Romans 4

1 What, then, will we say Abraham our father to have found, according to flesh?

What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?

2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by works, he has to boast—but not before God;

If he was pronounced righteous as the result of obedience, then he has something to boast of. Yes, but not before God.

3 for what does the writing say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness”;

For what are the words of scripture? ‘Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.’

4 and to him who is working, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt;

Now wages are regarded as due to the person who works, not as a favor, but as a debt;

5 and to him who is not working, and is believing on Him who is declaring righteous the impious, his faith is reckoned for righteousness—

while, as for the person who does not rely on their obedience, but has faith in him who can pronounce the godless righteous, their faith is regarded by God as righteousness.

6 even as David also speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

In precisely the same way David speaks of the blessing pronounced on the person who is regarded by God as righteous apart from actions –

7 “Blessed [are] they whose lawless acts were forgiven, And whose sins were covered;

‘Blessed are those whose wrongdoings have been forgiven and over whose sins a veil has been drawn!

8 Blessed [is] the man To whom the LORD may not reckon sin.”

Blessed the man whom the Lord will never regard as sinful!’

9 [Is] this blessedness, then, on the circumcision, or also on the uncircumcision—for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness?

Is this blessing, then, pronounced on the circumcised only or on the uncircumcised as well? We say that – ‘Abraham’s faith was regarded by God as righteousness.’

10 How then was it reckoned? He being in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision;

Under what circumstances, then, did this take place? After his circumcision or before it?

11 and he received a sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith in the uncircumcision, for his being father of all those believing through uncircumcision, for the righteousness also being reckoned to them,

Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision – to show the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man – in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, so that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;

12 and father of circumcision to those not of circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of faith, that [is] in the uncircumcision of our father Abraham.

as well as father of the circumcised – to those who are not only circumcised, but who also follow our father Abraham in that faith which he had while still uncircumcised.

13 For not through law [is] the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, of his being heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith;

For the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his descendants through Law, but through the righteousness due to faith.

14 for if they who are of law [are] heirs, faith has been made void, and the promise has been made useless;

If those who take their stand on Law are to inherit the world, then faith is robbed of its meaning and the promise comes to nothing!

15 for the Law works wrath; for where law is not, neither [is] transgression.

Law entails punishment; but, where no Law exists, no breach of it is possible.

16 Because of this [it is] of faith, that [it may be] according to grace, for the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that which [is] of the Law only, but also to that which [is] of the faith of Abraham,

That is why everything is made to depend on faith: so that everything may be God’s gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham’s descendants – not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the father of us all;

17 who is father of us all (according as it has been written: “A father of many nations I have set you,”) before Him whom he believed—God, who is quickening the dead, and is calling the things that are not as being.

as scripture says – ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’) And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.

18 Who, against hope, believed in hope, for his becoming father of many nations according to that spoken: “So will your seed be”;

With no ground for hope, Abraham, sustained by hope, put faith in God; in order that, in fulfillment of the words – ‘So many will your descendants be,’ he might become ‘the father of many nations.’

19 and having not been weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already become dead (being about one hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb,

Though he was nearly a hundred years old, yet his faith did not fail him, even when he thought of his own body, then utterly worn out, and remembered that Sarah was past bearing children.

20 and at the promise of God did not stagger in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God,

He was not led by want of faith to doubt God’s promise.

21 and having been fully persuaded that what He has promised He is also able to do:

On the contrary, his faith gave him strength; and he praised God, in the firm conviction that what God has promised he is also able to carry out.

22 for this reason also it was reckoned to him for righteousness.

And therefore his faith ‘was regarded as righteousness.’

23 And it was not written on his account alone that it was reckoned to him,

Now these words – ‘it was regarded as righteousness’ – were not written with reference to Abraham only;

24 but also on ours, to whom it is about to be reckoned—to us believing on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord out of the dead,

but also with reference to us. Our faith, too, will be regarded by God in the same light, if we have faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;

25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous.

for Jesus was given up to death to atone for our offenses, and was raised to life that we might be pronounced righteous.