1 W hat then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?

What about Abraham, our early father? What did he learn?

2 F or if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God.

If Abraham was made right with God by what he did, he would have had something to be proud of. But he could not be proud before God.

3 F or what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

The Holy Writings say, “Abraham put his trust in God and that made him right with God.”

4 N ow to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed.

If a man works, his pay is not a gift. It is something he has earned.

5 B ut to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

If a man has not worked to be saved, but has put his trust in God Who saves men from the punishment of their sins, that man is made right with God because of his trust in God.

6 E ven as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works,

David tells of this. He spoke of how happy the man is who puts his trust in God without working to be saved from the punishment of sin.

7 “ Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

“Those people are happy whose sinful acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

8 B lessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”

Those people are happy whose sins the Lord will not remember.”

9 I s this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

Is this happiness given to the Jews only? Or is it given also to the people who are not Jews? We say again, “Abraham put his trust in God and that made him right with God.”

10 H ow then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

When did this happen? Was it before or after Abraham went through the religious act of becoming a Jew? It was before.

11 H e received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them.

He went through the religious act after he had put his trust in God. That religious act proved that his trust in God made him right with God even before he went through the religious act of becoming a Jew. In that way, it made him the early father of all those who believe. It showed that those who did not go through the religious act of becoming a Jew could be right with God.

12 H e is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.

He is also the early father of all those who have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. It is not because they went through the act. It is because they put their trust in God the same as Abraham did before he went through the religious act of becoming a Jew.

13 F or the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he should be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

God promised to give the world to him and to all his family after him. He did not make this promise because Abraham obeyed the Law. He promised to give the world to Abraham because he put his trust in God. This made him right with God.

14 F or if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.

If those who obey the Law are to get the world, then a person putting his trust in God means nothing. God’s promise to Abraham would be worth nothing.

15 F or the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.

God’s anger comes on a man when he does not obey the Law. But if there were no Law, then no one could break it.

16 F or this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

So God’s promise is given to us because we put our trust in Him. We can be sure of it. It is because of His loving-favor to us. It is for all the family of Abraham. It is for those who obey the Law. It is for those who put their trust in God as Abraham did. In this way, he is the father of all Christians.

17 A s it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.

The Holy Writings say, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This promise is good because of Who God is. He makes the dead live again. He speaks, and something is made out of nothing.

18 B esides hope, Abraham in hope believed, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”

Abraham believed he would be the father of many nations. He had no reason to hope for this, but he had been told, “Your children will become many nations.”

19 W ithout being weakened in faith, he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Abraham was about one hundred years old. His body was about dead, but his faith in God was not weak when he thought of his body. His faith was not weak when he thought of his wife Sarah being past the age of having children.

20 Y et, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,

Abraham did not doubt God’s promise. His faith in God was strong, and he gave thanks to God.

21 a nd being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.

He was sure God was able to do what He had promised.

22 T herefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”

Abraham put his trust in God and was made right with Him.

23 N ow it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,

The words, “He was made right with God,” were not for Abraham only.

24 b ut for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

They were for us also. God will make us right with Himself the same way He did Abraham, if we put our trust in God Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

25 w ho was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

Jesus died for our sins. He was raised from the dead to make us right with God.