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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</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">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">The Example of Abraham</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.1" class="v45_4_1">1</span>What shall we say, then, of Abraham, the father of our race? What was his experience? </span><span class="v45_4_2"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.2" class="v45_4_2">2</span>If he was put right with God by the things he did, he would have something to boast about—but not in God's sight. </span><span class="v45_4_3"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.3" class="v45_4_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.” </span><span class="v45_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.4" class="v45_4_4">4</span>A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that has been earned. </span><span class="v45_4_5"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.5" class="v45_4_5">5</span>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. </span><span class="v45_4_6"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.6" class="v45_4_6">6</span>This is what David meant when he spoke of the happiness of the person whom God accepts as righteous, apart from anything that person does:</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_4_7"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.7" class="v45_4_7">7</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.7!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v45_4_7">whose sins are pardoned!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v45_4_8"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.8" class="v45_4_8">8</span>Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.9" class="v45_4_9">9</span>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.” </span><span class="v45_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.10" class="v45_4_10">10</span>When did this take place? Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised? It was before, not after. </span><span class="v45_4_11"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.11" class="v45_4_11">11</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.11!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> 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. </span><span class="v45_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.12" class="v45_4_12">12</span>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.</span></p><h3 class="s">God's Promise Is Received through Faith</h3><p class="par"><span class="v45_4_13"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.13" class="v45_4_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God. </span><span class="v45_4_14"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.14" class="v45_4_14">14</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.14!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> 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. </span><span class="v45_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.15" class="v45_4_15">15</span>The Law brings down God's anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v45_4_16"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.16" class="v45_4_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> 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; </span><span class="v45_4_17"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.17" class="v45_4_17">17</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.17!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> as the scripture says, “I have made you father of many nations.” So the promise is good in the sight of God, in whom Abraham believed—the God who brings the dead to life and whose command brings into being what did not exist. </span><span class="v45_4_18"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.18" class="v45_4_18">18</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.18!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Abraham believed and hoped, even when there was no reason for hoping, and so became “the father of many nations.” Just as the scripture says, “Your descendants will be as many as the stars.” </span><span class="v45_4_19"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.19" class="v45_4_19">19</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.19!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> 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. </span><span class="v45_4_20"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.20" class="v45_4_20">20</span>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. </span><span class="v45_4_21"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.21" class="v45_4_21">21</span>He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised. </span><span class="v45_4_22"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.22" class="v45_4_22">22</span>That is why Abraham, through faith, “was accepted as righteous by God.” </span><span class="v45_4_23"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.23" class="v45_4_23">23</span>The words “he was accepted as righteous” were not written for him alone. </span><span class="v45_4_24"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.24" class="v45_4_24">24</span>They were written also for us who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death. </span><span class="v45_4_25"><span class="reftext" id="Rom.4.25" class="v45_4_25">25</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Rom.4.25!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Because of our sins he was given over to die, and he was raised to life in order to put us right with God.</span></p></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p class="yiv9003199930MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Bible text from the Good News Translation (GNT) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.gnt.bible">www.gnt.bible</a> . 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