Abraham Justified by Faith (Genesis 15:1–7; Psalm 32:1–11; Hebrews 11:8–19)
1 UDB Think about what our ancestor Abraham learned about God declaring people right with him. BSB BSB: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered?
2 UDB If it was because of Abraham's doing good things that God put him right with himself, Abraham would then have had reason to boast about that to people (but, even so, he would not have had any reason to boast to God about it). BSB BSB: If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God.
4 UDB Now if we receive wages for work that we do, those wages are not considered to be a gift. Instead, they are considered to be what we have earned. Similarly, if we could do something to obligate God to be kind to us, then his kindness would not be a gift. BSB BSB: Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.
5 UDB But in reality, God makes right with himself people who did not honor him previously. Instead, they now trust in him, and God therefore considers them to be right with himself. BSB BSB: However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 UDB Similarly, it is as David wrote in the Psalms about anyone whom God considers to be right with himself without earning it: BSB BSB: And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 UDB "How fortunate are the people whose sins God has forgiven, whose sins he no longer looks at. BSB BSB: “Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8 UDB How fortunate are the people whose sins he no longer keeps a record of." BSB BSB: Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
9 UDB Is this blessing something that only circumcised Jews can experience? No, it is also something that Gentiles who have not been circumcised can experience. We know this because it is written in the scriptures that Abraham trusted in God, so God accepted his faith as righteousness. BSB BSB: Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
10 UDB Think about when God did this for Abraham. He did it before Abraham was circumcised, not after. BSB BSB: In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.
11 UDB God commanded that Abraham be circumcised many years after God had already accepted him. Circumcision was the mark that showed that Abraham already was right with God. So we can learn here that God considered Abraham to be the ancestor of everyone who trusts in him, even of those who are not circumcised. In this way, God considers all these people to be right with himself. BSB BSB: And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
12 UDB Likewise, God considers Abraham to be the ancestor of all who not only have the mark of circumcision on their bodies, but who also live like our ancestor Abraham did before he was circumcised, when he was simply trusting in God. BSB BSB: And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Abraham Receives the Promise (Genesis 15:8–21)
13 UDB God promised Abraham and his descendants that they would possess the world. But when he promised that, it was not because Abraham was obeying any law. Instead, it was because Abraham believed that God would do what he promised. So God put Abraham right with himself. BSB BSB: For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
14 UDB If people possess the world because they obey God's law, then it is useless to trust in God for anything, and his promise means nothing. BSB BSB: For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,
15 UDB Remember that in reality, God says in his law that he will punish anyone who does not perfectly obey it. Also remember, however, that for people who have no law, it is impossible to disobey it. BSB BSB: because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
16 UDB So it is those who trust in God who will receive the things that God has promised. Those things are gifts from God. He will surely give them to everyone whom he regards as a true descendant of Abraham--those who follow God's law, and also those who do not have God's laws but who trust in him as Abraham did, because Abraham is the father of all who trust in God. BSB BSB: Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
17 UDB This is what God said to Abraham in the scriptures: "I will make you the ancestor of many nations." Abraham received this directly from God, who raises dead people to life and creates things out of nothing. BSB BSB: As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.
18 UDB He trusted firmly in this promise of God, even though there was no physical reason for him to expect that he would have descendants because he and his wife were too old to bear children. God had promised Abraham that he would become the ancestor of many nations by saying, "Your descendants will be like the stars in the sky." BSB BSB: Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
19 UDB He did not doubt that God would do what he promised, even though he knew that his body was not able to father a child (he was, after all, about one hundred years old), and he knew that Sarah could not ever become pregnant before. BSB BSB: Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
20 UDB He did not doubt at all that God would do what he had promised. Instead, he trusted in God more strongly, and he thanked God for what God was going to do. BSB BSB: Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
21 UDB He was also convinced that God was able to do whatever he promised that he was going to do. BSB BSB: being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
22 UDB And that is the reason that God considered Abraham to be right with himself. BSB BSB: This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
23 UDB The words in the scriptures, "God considered him to be right with himself because he trusted in him," are not only about Abraham. BSB BSB: Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham,
24 UDB They were also written about us, whom God would consider to be right with himself because we trust in him, the one who caused our Lord Jesus to become alive again after he died. BSB BSB: but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 UDB God allowed men to execute Jesus because of our evil deeds. And God caused Jesus to live again because God wanted to put us right with him. BSB BSB: He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.