Rom 4 | Comm | STEP | What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

Romans 4

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather 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? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." 4 Now to him who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. 5 And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. 6 So also David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."

9 Is this blessedness only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it reckoned to him? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be reckoned to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are to be the heirs, faith has no value and the promise is void, 15 because the law brings wrath, for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all

17 (as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls things that do not exist as though they did. 18 In hope, he believed against hope, so that he became the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And he did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why it was "reckoned to him as righteousness."

23 But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for us also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered to death for our sins and was raised for our justification.