8. Happy is the personwhom the Lord does not consider guilty.” Psalm 32:1-2
9. Is this blessing only for those who are circumcised? Or is it also for those who are not circumcised? We have already said that God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.
10. So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? God accepted him before his circumcision.
11. Abraham was circumcised later to show that God accepted him. His circumcision was proof that he was right with God through faith before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the father of all those who believe but are not circumcised. He is the father of all believers who are accepted as being right with God.
12. And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised. But it is not their circumcision that makes him their father. He is their father only if they live following the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13. Abraham and his descendants received the promise that they would get the whole world. But Abraham did not receive that promise through the law. He received it because he was right with God through his faith.
14. If people could receive what God promised by following the law, then faith is worthless. And God’s promise to Abraham is worthless,
15. because the law can only bring God’s anger. But if there is no law, then there is nothing to disobey.
16. So people receive God’s promise by having faith. This happens so that the promise can be a free gift. And if the promise is a free gift, then all of Abraham’s children can have that promise. The promise is not only for those people that live under the law of Moses. It is for anyone who lives with faith like Abraham. He is the father of us all.