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Romans 4
1What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?
2For if Abraham was by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God.
3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham God, and it was accounted to him for .”
4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as , but as something owed.
5But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who the ungodly, his is accounted for .
6Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts apart from works:
7“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”
9Is this blessing then pronounced only on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that was accounted to Abraham for .
10How then was it counted? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
11He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the of the which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them.
12He is the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision.
13For the promise to Abraham and to his offspring that he would be heir of the world wasn’t through the law, but through the of .
14For if those who are of the law are heirs, is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
15For the law produces wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
16For this cause it is of , that it may be according to , to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
17As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he : God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
18Against hope, Abraham in hope , to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So will your offspring be.”
19Without being weakened in , he didn’t consider his own body, already having been worn out, (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
20Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through , giving glory to God,
21and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
22Therefore it also was “credited to him for .”
23Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,
24but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our .
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Questions this passage answers
What is faith?
Faith is not a feeling of certainty or a leap taken without evidence. Hebrews 11:1 defines it as substance and evidence, real confidence in what God has said and promised, even before it is seen. Biblical faith always has an object, God and his word, and it is proven genuine by how it acts, as the long roll call of Hebrews 11 demonstrates.
Why did Jesus rise from the dead?
Jesus rose bodily from the dead because his death alone would have left the debt of sin paid but not proven, and death itself unconquered. The resurrection is God's public verdict that the sacrifice was accepted, his vindication of Christ's claims, and the guarantee that everyone united to Christ by faith will share the same risen life. Without it, Scripture itself says the Gospel would be worthless.