| Chapter 4 |
| 1 | What shall we say then that
Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? |
| 2 | For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before
God. |
| 3 |
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. |
| 4 | Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. |
|
5 | But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. |
|
6 | Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the
man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, |
| 7 | Saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered. |
| 8
| Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. |
| 9 |
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or
upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for
righteousness. |
|
10 | How was it then reckoned? 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 which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he
might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised;
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: |
| 12 | And the
father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who
also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being
yet uncircumcised. |
| 13 | For the promise, that he should be the heir
of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through
the righteousness of faith. |
|
14 | For if they which are of the law be
heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: |
| 15 |
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no
transgression. |
|
16 | Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; 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, |
| 17 | (As it is written, I have made thee a father
of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the
dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. |
| 18 |
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many
nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. |
| 19 |
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he
was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
|
| 20 | He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God; |
| 21 | And being fully persuaded
that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. |
| 22 | And
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. |
| 23 | Now it was
not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; |
| 24 | But for
us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead; |
| 25 | Who was delivered for our offences, and was
raised again for our justification. |
