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1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, found?
2 For if Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast, but not before God.
3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."
4 Now for him who labors, his wage is not counted as a gift, but as what is owed.
5 But for him who does not work but instead believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
6 David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness without works.
7 He says, "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count sin."\m
9 Then is this blessing pronounced only on those of the circumcision, or also on those of the uncircumcision? For we say, "Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness."
10 How was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before!
11 Abraham 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 but have not been circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them.
12 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.
13 For the promise to Abraham and to his descendants that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if those who live by the law are to be the heirs, faith is made empty, and the promise does nothing.
15 For the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression.
16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all of Abraham's descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all,
17 as it is written, "I have appointed you the father of many nations." Abraham was in the presence of him whom he trusted, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls the things that do not exist into existence.
18 In hope he believed against hope, that he would become the father of many nations, according to what he had been told, "So will your descendants be."
19 Without becoming weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
20 But because of God's promise, Abraham did not hesitate in unbelief. Instead, he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God.
21 He was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to accomplish.
22 Therefore this was also "counted to him as righteousness."
23 But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone.
24 They were written also for us, and it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 This is the one who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.