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For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

Romans Romans 4 ¹What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ²If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. ³What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ⁸Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” ⁹Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹²And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

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Faith was not a new idea! Paul wanted to make this clear to his listeners, whether Jewish or gentile. It’s not keeping the law that makes Jews, or anyone else, right with God.2 Paul takes us back to the founding father of the Jews—and our father of faith—Abraham (v. 1).

In Abraham’s time (pre-Moses), there was no ‘law.’ In the earlier part of Abram’s story,3 there was no practice of circumcision either (vv. 9, 10). Then, God initiated his covenant with Abram.4 Showing him the millions of stars in the night sky, he said that his offspring would be like this.5 A short verse with eternal, life-changing significance follows: ‘Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.’6 Like Abraham, we can’t earn justification, but our belief in God is ‘credited … as righteousness’ (v. 3)—a gift (vv. 4, 5)! Paul drives his point home with the example of King David, forefather of the Jewish people, who rejoiced in his forgiveness, which came from God (vv. 6—8).7

Was forgiveness and redemption only for those who followed the Jewish practice of circumcision (v. 9)? Paul reminds his listeners that circumcision was given as a ‘seal of … righteousness’—but Abraham already had this as a result of his faith (vv. 11, 12). For followers of Jesus, there is a new kind of circumcision—an inward change of heart, brought about by the Spirit’s work in the believer as a result of their faith in God’s Son.8 We, too, are children of Abraham (v. 12), justified by faith alone.

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