For the promise to Abraham and his offspring
that he would be heir of the world
did not come through the law
but through the righteousness of faith.
For if it is the adherents of the law
who are to be the heirs,
faith is null and the promise is void.
For the law brings wrath,
but where there is no law there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith,
in order that the promise may rest on grace
and be guaranteed to all his offspring
—not only to the adherent of the law
but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all, as it is written,
“I have made you the father of many nations”
—in the presence of the God in whom he believed,
who gives life to the dead and calls into existence
the things that do not exist.

In hope he believed against hope,
that he should become the father of many nations,
as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
He did not weaken in faith
when he considered his own body,
which was as good as dead
(since he was about a hundred years old),
or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
No unbelief made him waver
concerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

But the words “it was counted to him”
were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.
It will be counted to us who believe in him
who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
who was delivered up for our trespasses
and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:13-25

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