Romans 4 - The Message (MSG)

Trusting God

4 1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”

4-5 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

6-9 David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who trusts God to do the putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one fortunate man:

Fortunate those whose crimes are whisked away,
whose sins are wiped clean from the slate.
Fortunate the person against
whom the Lord does not keep score.

Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the disciplines of God? We all agree, don’t we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God?

10-11 Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That’s right, before he was marked. That means that he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.

12 And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the “outs” with God, as yet unidentified as God’s, in an “uncircumcised” condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called “set right by God and with God”! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the religious rite of circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing to live in the risky faith-embrace of God’s action for them, the way Abraham lived long before he was marked by circumcision.

13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.

16 This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father.

17-18 We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!”

19-25 Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That’s why it is said, “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” But it’s not just Abraham; it’s also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

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Romans 4 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

4 What, then, shall we say Abraham our father, to have found, according to flesh? 2 for if Abraham by works was declared righteous, he hath to boast -- but not before god; 3 for what doth the writing say? `And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;' 4 and to him who...
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Romans 4 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

4 What then shall we say, that Abraham our father after the flesh found? 2 For if Abraham is justified of works of the law, he hath glory, but not with God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed to God, and it was areckoned [reckoned] to him to rightwiseness. 4 And to him that worketh ...
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Romans 4 - Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

4 So what shall we say about Abraham? He is the father of our family on earth. 2 If Abraham was put right with God, because of what he did, he has something to be proud of. But he has nothing to be proud of when he stands before God. 3 What do the holy writings say? It says, `Abraham believed God. A...
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Romans 4 - World English Bible (WEB)

4 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”Genesis 15:...
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Romans 4 - The Voice (VOICE)

4 In light of all of this, what should we say about our ancestor Abraham? 2 If Abraham was made right by performing certain works, then he would surely have something to brag about. Right? Not before the Creator God, 3 because as the Scriptures say, “Abraham believed God and trusted in His promise...
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Romans 4 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Abraham Set Right by Faith4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was set right by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as ri...
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Romans 4 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Example of Abraham4 What then shall we say about[a] Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousnes...
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Romans 4 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

The Example of Abraham4 What then shall we say about[a] Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousnes...
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Romans 4 - Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)

4 What, then, shall we say that Abraham, our Father, has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he has grounds to boast. But not with God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now, to one who works,...
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Romans 4 - New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

God’s Covenant with Abraham4 What shall we say, then? Have we found Abraham to be our ancestor in a human, fleshly sense? 2 After all, if Abraham was reckoned ‘in the right’ on the basis of works, he has grounds to boast – but not in God’s presence! 3 So what does the Bible say? ‘Abraham believed G...
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Romans 4 - New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

The Example of Abraham4 What then are we to say was gained by[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as right...
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Romans 4 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

The Example of Abraham4 What then are we to say was gained by[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as right...
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Romans 4 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Example of Abraham4 What then are we to say was gained by[a] Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.(A)3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed[b] God, and it was reckoned to him as ri...
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Romans 4 - New Matthew Bible (NMB)

Paul shows by the example of Abraham that faith justifies, and not the law or the works of the law. 4 What shall we say then that Abraham, our father as to the flesh, did find? 2 If Abraham were justified by deeds, then he has wherein to glory, but not with God. 3 For what does the scripture say? ...
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Romans 4 - New Living Translation (NLT)

The Faith of Abraham4 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? 2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. 3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abra...
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Romans 4 - New Life Version (NLV)

4 What about Abraham, our early father? What did he learn? 2 If Abraham was made right with God by what he did, he would have had something to be proud of. But he could not be proud before God. 3 The Holy Writings say, “Abraham put his trust in God and that made him right with God.” (A) 4 If a ma...
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Romans 4 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Abraham Justified by Faith(A)4 What then shall we say that (B)Abraham our (C)father[a] has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was (D)justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? (E)“Abraham believed God, and it was [b]accou...
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