Romans 4:3–25

³For what does the Scripture say? ^d“Abraham believed God, and it was ²accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴Now ^eto him who works, the wages are not counted ³as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵But to him who ^fdoes not work but believes on Him who justifies ^gthe ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶just as David also ^hdescribes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed ⁱare those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

And whose sins are covered;

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹And ^jhe received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that ^khe might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father ^lAbraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³For the promise that he would be the ^mheir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For ⁿif those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because ^othe law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^paccording to grace, ^qso that the promise might be ⁴sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^rwho is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, ^s“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, ^twho gives life to the dead and calls those ^uthings which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ^v“So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹And not being weak in faith, ^whe did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), ^xand the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised ^yHe was also able to perform. ²²And therefore ^z“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now ^ait was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe ^bin Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ^25cwho was delivered up because of our offenses, and ^dwas raised because of our justification.