Romans 4:6-13
So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons
righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."
Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on
the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as
righteousness." How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after
he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
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 ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus
have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the
circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example
of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or
to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
