1WHAT then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, experienced? 2For if Abraham was pronounced righteous because of works, he had something to boast of. But he had nothing before God; 3for what says the Scripture? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness." 4To him who works, wages are credited not as by grace, but as due; 5but to him who does not work, but believes in him who calls the unrighteous man righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness. 6Just so David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works, 7"Blessed are they whose lawless acts have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not charge up to him." 9Does this blessedness come to the circumcision, or also to the uncircumcision? For we say, "Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness." 10How was it credited, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of faith that he had in uncircumcision, so that he should be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, and righteousness should be credited to them; 12and the father of the circumcised, that is, of those who are not only circumcised, but who walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while uncircumcised. 13It was not through the Law that the promise came to Abraham or to his descendants that he should be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is emptied of value and the promise is nullified. 15For the Law works wrath. But where there is no law, neither is there lawbreaking. 16Therefore all depends on faith, that it may be of grace, and thus the promise be sure for all his descendants, not only those who are of the Law, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us 17, in the view of the God whom he believed, who makes alive the dead and calls things that are not as if they were. 18Abraham, when hope was past, believed in hope so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said to him, "So shall your descendants be"; 19and without being weakened in faith he recognized his own body as dead, when he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20Still he did not hesitate through want of faith in the promise of God, but was strong in faith, thus giving glory to God, 21and was fully confident that what God had promised he was able to perform. 22Therefore it was credited to him for righteousness. 23It was not written for his sake only, that it was credited to him, 24but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited if we believe in him who raised up from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25who was delivered up on account of our sins and was raised again that we might be accounted righteous.