Chapter 4

What then shall we say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh, acquired?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has reason to boast, but not before God.

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as justice."

Now to him who works, the reward is not credited as a favor but as something due.

But to him who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the impious, his faith is credited to him as justice.

Thus David declares the blessedness of the man to whom God credits justice without works:

"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not credit sin." Justified before Circumcision

Does this blessedness hold good, then, only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that unto Abraham faith was credited as justice.

How then was it credited? When he was in the state of circumcision or in that of uncircumcision?

Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision as the seal of the justice of faith which he had while uncircumcised, in order that he may be the father of all who, while uncircumcised, believed, that to them also it may be credited as justice;

and the father of the circumcised, not of those merely who are circumcised, but also of those who follow in the steps of the faith that was our father Abraham's while yet uncircumcised. Not Justified by the Works of the Law

For not through the Law but through the justice of faith was the promise made to Abraham and to his posterity that he should be heir of the world.

For if they who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made empty, the promise is made void.

For the Law works wrath; for where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

Therefore the promise was the outcome of faith, that it might be a favor, in order that it might be secure for all the offspring, not only for those who are of the Law, but also for those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all;

as it is written, "I have appointed thee the father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. The Strength of His Faith

Abraham hoping against hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, "So shall thy offspring be."

And without weakening in faith, he considered his own deadened body (for he was almost a hundred years old) and the deadened womb of Sara;

and yet in view of the promise of God, he did not waver through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,

being fully aware that whatever God has promised he is able also to perform.

Therefore it was credited to him as justice. The Model of Our Faith

Now not for his sake only was it written that "It was credited to him, "

but for the sake of us also, to whom it will be credited if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification.