Abraham

1Abraham was the father of our family long ago. So what did Abraham find out?

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

NoteAbraham lived a very, very long time ago. God made him big promises. The Jewish people all came from Abraham's family. That is why Paul calls him our father.

2Maybe Abraham was made right with God by the good things he did. Then he could brag. But he could not brag in front of God.

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

3What does the Bible say? It says Abraham trusted God. And God counted that trust as being right with him.

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

NoteThe Bible part Paul means is an old story about Abraham. "Counted" is like writing a name on a list. God put Abraham on the list of people who are right with him.

4When someone works for pay, the pay is not a gift. The boss owes it to the worker.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

5But some people do not work for it. They simply trust God. God makes people right with him even when they have done wrong. He counts their trust as being right with him.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Note"Right with God" means nothing bad stands between you and God. You are his friend, and he is glad to have you.

6King David said the same thing. He wrote about how happy a person is. God counts that person right with him, apart from any work.

Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

NoteDavid was a king of God's people long ago. He wrote many songs and prayers to God. Some of them are in the Bible.

7David said, "Happy are the people whose wrong deeds are forgiven. Their sins are covered over."

Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Note"Covered" means God does not look at those wrongs anymore. It is like a stain covered up so no one sees it.

8"Happy is the person whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

9Is this happiness only for men who have the mark of circumcision? Or is it for men without the mark too? We just said that Abraham's trust counted as being right with God.

Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

NoteCircumcision was a small cut made on a baby boy's body. It was a mark that showed he belonged to God's people. Boys from other lands did not have it.

10So when did God count it? Was it after Abraham got the mark, or before? It was before, not after.

How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

11Later Abraham got the mark of circumcision. It was a sign that God had already counted him right because he trusted. So Abraham is the father of everyone who trusts God without the mark. God counts them right with him too.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

12He is also the father of men who do have the mark. But having the mark is not enough. They must also trust God, the way Abraham did before he got the mark.

And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

13God promised Abraham and his family that the world would be theirs. That promise did not come from keeping God's rules. It came because Abraham trusted God and was counted right.

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.

NoteGod's rules are the laws he gave through Moses. There were rules about food, days off, and how to treat people.

14Suppose the promise only goes to people who keep the rules. Then trusting God would mean nothing. The promise would be empty.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

15God's rules bring his anger. Where there is no rule, no one can break one.

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

NoteRules show us when we have done something wrong. If there were no rule, there would be nothing to break.

16So the promise comes through trusting God. That way it is a free gift. Then the promise is safe for all of Abraham's family. It is not only for those who have God's rules. It is also for those who trust God the way Abraham did. He is the father of us all.

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

17The Bible says, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham is our father in front of God, the God he trusted. This God brings dead people back to life. He speaks about things that do not exist yet as if they already do.

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

NoteNations are big groups of people from many different lands. God told Abraham this before he had even one child.

18There was no reason left to hope. Abraham hoped and trusted anyway. So he became the father of many nations. God had told him, "That is how many children you will have."

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

NoteGod took Abraham outside one night. He showed him the stars and said, "Your family will be like that."

19His trust did not get weak. He did not think about his body being too old to have a baby. He was about a hundred years old. He did not think about his wife Sarah being too old for a baby either.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:

NoteSarah was Abraham's wife. They had waited many years and had no children. Both of them were very old by then.

20He did not doubt God's promise. Instead his trust grew strong, and he gave honor to God.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21He was completely sure of one thing. God was able to do what he had promised.

And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

22That is why God counted Abraham as right with him.

And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

23The words "it was counted to him" were not written for Abraham alone.

Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24They were written for us too. God will count us right with him when we trust him. He is the God who raised Jesus our Lord back to life.

But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25Jesus was handed over to die because of the wrong things we did. He was raised back to life to make us right with God.

Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

6It is like Abraham long ago. Abraham believed God. So God counted him as right and good.

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

NoteAbraham lived a very long time ago. God promised him a huge family. Abraham believed God, even when it seemed impossible. "Counted him as right and good" is like keeping score. God wrote Abraham down as good with him.

7So understand this. The people who believe are the real family of Abraham.

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

8God's book knew ahead of time what God would do. He would make people who are not Jewish right with him, through believing. So the good news came to Abraham first. God said, "Every nation on earth will be blessed through you."

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Note"God's book" means the older parts of the Bible. Those parts were written long before Paul was born. Jewish people came from Abraham's family. Everyone else was called a Gentile. "Good news" means the news about Jesus.

9So people who believe are blessed along with Abraham. Abraham was a man who believed God.

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

10Some people count on keeping the law. They are under a curse instead. God's book says, "Anyone who does not keep doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed."

