Romans 4:1–12

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.