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Romans 4

1What, then, will we say Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2For if Abraham was declared righteous by deeds, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3For what does scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4Now to someone who works, the wage is counted not as a gift but as a debt. 5But to someone who does not work but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is counted as righteousness. 6In the same way, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God counts righteousness apart from deeds: 7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

9Is this blessing, then, for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say, “Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” 10How, then, was it counted? When he was circumcised, or when he was uncircumcised? Not when circumcised, but when uncircumcised. 11And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, so that righteousness might be counted to them, 12and the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but also walk in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while uncircumcised.

13For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if those who belong to the law are heirs, faith has been emptied and the promise nullified. 15For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression either. 16For this reason it is by faith, so that it may be by grace, so that the promise may be secure for all the seed—not only those who belong to the law, but also those who share Abraham's faith. He is the father of us all, 17as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”—in the presence of the God he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls things that do not exist as though they exist. 18Against hope, he believed in hope that he would become the father of many nations, according to what had been said, “So will your seed be.” 19And without growing weak in faith, he considered his own body, as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20Yet he did not waver in unbelief concerning God's promise, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God 21and being fully convinced that what God had promised he was also able to do. 22That is why it was counted to him as righteousness.

23Now “it was counted to him” was not written for his sake alone, 24but also for ours, to whom it is to be counted, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25He was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our being declared righteous.

Translation notes 5

4:1 — Abraham's discovery. “According to the flesh” is understood with “our forefather,” referring to physical ancestry. It could instead qualify what Abraham found or gained by human effort. Some witnesses omit “has found”; the draft follows the base text in retaining it.

4:3–8 — Counting righteousness. “Counted” recurs throughout the chapter, linking Genesis 15:6 to the wages illustration and Psalm 32:1–2. “Gift” in verse 4 renders the same Greek word translated “grace” in verse 16. Verse 8 retains “man” from the quotation's gendered wording; the blessing is applied to the broader category “person” in verse 6.

4:11–17 — Father, seed, and promise. Abraham's fatherhood extends to believers on both sides of the circumcision distinction. “Seed” pictures the line of descendants and is collective here. The promise is explicitly worldwide here; “world” is not changed to the land of Israel. “Calls things that do not exist as though they exist” can also be understood as “calls into existence things that do not exist.”

4:19 — Considering his body. The base says Abraham considered his body without weakening in faith. Another textual reading says he did not consider it. “As good as dead” concerns reproductive capacity; Sarah's “deadness” likewise describes her womb, not her death.

4:25 — Handed over and raised. Greek repeats the same preposition, rendered “for” in both clauses. The first commonly means “because of our trespasses”; the second commonly means “for the sake of our being declared righteous,” though “because of our being declared righteous” is another interpretation. The translation keeps the parallel without supplying a timeline of justification.