|
|
1 What then shall we say concerning Abraham the patriarch, that by the flesh he obtained?
2 But if Abraham was justified by works, he had [ground of] glorying; yet not before God.
3 For what saith the scripture? That Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
4 But to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as a debt to him.
5 Whereas, to him that worketh not, but only believeth in him that justifieth sinners, his faith is accounted to him for righteousness.
6 As David also speaketh of the blessedness of the man, to whom God reckoneth righteousness without works,
7 saying: Blessed are they, whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sins are covered up:
8 and, Blessed is the man, to whom God will not reckon his sin.
9 This blessedness, therefore, is it on the circumcision ? or on the uncircumcision ? For we say, that Abraham's faith was reckoned to him for righteousness.
10 How then was it reckoned to him ? In circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
11 For he received circumcision, as the sign and the seal of the righteousness of his faith while in uncircumcision: that he might become the father of all them of the uncircumcision who believe; and that it might be reckoned to them also for righteousness:
12 and the father of the circumcision; not to them only who are of the circumcision, but to them also who fulfill the steps of the faith of our father Abraham in [his] uncircumcision.
13 For the promise to Abraham and to his seed, that he should become the heir of the world, was not by the law, but by the righteousness of his faith.
14 For if they who are of the law were heirs, faith would be made void, and the promise of no force.
15 For the law is a worker of wrath; because where no law is, there is no transgression of law.
16 Wherefore, it is by the faith which is by grace, that we are justified: so that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all:
17 as it is written: " I have constituted thee a father to a multitude of nations ;" [namely] before God, in whom thou hast believed; who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which are not, as if they were.
18 And without hope, he confided in the hope of becoming the father of a multitude of nations; (as it is written: So will thy seed be.)
19 And he was not sickly in his faith, while contemplating his inert body, (for he was a hundred years old,) and the inert womb of Sarah.
20 And he did not hesitate at the promise of God, as one lacking faith; but he was strong in faith, and gave glory to God;
21 and felt assured, that what God had promised to him, he was able to fulfill.
22 And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness.
23 And not for his sake alone, was it written, that his faith was accounted for righteousness;
24 but for our sakes also; because it is to be accounted [so] to us, who believe in him that raised our Lord Jesus Messiah from the dead;
25 who was delivered up, on account of our sins; and arose, that he might justify us.
|
| |
| |
|
