4:1  [BUT] IF so, what shall we say about Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking--[what did he] find out? [How does this affect his position, and what was gained by him?]

4:2  For if Abraham was justified (established as just by acquittal from guilt) by good works [that he did, then] he has grounds for boasting. But not before God!

4:3  For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed in (trusted in) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living and right standing with God).

4:4  Now to a laborer, his wages are not counted as a favor {or} a gift, but as an obligation (something owed to him).

4:5  But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God).

4:6  Thus David congratulates the man {and} pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does:

4:7  Blessed {and} happy {and} to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up {and} completely buried.

4:8  Blessed {and} happy {and} to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account {nor} reckon it against him.

4:9  Is this blessing (happiness) then meant only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

4:10  How then was it credited [to him]? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

4:11  He received the mark of circumcision as a token {or} an evidence [and] seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised--[faith] so that he was to be made the father of all who [truly] believe, though without circumcision, and who thus have righteousness (right standing with God) imputed to them {and} credited to their account,

4:12  As well as [that he be made] the father of those circumcised persons who are not merely circumcised, but also walk in the way of that faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

4:13  For the promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through [observing the commands of] the Law but through the righteousness of faith.

4:14  If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile {and} empty of all meaning and the promise [of God] is made void (is annulled and has no power).

4:15  For the Law results in [divine] wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression [of it either].

4:16  Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith {and} depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable {and} valid {and} guaranteed to all his descendants--not only to the devotees {and} adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all.

4:17  As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.

4:18  [For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be.

4:19  He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah's [deadened] womb.

4:20  No unbelief {or} distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong {and} was empowered by faith as he gave praise {and} glory to God,

4:21  Fully satisfied {and} assured that God was able {and} mighty to keep His word {and} to do what He had promised.

4:22  That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).

4:23  But [the words], It was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone,

4:24  But [they were written] for our sakes too. [Righteousness, standing acceptable to God] will be granted {and} credited to us also who believe in (trust in, adhere to, and rely on) God, Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

4:25  Who was betrayed {and} put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised to secure our justification (our acquittal), [making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God].