Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was.

Abram put his trust in the LORD, and because of this the LORD was pleased with him and accepted him.

The scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous."

But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself.

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

that the scripture speaks of: "Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

And the scripture came true that said, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." And so Abraham was called God's friend.

This is what David meant when he spoke of the happiness of the person whom God accepts as righteous, apart from anything that person does:

He was circumcised later, and his circumcision was a sign to show that because of his faith God had accepted him as righteous before he had been circumcised. And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in God and are accepted as righteous by him, even though they are not circumcised.

That is why Abraham, through faith, "was accepted as righteous by God."

They were written also for us who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.