Study Desk

You teach others, so why don't you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but you steal.

You Jews have the written law and circumcision, but you break the law. So those who are not circumcised in their bodies, but still obey the law, will show that you are guilty.

So, do Jews have anything that other people do not have? Is there anything special about being circumcised?

No! God will continue to be true even when every person is false. As the Scriptures say: "So you will be shown to be right when you speak, and you will win your case." Psalm 51:4

When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is right. So can we say that God is wrong to punish us? (I am talking as people might talk.)

A person might say, "When I lie, it really gives him glory, because my lie shows God's truth. So why am I judged a sinner?"

It would be the same to say, "We should do evil so that good will come." Some people find fault with us and say we teach this, but they are wrong and deserve the punishment they will receive.

So are we Jews better than others? No! We have already said that Jews and those who are not Jews are all guilty of sin.

And God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus.

So do we have a reason to brag about ourselves? No! And why not? It is the way of faith that stops all bragging, not the way of trying to obey the law.

So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.

So what can we say that Abraham, the father of our people, learned about faith?

But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him, who makes even evil people right in his sight. Then God accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him.

So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? It was before his circumcision.

Abraham was circumcised to show that he was right with God through faith before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the father of all those who believe but are not circumcised; he is the father of all believers who are accepted as being right with God.

So people receive God's promise by having faith. This happens so the promise can be a free gift. Then all of Abraham's children can have that promise. It is not only for those who live under the law of Moses but for anyone who lives with faith like that of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

There was no hope that Abraham would have children. But Abraham believed God and continued hoping, and so he became the father of many nations. As God told him, "Your descendants also will be too many to count."

So, "God accepted Abraham's faith, and that faith made him right with God."

So through Christ we will surely be saved from God's anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ's death.

One man sinned, and so death ruled all people because of that one man. But now those people who accept God's full grace and the great gift of being made right with him will surely have true life and rule through the one man, Jesus Christ.