27 Speaker 1: “Where then is the figure who takes pride in his piety and boasts about it?”
Speaker 2: “He has been shut out.”
Speaker 1: “Through what kind of teaching?”
Speaker 2: “A teaching about deeds.”
Speaker 1: “No. He is excluded by a teaching about ‘faith.’ 28 For we consider that a person is delivered ‘through faith’ independently of doing the deeds prescribed by the Teachings of Moses.”
Speaker 2: 29 “But tell me, isn’t God the God of the Judeans only?”
Speaker 1: “Well, isn’t he also the God of the pagan nations?”
Speaker 2: “Yes, I admit it: he’s also the God of the pagans.”
Speaker 1: 30 “And since God is one, who delivers those who have had their foreskin removed ‘through faith,’ he also delivers those who retain their foreskin ‘through that same faith.’”
Speaker 2: 31 “But don’t we eviscerate the Teaching of Moses if we teach that deliverance is ‘through faith’?”
Speaker 1: “Absolutely and emphatically not. We affirm those sacred Teachings.”
4
1 Speaker 1: “And what are we going to say further about all this?”
Speaker 2: “Well, what do we discover when we consider Abraham, our forefather in historical terms? If Abraham was delivered through deeds [to go back to the first issue just named] then he could take pride in that and boast about it [and you would clearly be wrong].”
3 Speaker 1: “But he couldn’t boast in the presence of God because what does the Scripture actually say? ‘He trusted in God, and deliverance was then credited in the sense of simply being gifted to him.’ 4 Wages are not credited as a gift to someone who works but as an obligation. 5 But to the person who does not work but simply trusts the One who delivers the ungodly—well, his trust is credited with deliverance. 6 In just the same way David speaks of the person whom God blesses by crediting them with deliverance apart from any work: 7 ‘ Blessed are those whose crimes have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered; 8 blessed is the person whom the Lord absolutely refuses to credit sin to.’”
9 “And did this blessing occur after the foreskin had been removed, or before [to move to the second issue]? Well, we recite [Scripture’s words] that ‘trust was credited with deliverance to Abraham’s good fortune.’ 10 So when exactly was it credited—in the situation after the removal of the foreskin or before?”
Speaker 2: “ It was not after the removal of the foreskin but when it was still intact.
Speaker 1:11 “And Abraham went on to receive the sign of circumcision—which functioned liked a stamp of ownership on the presence of the deliverance associated with the trust which he had before his foreskin was removed. So Abraham is the father of everyone [trusting] who has their foreskin intact and where deliverance is being gifted, 12 and the father of those who have removed their foreskin, and yet who are not in that state alone but are also walking in the footsteps of the trust that ‘our father Abraham’ had before his foreskin was removed.”
13 “Now [to move to the third issue] the promise to Abraham and to his seed that they would inherit the cosmos was not made by means of the Teachings of Moses but through the deliverance associated with faith. 14 And so it follows that if those who live by means of the Teachings are the only heirs then faith has been gutted and the promise emptied. 15 (And in fact the Teachings always generate a certain appropriate divine anger. Only in the state where there is no Teaching is there no transgressing.) 16 Because of all this, inheritance comes “through faith,” so it is also a gift, and this grounds the promise firmly for every seed, not just the seed that lives by the Teachings alone, but the seed who lives “by means of the faith” of Abraham, who is the father of all of us [see v. 1], 17 as it is written in Scripture [in Genesis 17]: “I have made you the father of many nations.” [And we now anticipate an important possible objection.] At this divine pronouncement [in Genesis 17], Abraham responded with faith—faith in the God who makes the dead alive and calls the non-existent into existence. 18 From hope to hope he trusted in the statement that he would become “the father of many nations” according to the saying “thus will your seed be [as the stars of the heavens and the sand upon the shore”—a statement by God made earlier, in Genesis 15].” 19 And he did not weaken in his faith, despite knowing that his body was already biologically dead, being around a hundred years old, along with the death of the womb of his wife, Sarah, 20 and did not doubt God’s promise, wavering in faith, but became stronger in faith, giving glory to God, 21 being completely convinced that God was powerful enough to do what he had promised. 22 For this reason “deliverance was transferred to his account,” 23 although the phrase “it was transferred to his account” was not written for him alone.
24 It was also written for our sake, for those to whom it is about to be transferred, which is to say, those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus, our divine ruler, from the dead [3:22]: 25
He was given up for our crimes,
And raised up for our release.