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

NoteA curse is the opposite of a blessing. A blessing means good words and good things coming. A curse means trouble coming instead. "The book of the law" means the first books of the Bible. God's rules are written down there.

11It is plain that the law does not make anyone right with God. God's book says, "The person who is right with God will live by believing."

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

12The law is not about believing. The law says, "The person who does these things will live by doing them."

And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

13Christ bought us back and set us free from the law's curse. He took that curse himself, for us. God's book says, "Anyone who is hung on a tree is cursed."

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Note"Bought us back" means paying money to set someone free. People paid money like that to free slaves. Long ago, a person who broke the law could be killed. Then the body was hung on a wooden post. People said that person was under a curse. Jesus died on a cross made of wood.

14He did this so Abraham's blessing could come to people who are not Jewish. It comes through Jesus Christ. And so we could receive the promised Spirit by believing.

That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15Brothers and sisters, here is an everyday example. Think about an agreement between two people. Once it is signed and settled, no one can cancel it. And no one can add anything to it.

Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

Note"Brothers and sisters" means the other people who believe in Jesus. The King James word here is "covenant". A covenant is a very strong promise between two sides. Once both sides agree, no one may change it.

16God made his promises to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say "seeds," meaning many people. He said "your seed," meaning one. That one is Christ.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Note"Seed" means the children and grandchildren who come later. A seed grows into a plant. A family grows in much the same way. Paul points out that the word is one, not many.

17Here is what I mean. God settled his agreement with Abraham first. The law came four hundred and thirty years later. So the law cannot cancel that agreement. It cannot make God's promise worthless.

And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

NoteFour hundred and thirty years is a very long time. That is longer than five long lifetimes. Abraham lived first. Moses and the law came much later.

18The gift God gives is like a gift passed down in a family. If it came from keeping the law, it would not come from a promise. But God gave it to Abraham as a promise.

For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

NoteAn inheritance is something passed down inside a family. It might be land, a house, or money. You receive it as a gift. You do not earn it by working.

8Abraham trusted God. God told him to leave home and go to a land God would give him. Abraham obeyed and went. He did not even know where he was going.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

NoteAbraham lived a long time before Jesus. God promised him a land and a big family. All of Israel's people came from him.

9Abraham trusted God and lived in that promised land like a visitor. He lived in tents. Isaac and Jacob lived in tents too. God had made them the same promise.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

NoteIsaac was Abraham's son. Jacob was Abraham's grandson. Living in tents meant they could move from place to place.

10Abraham was waiting for a city with strong foundations. God is the one who planned it and built it.

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

NoteFoundations are the strong parts under a building. They hold it up so it does not fall.

11Sarah trusted God too. She was much too old to have a baby. But God gave her the strength, and her son was born. She believed God would keep his promise.

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

NoteSarah was Abraham's wife. She was very old and had never had a baby. Their son was named Isaac.

12So one very old man, who seemed as good as dead, got a huge family. They grew to be as many as the stars in the sky. They were like the sand on the beach, too many to count.

Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

13All these people trusted God until the day they died. They never got the things God had promised. But they saw them far ahead and were glad. They said they were only visitors and travelers on the earth.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14People who talk that way show they are looking for a home of their own.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

15If they had kept thinking about the country they left, they could have gone back.

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

16Instead they wanted a better country, one in heaven. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has a city ready for them.

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

17Abraham trusted God when God tested him. He offered Isaac up to God. God had made Abraham big promises. Even so, he was willing to give up his only son.

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

NoteGod asked Abraham to give Isaac up as a gift. Abraham was willing. Then God stopped him and let Isaac live.

18God had told him, "Your family will be counted through Isaac."

Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

NoteFamily here means children, grandchildren, and everyone born after them.

19Abraham believed God could even bring the dead back to life. And in a way, he did get Isaac back from death.

Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

21Abraham is the father of our people. God counted him right because of what he did. He laid his son Isaac on the altar.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Note"Justified" means God counted him as right with him. Abraham lived long before Jesus, and God's people called him their father. In the old story God asked Abraham to give Isaac back to him. Abraham obeyed, and God stopped him. Isaac was not hurt. An altar was a place where gifts were offered to God.

22You see that his faith and his actions worked together. What he did made his faith complete.

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

Note"Wrought" is an old word for worked. "Made perfect" means finished or made complete, not free of mistakes.

23So the Bible words came true: "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as right." And Abraham was called God's friend.

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Note"Imputed unto him for righteousness" means God counted him as right with him. The words are quoted from an older part of the Bible.

24So you see, a person is counted right with God by what he does, and not by faith alone.

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.