Study Desk

First, I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith.

The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith. It is just as the Scriptures say, "The people God accepts because of their faith will live."

They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them.

Some of you accuse others of doing wrong. But there is no excuse for what you do. When you judge others, you condemn yourselves, because you are guilty of doing the very same things.

You surely don't think much of God's wonderful goodness or of his patience and willingness to put up with you. Don't you know that the reason God is good to you is because he wants you to turn to him?

Just because you live like a Jew and are circumcised doesn't make you a real Jew.

It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith?

God doesn't accept people simply because they obey the Law. No, indeed! All the Law does is to point out our sin.

God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ.

But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins.

What is left for us to brag about? Not a thing! Is it because we obeyed some law? No! It is because of faith.

We see that people are acceptable to God because they have faith, and not because they obey the Law.

There is only one God, and he accepts Gentiles as well as Jews, simply because of their faith.

If he became acceptable to God because of what he did, then he would have something to brag about. But he would never be able to brag about it to God.

The Scriptures say, "God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith in him."

But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him.

Are these blessings meant for circumcised people or for those who are not circumcised? Well, the Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith in him.

Abraham let himself be circumcised to show that he had been accepted because of his faith even before he was circumcised. This makes Abraham the father of all who are acceptable to God because of their faith, even though they are not circumcised.

God promised Abraham and his descendants that he would give them the world. This promise wasn't made because Abraham had obeyed a law, but because his faith in God made him acceptable.

If Abraham and his descendants were given this promise because they had obeyed a law, then faith would mean nothing, and the promise would be worthless.