Romans 4

The Illustration of Justification

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh,t has discovered regarding this matter?t2 For if Abraham was declared righteoust by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was creditedtto him as righteousness.”s4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.t

5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous,t his faith is credited as righteousness.

6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessedtare those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

8 blessed is the onetagainst whom the Lord will never counttsin.”s
9 Is this blessednesst then fort the circumcisions or also fort the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”s10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised!11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,t so that he would becomet the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised,t that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

12 And he is also the father of the circumcised,t who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.t
13 For the promises to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.t15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgressiont either.16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace,t with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham,t who is the father of us all17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”).ts He is our fathert in the presence of God whom he believed – the God whot makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.t18 Against hope Abrahamt believedt in hope with the result that he became the father of many nationss according to the pronouncement,t “so will your descendants be.”s19 Without being weak in faith, he considereds his own body as deads (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.20 Het did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.21 He wast fully convinced that what Godt promised he was also able to do.

22 So indeed it was credited to Abrahamt as righteousness.
23 But the statement it was credited to himt was not written only for Abraham’st sake,24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

25 Het was given overts because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake oft our justification.s

Romans 5

The Expectation of Justification

1 s Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we haves peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoicet in the hope of God’s glory.3 Nott only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,4 and endurance, character, and character, hope.

5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of Godt has been poured outs in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)s8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteoust by his blood,t we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.t10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

11 Nott only this, but we also rejoicet in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

The Amplification of Justification

12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all peoplet becauset all sinned –13 for before the law was given,t sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sint when there is no law.14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a typet of the coming one) transgressed.t15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.t For if the many died through the transgression of the one man,s how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned.t For judgment, resulting from the one transgression,t led to condemnation, butt the gracious gift from the many failurest led to justification.

17 For if, by the transgression of the one man,s death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently,t just as condemnationt for all peoplet camet through one transgression,s so too through the one righteous acts came righteousness leading to lifet for all people.19 For just as through the disobedience of the one mans manyt were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one mans manyt will be made righteous.20 Now the law came int so that the transgressiont may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6

The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination

1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.t
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.t6 We know thatt our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us,t so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)s
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9 We knowt that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to diet again; death no longer has mastery over him.10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 So you too consider yourselvess dead to sin, butt alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,13 and do not present your members to sin as instrumentst to be used for unrighteousness,t but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instrumentst to be used for righteousness.

14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

The Believer’s Enslavement to God’s Righteousness

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!16 Do you not know that if you present yourselvest as obedient slaves,t you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?t17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyedt from the heart that patternt of teaching you were entrusted to,18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.)ts For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.
21 So what benefitt did you then reapt from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.22 But now, freedt from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefitt leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

23 For the payofft of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.