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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Romans 4 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/romans/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/romans/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Romans 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../romans/3.htm" title="Romans 3">◄</a> Romans 4 <a href="../romans/5.htm" title="Romans 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/romans/4.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Abraham Justified by Faith</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And to the one who does not work but believes in<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or but trusts; compare verse 24">a</a></sup></span> him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:</p> <span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span><span class="ln-group">“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,</span><br /><span class="indent">and whose sins are covered;</span><br /> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span><span class="ln-group">blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”</span></p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.</p> <p class="heading">The Promise Realized Through Faith</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Greek deadness">b</a></sup></span> of Sarah’s womb. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/romans/4-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> Or <i><span class="catch-word">but</span> trusts</i>; compare verse 24<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">19</span> Greek <i>deadness</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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