(Verse 9.) Abideth this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? That is, has this blessedness been granted only to the sons of Abraham, or to those also who are uncircumcised? For if at that time the Gentiles were not forbidden to come to the law and to the promise of Abraham, how could it be that in the time of Christ those who came to grace should be forbidden, when God has invited them fully by grace? For we say — that is, if we speak according to the sense of the law — that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. He begins from the origin, in order to shut out every evasion of quibbling; for he who is shut out at the source has nowhere to begin raising a question.

(Verses 10–11.) How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all them that believe in uncircumcision; that it might be reckoned unto them also for righteousness (Genesis 17:10–11). Abraham, while he was in uncircumcision, believed God. What did he believe? That he would have seed, that is, a son, in whom all nations would be justified by faith in uncircumcision, just as Abraham was justified. For he received circumcision as a sign of the righteousness of faith: believing that he would have a son, he received a sign of the thing he believed, so that it might be seen that he had been justified by believing. Circumcision, then, has no dignity of its own, but is only a sign. The sons of Abraham received this sign so that they might be known to be the sons of him who, believing God, had received it; so that they might be emulous of their father’s faith and believe in Jesus, who was promised to Abraham, and in whose figure Isaac was born. For it is not in Isaac that all nations are blessed, but in Christ; for there is none other name under heaven given, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12), as the apostle Peter says.

(Verse 12.) And that he might be the father of circumcision, not to them only who are of the circumcision, but also to them who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. He says this because Abraham, by believing, was the first to be made the father of circumcision — but of the heart — not only of those who are of his stock, but of those also from among the Gentiles who believe in like manner. For according to the flesh he is the father of the Jews, but according to faith he is the father of all who believe.

(Verse 13.) For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. It is plain that the Law had not yet been given, nor was there yet circumcision, when the promise was already made to Abraham as a believer, and to his seed, which is Christ, who was to wash away the sins of men. Hence John the Baptist says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). It was not, then, by the merit of keeping the law that he was made heir of the world, but by the merit of faith. And the heir of the world is heir of the earth, which he obtained in his sons. But Christ is heir of the nations, as David sings: And I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession (Psalm 2:8); for we ourselves shall die and shall live with Him (Romans 14:8).

(Verse 14.) For if they which are of the law be heirs — that is, if those who are of the law, or under the law, are heirs by the law — faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. It is plain that if the inheritance is of the law, the promise which was made to Abraham by faith comes to nothing. But the promise was not made through the Law; the inheritance is through the righteousness of faith. For the Apostle shows what an evil it is to hope for the inheritance from the law.

(Verse 15.) Because the law worketh wrath. To show thoroughly that a man cannot be justified before God through the law, nor could the promise have been made through the law, he says: The law worketh wrath; for it was given in order to make offenders guilty. But faith is a gift of the mercy of God, so that those who have been made guilty through the law may obtain pardon; and therefore faith works joy. Nor does he speak against the law, but he sets faith before it; because those who could not be saved through the law are saved by the grace of God through faith. The law, then, is not wrath, but it works wrath for the sinner, that is, punishment, since it does not pardon but punishes. For punishment is begotten of wrath, and wrath is born of sin; and so he wishes the law to be left behind, so that men may take refuge in faith, which pardons offences in order to save. For where no law is, there is no transgression. He says this because, once the guilty have been taken out of the power of the law and pardon given, there is no transgression; for those who had been sinners through transgression of the law have been justified. For the law of deeds ceases, that is, the observance of sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, the distinction of foods, and the observance regarding a dead animal or the blood of a weasel.

(Verse 16.) Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be sure to all the seed. The promise cannot be sure to all the seed, that is, to every man of every nation, unless it is of faith; because the origin of the promise is of faith, not of the law. For those who are under the law are guilty, and the promise cannot be given to the guilty; and so they must first be purified through faith, that they may become worthy to be called sons of God and the promise may be sure. For if they call themselves sons of God while they are guilty, that is, under the law, it is not sure; because the sons of God are free from sin. If, then, those who are under the law must be rescued from under the law in order to be found worthy to receive the promise, how much more those who are not under the law! It is not expedient, then, for a man to put himself under the law, when he can find the cure for his wound by a short way. Not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham. This is what he said above: to all the seed — the seed of the Jews, who certainly came from the law, as well as that of the Gentiles, who follow the faith of Abraham, which he had as a Gentile so as to be righteous. For Abraham believed without the law, and so he is joined rather with the Gentiles, so that the promise may be sure to them when they believe Him whom he himself believed.

