DB1 | The Example of Abraham Ro.4.1-12 | NEB Contents | notes| 4 | New English Bible (New Testament) | Passage | New Testament in Greek (UBS.Ed.26) |
| 4 1 | WHAT, THEN, are we to say about Abraham, our ancestor in the natural line? | The Example of Abraham Ro.4.1-12 | Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν εὑρηκέναι Ἀβραὰμ τὸν προπάτορα ἡμῶν κατὰ σάρκὰ; |
| 2 | If Abraham was justified by anything he had done, then he has a ground for pride. | εἰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐξ ἐργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἐχει καύχημα· ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς θεόν. | |
| 3 | But he has no such ground before God; for what does Scripture say? 'Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness.' | - Abraham believed God Ro.4.3 | Gn.15.6 | τί γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ λέγεὶ; Ἐπίστευσεν δὲ ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. |
| 4 | Now if a man does a piece of work, his wages are not 'counted' as a favour; they are paid as debt. | τῷ δὲ ἐργαζομένῳ ὁ μισθὸς οὐ λογίζεται κατὰ χάριν ἀλλὰ κατὰ ὀφείλημα· | |
| 5 | But if without any work to his credit he simply puts his faith in him who acquits the guilty, then his faith is indeed 'counted as righteousness'. | τῷ δὲ μὴ ἐργαζομένῳ, πιστεύοντι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἀσεβῆ, λογίζεται ἡ πίστις αὐτοῦ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, | |
| 6 | In the same sense David speaks of the happiness of the man whom God 'counts' as just, apart from any specific acts of justice: | καθάπερ καὶ Δαυὶδ λέγει τὸν μακαρισμὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ᾧ ὁ θεὸς λογίζεται δικαιοσύνην χωρὶς ἐργων, | |
| 7 | 'Happy are they', he says, 'whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are buried away; | - Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven Ro.4.7-8 | Ps.32.1-2 | Mακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι· |
| 8 | happy is the man whose sins the Lord does not count against him.' | μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ οὐ μὴ λογίσηται κύριος ἁμαρτίαν. | |
| 9 | Is this happiness confined to the circumcised, or is it for the uncircumcised also? Consider: we say, 'Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness'; | - Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised Ro.4.9 | Gn.15.6 | ὁ μακαρισμὸς οὖν οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν περιτομὴν ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν; λέγομεν γάρ, Ἐλογίσθη τῷ ἀβραὰμ ἡ πίστις εἰς δικαιοσύνην. |
| 10 | in what circumstances was it so counted? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? He was not yet circumcised, but uncircumcised; | πῶς οὖν ἐλογίσθὴ ἐν περιτομῇ ὀντι ἢ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ; οὐκ ἐν περιτομῇ ἀλλ' ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ· | |
| 11 | and he later received the symbolic rite of circumcision as the hall-mark of the righteousness which faith had given him when he was still uncircumcised. Consequently, he is the father of all who have faith when uncircumcised, so that righteousness is 'counted' to them; | καὶ σημεῖον ἐλαβεν περιτομῆς, σφραγῖδα τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πατέρα πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων δῖ ἀκροβυστίας, εἰς τὸ λογισθῆναι καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην. | |
| 12 | and at the same time he is the father of such of the circumcised as do not rely upon their circumcision alone, but also walk in the footprints of the faith which our father Abraham had while he was yet uncircumcised. | καὶ πατέρα περιτομῆς τοῖς οὐκ ἐκ περιτομῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς στοιχοῦσιν τοῖς ἰχνεσιν τῆς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ πίστεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ. | |
| 13 | For it was not through law that Abraham, or his posterity, was given the promise that the world should be his inheritance, but through the righteousness that came from faith. | The Promise Realised through Faith Ro.4.13-25 | Οὐ γὰρ διὰ νόμου ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἢ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ, τὸ κληρονόμον αὐτὸν εἶναι κόσμου, ἀλλὰ διὰ δικαιοσύνης πίστεως· |
| 14 | For if those who hold by the law, and they alone, are heirs, then faith is empty and the promise goes for nothing, | εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἐκ νόμου κληρονόμοι, κεκένωται ἡ πίστις καὶ κατήργηται ἡ ἐπαγγελία· | |
| 15 | because law can bring only retribution; but where there is no law there can be no breach of law. | ὁ γὰρ νόμος ὀργὴν κατεργάζεται· οὗ δὲ οὐκ ἐστιν νόμος, οὐδὲ παράβασις. | |
| 16 | The promise was made on the ground of faith, in order that if might be a matter of sheer grace, and that it might be valid for all Abraham's posterity, not only for those who hold by the law, but for those also who have the faith of Abraham. | διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ πίστεως, ἵνα κατὰ χάριν, εἰς τὸ εἶναι βεβαίαν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν παντὶ τῷ σπέρματι, οὐ τῷ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἐκ πίστεως Ἀβραάμ (ὁς ἐστιν πατὴρ πάντων ἡμῶν, | |
| 17 | For he is the father of us all, as Scripture says: 'I have appointed you to be father of many nations.' This promise, then, was valid before God, the God in whom he put his faith, the God who makes the dead live and summons things that are not yet in existence as if they already were. | - I have made you the father of many nations Ro.4.17 | Gn.17.5 | Gn.15.5 | καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι Πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν τέθεικά σε ) κατέναντι οὗ ἐπίστευσεν θεοῦ τοῦ ζῳοποιοῦντος τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ καλοῦντος τὰ μὴ ὀντα ὡς ὀντα· |
| 18 | When hope seemed hopeless, his faith was such that he became 'father of many nations', in agreement with the words which had been spoken to him: 'Thus shall your descendants be.' | - So shall your descendants be Ro.4.18 | Is.48.13 | ὃς παρ' ἐλπίδα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι ἐπίστευσεν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, Οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου· |
| 19 | Without any weakening of faith he contemplated his own body, as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb, | καὶ μὴ ἀσθενήσας τῇ πίστει κατενόησεν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα ἠδη νενεκρωμένον, ἑκατονταετής που ὑπάρχων, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν τῆς μήτρας Σάρρας, | |
| 20 | and never doubted God's promise in unbelief, but, strong in faith, gave honour to God, | εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ διεκρίθη τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη τῇ πίστει, δοὺς δόξαν τῷ θεῷ | |
| 21 | in the firm conviction of his power to do what he had promised. | καὶ πληροφορηθεὶς ὅτι ὃ ἐπήγγελται δυνατός ἐστιν καὶ ποιῆσαι. | |
| 22 | And that is why Abraham's faith was 'counted to him as righteousness'. | - reckoned to him as righteousness Ro.4.22 | Gn.15.6 | διὸ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. |
| 23 | Those words were written, not for Abraham's sake alone, but for our sake too: | Οὐκ ἐγράφη δὲ δῖ αὐτὸν μόνον ὅτι ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ, | |
| 24 | it is to be 'counted' in the same way to us who have faith in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; | ἀλλὰ καὶ δῖ ἡμᾶς οἷς μέλλει λογίζεσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐγείραντα Ἰησοῦν τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἐκ νεκρῶν, | |
| 25 | for he was given up to death for our misdeeds, and raised to life to justify us. Or: raised to life because we were now justified. | ὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν. | |