Romanos 4
1 Quid ergo dicemus invenisse Abraham patrem nostrum secundum carnem?
What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?
2 Si enim Abraham ex operibus iustificatus est, habet gloriam, sed non apud Deum.
If he was pronounced righteous as the result of obedience, then he has something to boast of. Yes, but not before God.
3 Quid enim dicit Scriptura? Credidit Abraham Deo: et reputatam est illi ad iustitiam.
For what are the words of scripture? “Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.”
4 Ei autem, qui operatur, merces non imputatur secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum.
Now wages are regarded as due to the person who works, not as a favour, but as a debt;
5 Ei vero, qui non operatur, credenti autem in eum, qui iustificat impium, reputatur fides eius ad iustitiam secundum propositum gratiæ Dei.
while, as for the person who does not rely on their obedience, but has faith in him who can pronounce the godless righteous, their faith is regarded by God as righteousness.
6 Sicut et David dicit beatitudinem hominis, cui Deus accepto fert iustitiam sine operibus:
In precisely the same way David speaks of the blessing pronounced on the person who is regarded by God as righteous apart from actions –
7 Beati, quorum remissæ sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata.
“Blessed are those whose wrongdoings have been forgiven and over whose sins a veil has been drawn!
8 Beatus vir, cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum.
Blessed the man whom the Lord will never regard as sinful!”
9 Beatitudo ergo hæc in circumcisione tantum manet, an etiam in præputio? Dicimus enim quia reputata est Abrahæ fides ad iustitiam.
Is this blessing, then, pronounced on the circumcised only or on the uncircumcised as well? We say that – “Abraham’s faith was regarded by God as righteousness.”
10 Quomodo ergo reputata est? In circumcisione, an in præputio? Non in circumcisione, sed in præputio.
Under what circumstances, then, did this take place? After his circumcision or before it?
11 Et signum accepit circumcisionis, signaculum iustitiæ fidei, quæ est in præputio: ut sit pater omnium credentium per præputium, ut reputetur et illis ad iustitiam:
Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision – to show the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man – in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, so that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;
12 et sit pater circumcisionis non iis tantum, qui sunt ex circumcisione, sed et iis, qui sectantur vestigia fidei, quæ est in præputio patris nostri Abrahæ.
as well as father of the circumcised – to those who are not only circumcised, but who also follow our father Abraham in that faith which he had while still uncircumcised.
13 Non enim per legem promissio Abrahæ, aut semini eius ut heres esset mundi: sed per iustitiam fidei.
For the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his descendants through Law, but through the righteousness due to faith.
14 Si enim qui ex lege, heredes sunt: exinanita est fides, abolita est promissio.
If those who take their stand on Law are to inherit the world, then faith is robbed of its meaning and the promise comes to nothing!
15 Lex enim iram operatur. Ubi enim non est lex: nec prævaricatio.
Law entails punishment; but, where no Law exists, no breach of it is possible.
16 Ideo ex fide, ut secundum gratiam firma sit promissio omni semini, non ei, qui ex lege est solum, sed et ei qui ex fide est Abrahæ, qui pater est omnium nostrum ante Deum,
That is why everything is made to depend on faith: so that everything may be God’s gift, and in order that the fulfilment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham’s descendants – not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the father of us all;
17 cui credidit, qui vivificat mortuos, et vocat ea quæ non sunt, tamquam ea quæ sunt. (Sicut scriptum est: Quia patrem multarum gentium posui te.)
as scripture says – “I have made you the father of many nations.”) And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.
18 Qui contra spem in spem credidit, ut fieret pater multarum gentium secundum quod dictum est ei: Sic erit semen tuum.
With no ground for hope, Abraham, sustained by hope, put faith in God; in order that, in fulfilment of the words – “So many will your descendants be,” he might become “the father of many nations.”
19 Et non infirmatus est fide, nec consideravit corpus suum emortuum, cum iam fere centum esset annorum: et emortuam vulvam Saræ:
Though he was nearly a hundred years old, yet his faith did not fail him, even when he thought of his own body, then utterly worn out, and remembered that Sarah was past bearing children.
20 In repromissione etiam Dei non hæsitavit diffidentia, sed confortatus est fide, dans gloriam Deo:
He was not led by want of faith to doubt God’s promise.
21 plenissime sciens quia quæcumque promisit, potens est et facere.
On the contrary, his faith gave him strength; and he praised God, in the firm conviction that what God has promised he is also able to carry out.
22 Ideo et reputatum est illi ad iustitiam.
And therefore his faith “was regarded as righteousness.”
23 Non est autem scriptum tantum propter ipsum quia reputatum est illi ad iustitiam:
Now these words – “it was regarded as righteousness” – were not written with reference to Abraham only;
24 sed et propter nos, quibus reputabitur credentibus in eum, qui suscitavit Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum a mortuis,
but also with reference to us. Our faith, too, will be regarded by God in the same light, if we have faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;
25 qui traditus est propter delicta nostra, et resurrexit propter iustificationem nostram.
for Jesus was given up to death to atone for our offences, and was raised to life that we might be pronounced righteous.
