What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather
according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he
has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the
Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as
righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted
as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but
believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as
righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one
to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his
sin.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for
the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as
righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or
after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was
circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the
righteousness that he had by faith while he was still
uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who
believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be
counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the
circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the
footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was
circumcised.
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be
heir of the world did not come through the law but through the
righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who
are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the
law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no
transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may
rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to
the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of
Abraham, who is the father of us all, 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 into
existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against
hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had
been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 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. No unbelief made him waver concerning
the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave
glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had
promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as
righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not
written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted
to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our
justification.
