¹ In that case, what will we assert Abraham, our ancestor based on family line,^a to have found? ² If Abraham was determined to be just because of actions, he has reason to brag—but not to God. ³ What does the scripture say? “Abraham was trustfully faithful to^b God, and it was counted^c as justness for him.”^{d 4} Now, payment for the one who works is not calculated^e based on generosity but based on what is owed, ⁵ but for the one who doesn’t work but is faithful toward the one who recognizes the disrespectful^f as just,^g their trustful faithfulness is calculated as justness.

⁶ That’s even the way David speaks about the gratification of the person for whom God calculates^h justness without actions: ⁷ “Gratifiedⁱ are those whose Torah-less actions are dismissed and whose deviations are covered over. ⁸ Gratified is the individual^j for whom the Lord would not count^k a deviation.”^l

⁹ So then, is this gratification for the circumcision alone, or is it also for the one who has a foreskin? Remember, we say, “Trustful faithfulness^m was countedⁿ for Abraham as justness.”^{o 10} Then, how was it calculated?^p In connection with whether he is circumcised or has a foreskin? It was neither in connection with being circumcised nor with having a foreskin. ¹¹ He even received circumcision, a stamp of justness, as the symbol of the faithfulness of the one who had a foreskin, for him to be the father of all who are faithful while having a foreskin, to calculate justness for them too, ¹² and for him to be the father of the circumcised, not regarding them only because of their circumcision but also regarding them following in the footsteps of the one who was trustfully faithful while he had a foreskin: our father Abraham.

¹³ You see, the promise to Abraham, or to his descendants—him being the heir of the whole world—was not through Torah but through justness from trustful faithfulness. ¹⁴ If they are heirs because of Torah, faithfulness has been voided, and the promise has been counteracted. ¹⁵ You see, the Torah produces anger, but where there is no Torah there is also no stepping around it.^{q 16} That’s why it is from trustful faithfulness, so that it is based on generosity, for the promise to be secure for all the descendants—not only for whoever receives it from Torah but also for whoever receives it from the faithfulness of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ from the perspective of the God to whom he was faithful (just as it is written, “I have appointed you father of many people groups”),^r who gives life to the dead and names things that don’t yet exist as if they exist already. ¹⁸ From hope upon hope, Abraham faithfully placed his trust in him becoming the father of many people groups based on having been told, “This is how your descendants will be.”^{s 19} Though he was not lacking in trust, he perceived his own body as having been on the point of death (he was about 100 years old) and Sarah’s womb as being dead. ²⁰ He did not mistrustfully dispute the promise of God; instead, he was reinforced regarding trust, and gave praise to God ²¹ and being fully convinced that what God promised, God is also able to do. ²² Therefore, it was counted as justness for him.^{t 23} However, that it was counted that way for him was not written only because of him ²⁴ but also because of us for whom it is going to be counted—for those who are trustfully faithful to^u the one who raised Jesus our Lord from among the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over because of our shortfalls, and he was raised for us to be calculated as just.^v