Rom.4.1

So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things?

Rom.4.1

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?

Rom.4.1

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?

Rom.4.1

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith?

Rom.4.2

If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story.

Rom.4.2

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God.

Rom.4.2

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Rom.4.2

Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God's point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride.

Rom.4.3

What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own."

Rom.4.3

What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Rom.4.3

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

Rom.4.3

For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous."

Rom.4.4

If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift.

Rom.4.4

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.

Rom.4.4

Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

Rom.4.4

When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive.

Rom.4.5

But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it--you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked--well, that trusting-him--to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

Rom.4.5

However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Rom.4.5

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

Rom.4.5

But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.

Rom.4.6

David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:

Rom.4.6

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

Rom.4.6

just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

Rom.4.6

King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared to be righteous:

Rom.4.7

Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off, whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.

Rom.4.7

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Rom.4.7

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;

Rom.4.7

"Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

Rom.4.8

Fortunate the person against whom the Lord does not keep score.

Rom.4.8

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Rom.4.8

Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."

Rom.4.8

Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord."

Rom.4.9

Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don't we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?

Rom.4.9

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Rom.4.9

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.

Rom.4.9

Now then, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it for Gentiles, too? Well, what about Abraham? We have been saying he was declared righteous by God because of his faith.

Rom.4.10

Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That's right, before he was marked.

Rom.4.10

Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!

Rom.4.10

How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

Rom.4.10

But how did his faith help him? Was he declared righteous only after he had been circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? The answer is that God accepted him first, and then he was circumcised later!

Rom.4.11

That means that he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.

Rom.4.11

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

Rom.4.11

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,

Rom.4.11

The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous--even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are made right with God by faith.

Rom.4.12

And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the "outs" with God, as yet unidentified as God's, in an "uncircumcised" condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called "set right by God and with God"! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the religious rite of circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing to live in the risky faith-embrace of God's action for them, the way Abraham lived long before he was marked by circumcision.

Rom.4.12

And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Rom.4.12

and 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 Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Rom.4.12

And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Rom.4.13

That famous promise God gave Abraham--that he and his children would possess the earth--was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed.

Rom.4.13

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Rom.4.13

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Rom.4.13

It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God's law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.

Rom.4.14

If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal.

Rom.4.14

For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,

Rom.4.14

For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,

Rom.4.14

So if you claim that God's promise is for those who obey God's law and think they are "good enough" in God's sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless.

Rom.4.15

A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise--and God's promise at that--you can't break it.

Rom.4.15

because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Rom.4.15

because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Rom.4.15

But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)