Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

The Example of Abraham

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh, has found? ² If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

⁴ Now to him who works, wages are not given as a gift, but as a debt. ⁵ But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶ Even David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness without works:

⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? We are saying that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision? Or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while being uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while still being uncircumcised.

The Promise Received Through Faith

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his descendants received the promise that he would be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the law become heirs, faith would be made void and the promise nullified, ¹⁵ because the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, there is no sin.

¹⁶ Therefore the promise comes through faith, so that it might be by grace, that the promise would be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”^[c]) before God whom he believed, and who raises the dead, and calls those things that do not exist as though they did.

¹⁸ Against all hope, he believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”^{[d] 19} And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body to be dead (when he was about a hundred years old), nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform. ²² Therefore “it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{[e] 23} Now the words, “it was credited to him,” were not written for his sake only, ²⁴ but also for us, to whom it shall be credited if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was delivered for our transgressions, and was raised for our justification.

Results of Justification

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and so we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience, ⁴ patience produces character, and character produces hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

⁶ While we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ How much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. ¹¹ Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Adam and Christ

¹² Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned.

¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not counted when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s sin, who was a type of Him who was to come.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if through the trespass of one man many died, then how much more has the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like the result that came through the one who sinned. For the judgment from one sin led to condemnation, but the free gift, which came after many trespasses, leads to justification. ¹⁷ For if by one man’s trespass death reigned through him, then how much more will those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore just as through the trespass of one man came condemnation for all men, so through the righteous act of One came justification of life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One the many will be made righteous.

²⁰ But the law entered, so that sin might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.