Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God’s covenant with Abram

15 After these events, the Lord’s word came to Abram in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector.^[a] Your reward will be very great.”

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.”^{[b] 3} He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.”

⁴ The Lord’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.” ⁵ Then he brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them.” He continued, “This is how many children you will have.” ⁶ Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.

¹² After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him.

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Have no doubt that your descendants will live as immigrants in a land that isn’t their own, where they will be oppressed slaves for four hundred years. ¹⁴ But after I punish the nation they serve, they will leave it with great wealth. ¹⁵ As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried after a good long life. ¹⁶ The fourth generation will return here since the Amorites’ wrongdoing won’t have reached its peak until then.”

¹⁷ After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals. ¹⁸ That day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates,

God’s righteousness through faithfulness of Christ

²¹ But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. ²² God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. ²³ All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, ²⁴ but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, ²⁶ during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous.

²⁷ What happens to our bragging? It’s thrown out. With which law? With what we have accomplished under the Law? ²⁸ No, not at all, but through the law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t God the God of Gentiles also? Yes, God is also the God of Gentiles. ³⁰ Since God is one, then the one who makes the circumcised righteous by faith will also make the one who isn’t circumcised righteous through faith. ³¹ Do we then cancel the Law through this faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we confirm the Law.