Study Desk

The scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."

But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself.

Does this happiness that David spoke of belong only to those who are circumcised? No indeed! It belongs also to those who are not circumcised. For we have quoted the scripture, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."

He was circumcised later, and his circumcision was a sign to show that because of his faith God had accepted him as righteous before he had been circumcised. And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in God and are accepted as righteous by him, even though they are not circumcised.

He is also the father of those who are circumcised, that is, of those who, in addition to being circumcised, also live the same life of faith that our father Abraham lived before he was circumcised.

For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God's promise is worthless.

And so the promise was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God's free gift to all of Abraham's descendants—not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all;

He was then almost one hundred years old; but his faith did not weaken when he thought of his body, which was already practically dead, or of the fact that Sarah could not have children.

His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God.

That is why Abraham, through faith, "was accepted as righteous by God."

Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has brought us by faith into this experience of God's grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God's glory!

So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith;

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

But what the scripture says about being put right with God through faith is this: "You are not to ask yourself, Who will go up into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down).

What it says is this: "God's message is near you, on your lips and in your heart"—that is, the message of faith that we preach.

For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved.

So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.

And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.

So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God's message, we should do it according to the faith that we have;