uncircumcised^[d]? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.”^{[e] 10} How then was it credited? While he^[f] was circumcised^[g] or uncircumcised^[h]? Not while circumcised^[i] but while uncircumcised^[j]! ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal^[k] of the righteousness by faith which he had while uncircumcised^[l], so that he could be the father of all who believe although they are uncircumcised^[m], so that righteousness could be credited to them,^{[n] 12} and the father of those who are circumcised^[o] to those who are not only from the circumcision, but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised^[p].

The Promise to Abraham Secured through Faith

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith. ¹⁴ For if those of the law are heirs, faith is rendered void and the promise is nullified. ¹⁵ For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. ¹⁶ Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)^[q] before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, ¹⁸ who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.”^{[r] 19} And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, ^[s] because he^[t] was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God ²¹ and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do. ²² Therefore^[u] it was credited to him for righteousness. ²³ But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but also for the sake of us to whom it is going to be credited, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was handed over on account of our trespasses, and was raised up in the interest of our justification.^[v]

Reconciliation with God through Faith in Christ

5 Therefore, because we^[w] have been declared righteous by faith, we have^[x] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we^[y] know that affliction produces patient endurance, ⁴ and patient endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶ For while^[z] we were still helpless, yet at the proper time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For only rarely will someone die on behalf of a righteous person (for on behalf of a good person possibly someone might even dare to die), ⁸ but God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while^[aa] we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Therefore, by much more, because we^[ab] have been declared righteous now by his blood, we will be saved through him from the wrath. ¹⁰ For if, while we^[ac] were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, by much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹ And not only this, but also we are boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Death Came through Adam but Life Comes through Christ

¹² Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. ¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not charged to one’s account when there^[ad] is no law. ¹⁴ But death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who is to come. ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass^[ae], for if by the trespass of the one, the many died, by much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, multiply to the many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not as through the one who sinned, for on the one hand, judgment from the one sin led to condemnation, but the gift, from many trespasses, led to justification. ¹⁷ For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ Consequently therefore, as through one trespass came condemnation to all people, so also through one righteous deed came justification of life to all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in as a side issue, in order that the trespass could increase, but where sin increased, grace was present in greater abundance, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.