1. So what can we say about Abraham, the father of our people? What did he learn about faith?
2. If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to boast about himself. But God knew different.
3. That’s why the Scriptures say, “Abraham believed God, and because of this he was accepted as one who is right with God.”
4. When people work, their pay is not given to them as a gift. They earn the pay they get.
5. But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him. Then he accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. He is the one who makes even evil people right.
6. David said the same thing when he was talking about the blessing people have when God accepts them as good without looking at what they have done:
7. “It is a great blessing when people are forgiven for the wrongs they have done, when their sins are erased!
8. It is a great blessing when the Lord accepts people as if they are without sin!” Psalm 32:1-2
9. Is this blessing only for those who are circumcised? Or is it also for those who are not circumcised? We have already said that it was because of Abraham’s faith that he was accepted as one who is right with God.
10. So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? God accepted him before his circumcision.
11. Abraham was circumcised later to show that God accepted him. His circumcision was proof 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. They believe and are accepted as people who are right with God.
12. And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised. But it is not their circumcision that makes him their father. He is their father only if they live following the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.