Romans 4:8-18

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin!”

⁹Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? Since we say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness,

¹⁰how then was it credited? After he was circumcised or while still uncircumcised? Not circumcised, but uncircumcised!

¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness from his faith while still uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all those who believe while uncircumcised, in order that this righteousness may be credited to them also,

¹²and the father of the circumcised—not only those who are circumcised, but especially those who follow in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham while still uncircumcised.

¹³Now the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or his seed, through law, but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴For if those who are of law are heirs, the faith is made empty and the promise has been invalidated;

¹⁵because the law produces wrath, since where there is no law neither is there transgression.

¹⁶For this reason it is of faith so that it may be according to grace, in order that the promise be guaranteed to all the seed—not only to those of law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all;

¹⁷just as it is written: “I have made you a father of many ethnic nations”—in the presence of Him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead and calls the nonexistent things as though they did exist.

¹⁸Contrary to hope, Abraham in hope believed, so as to become a father of many ethnic nations, according to what had been spoken: “So shall your seed be.”