Dual Panel1[BUT] IF so, what shall we say about Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking--[what did he] find out? [How does this affect his position, and what was gained by him?]
2For if Abraham was justified (established as just by acquittal from guilt) by good works [that he did, then] he has grounds for boasting. But not before God!
3For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed in (trusted in) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living and right standing with God).
4Now to a laborer, his wages are not counted as a favor {or} a gift, but as an obligation (something owed to him).
5But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God).
6Thus David congratulates the man {and} pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does:
7Blessed {and} happy {and} to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up {and} completely buried.
8Blessed {and} happy {and} to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account {nor} reckon it against him.
9Is this blessing (happiness) then meant only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
10How then was it credited [to him]? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
11He received the mark of circumcision as a token {or} an evidence [and] seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised--[faith] so that he was to be made the father of all who [truly] believe, though without circumcision, and who thus have righteousness (right standing with God) imputed to them {and} credited to their account,
12As well as [that he be made] the father of those circumcised persons who are not merely circumcised, but also walk in the way of that faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13For the promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through [observing the commands of] the Law but through the righteousness of faith.
14If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile {and} empty of all meaning and the promise [of God] is made void (is annulled and has no power).
15For the Law results in [divine] wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression [of it either].
16Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith {and} depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable {and} valid {and} guaranteed to all his descendants--not only to the devotees {and} adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all.
17As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.
18[For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be.
19He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah's [deadened] womb.
20No unbelief {or} distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong {and} was empowered by faith as he gave praise {and} glory to God,
21Fully satisfied {and} assured that God was able {and} mighty to keep His word {and} to do what He had promised.
22That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).
23But [the words], It was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone,
24But [they were written] for our sakes too. [Righteousness, standing acceptable to God] will be granted {and} credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25Who was betrayed {and} put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal), [making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God].