(Verse 17.) Who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations (Genesis 17:4). He has confirmed by the example of the Law that Abraham is the father of all, but of those who believe; and that the promise is sure only if men depart from the law for the sake of faith; because the promise of the kingdom of heaven is appointed for the righteous, not for sinners. And those who are under the law are under sin, because all have sinned; and no one can both be under the law and obtain grace; as he says also to the Galatians: Ye are made void of Christ, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). Before Him whom thou believedst, even God. To teach that there is one God of all, he tells the Gentiles that Abraham believed that very God, and was justified before Him in whom the Gentiles also believe, that they may be justified; so that there may be no distinction between Jew and Greek in faith, since, circumcision and uncircumcision being taken away, they become one in Christ; for Abraham too believed in uncircumcision and was justified. Who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. By these words he invites the Gentiles to the faith of Abraham; for when he was in uncircumcision, believing God, whose faith is now preached in Christ, he was quickened together with his wife. For though they were worn out with age, the old pair came alive again; so that he did not doubt that he would have a son by Sarah, whom he knew to be barren and in whom the course of women had already ceased. So by this they may care nothing for either uncircumcision or circumcision, and be ready for faith, secure because they believe Him who quickens the dead, and because there is no other who has this power; and when He wills things that are not to be, at once they come to be by His will. So Abraham, when he was not yet a father, was called the father of many nations, and believed, secure in the power of God. And so that the God whom Abraham believed might be believed to be the same as the Father of Christ, a sign was given in Zacharias and Elisabeth (Luke 1:13), when the promise was being fulfilled in the world and Christ was at hand, like the sign that had been given in Abraham and Sarah when the promise was sealed; so that in like manner bodies dead with old age might beget holy John, as Isaac too had been born.

(Verse 18.) Who against hope believed in hope (Genesis 15:5). It is plain that when Abraham had no hope of begetting, he believed God, having faith against hope that he would beget, knowing that God can do all things. That he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. This is in Genesis: showing him the stars of heaven, God said, So shall thy seed be; and believing this, he was justified. For he believed what seems impossible to the world, since it does not fall within the nature of things, that the old should be able to beget, and their seed be multiplied in such abundance that it could not be numbered. And that is why faith is precious: because it believes that something will be against what it knows or sees. It comforts itself with this hope, that it is God who promises, of whom it is fitting to think more than human weakness can grasp.

(Verses 19–22.) And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through distrust; but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God; being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was reckoned to him for righteousness. He proclaims Abraham worthy of praise in this: that, knowing himself unable, he strengthened his weakness by faith, so as to believe that he could do through God what he knew could not be done according to the ordinances of the world. He is of great merit, then, before God who believed God against his own knowledge, not doubting that God, being God, could do what he knows cannot be done according to the order of the world. For he holds it for certain that God is beyond the order of the world; for no one is to be said to be contained within what he has created. Such a man, therefore, is to be rewarded by God, because he ascribes to his Maker more than he himself understands. This would indeed be of no worth if all thought alike; but through the distrust of many the faith of believers is commended before God. He exhorts the Gentiles, then, to this firmness of faith, so that they may receive the promise and grace of God without any wavering, secure by the example of Abraham; because the believer’s praise grows the more if what is incredible, and seems foolish to the world, is believed; for the more impossible the thing believed is thought to be, the more honourable will the believer be. And yet it would truly be foolish to believe this if it were said to come about without God. And that is why the faith of Abraham is so much more praiseworthy than the faith of others: because it was drawn by no wonders of signs. Since the world is governed by a fixed law and power, and ruled in a manner determined by God, while men, through love of the flesh, were intent on the order of things and neglected God its Maker, God, in order to take away the error and to show Himself Lord of all, willed that He should be proclaimed able to do, and to have done, what is impossible to the world; so that those who believed this might be set apart and saved, made over to the lordship of God, while those were condemned who, puffed up by the order of the world, neglected God.

(Verses 23–25.) Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6); but for us also, to whom it shall be reckoned, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our sins, and was raised again for our justification. He says that in Abraham a pattern was given to Jews and Gentiles, so that by his example we should believe in God, and in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, and righteousness be reckoned to us. Though what is now believed is different, yet faith has one gift. We obtain, then, what we believe: for believing that Christ is the Son of God, we are adopted by God as sons; for He could give believers nothing greater than that they should be called sons of God, while the faithless are disowned. For we are called sons of God, but they are not worthy even to be called servants. In His infinite magnificence God has given those who love Him what is worthy of His majesty, not what men deserve; for in a gift it is the greatness of the giver rather than of the receiver that is regarded, and He gains the more praise from it when He bestows great gifts on little ones through Christ, who for our sake suffered Himself to be killed, so that, pardon being given, He might rescue us from the second death, that is, from the punishment of the underworld; and rose again, so that, through the joy of His triumph, death being overthrown, He might bestow on us the grace of justification, that we might be worthy to be called sons of God. For those who were baptised before the passion received only the remission of sins — and it was out of jealousy over them that Satan killed the Saviour; but after the resurrection, both those who had been baptised before and those who were baptised afterwards were all justified through the pattern of faith in the Trinity which was then given, and by receiving the Holy Spirit, who is the sign to believers that they are sons of God. And so that it might serve to complete our justification, He gave authority to His precepts when He rose again; so that, emulating them, we may increase ourselves in merits, through which, having attained glory, we may appear illustrious in the kingdom of God, in this confidence, that, being justified, we cannot be held by death. For by the passion of the Saviour death was conquered, which before had ruled by reason of sin, and it does not dare to hold back those who have been justified by Him.