Romans 4–5

The Example of Abraham

⁴What then are we to say was gained by^q Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? ²For 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^r God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”^{* 4}Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.^{* 5}But to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. ⁶So also David pronounces a blessing on those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven

and whose sins are covered;^*

⁸blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

⁹Is this blessing, then, pronounced only on the circumcised or also on the uncircumcised? We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after but before he was circumcised. ¹¹He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith^s while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe^t without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,^{* 12}and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

¹³For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.^{* 14}For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.^*

¹⁶For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,^{* 17}as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed,^u who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.^{* 18}Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already^v as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.^{* 20}No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.^{* 22}Therefore “it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone^{* 24}but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe^w in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,^{* 25}who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.^*

Results of Justification

⁵Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we^x have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,^{* 2}through whom we have obtained access^y to this grace in which we stand, and we^z boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.^{* 3}And not only that, but we^a also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,^{* 4}and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.^*

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.^{* 7}Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.^{* 9}Much more surely, therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.^{b* 10}For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.^{* 11}But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Adam and Christ

¹²Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned^*—¹³for sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.^*

¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. ¹⁶And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰But law came in, so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,^{* 21}so that, just as sin reigned in death, so grace might also reign through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.