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Romans 4

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1 Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν εὑρηκέναι Ἀβραὰμ τὸν προπάτορα ἡμῶν κατὰ σάρκα; 2 εἰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἔχει καύχημα: ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς θεόν. 3 τί γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ λέγει; ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. 4 τῷ δὲ ἐργαζομένῳ ὁ μισθὸς οὐ λογίζεται κατὰ χάριν ἀλλὰ κατὰ ὀφείλημα: 5 τῷ δὲ μὴ ἐργαζομένῳ, πιστεύοντι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἀσεβῆ, λογίζεται ἡ πίστις αὐτοῦ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, 6 καθάπερ καὶ Δαυὶδ λέγει τὸν μακαρισμὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ᾧ ὁ θεὸς λογίζεται δικαιοσύνην χωρὶς ἔργων, 7 μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι: 8 μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ οὐ μὴ λογίσηται κύριος ἁμαρτίαν. 9 ὁ μακαρισμὸς οὖν οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν περιτομὴν ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκροβυστίαν; λέγομεν γάρ, ἐλογίσθη τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἡ πίστις εἰς δικαιοσύνην. 10 πῶς οὖν ἐλογίσθη; ἐν περιτομῇ ὄντι ἢ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ; οὐκ ἐν περιτομῇ ἀλλ' ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ: 11 καὶ σημεῖον ἔλαβεν περιτομῆς, σφραγῖδα τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πατέρα πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων δι' ἀκροβυστίας, εἰς τὸ λογισθῆναι καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην, 12 καὶ πατέρα περιτομῆς τοῖς οὐκ ἐκ περιτομῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς στοιχοῦσιν τοῖς ἴχνεσιν τῆς ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ πίστεως τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀβραάμ.

1 What, for instance, shall we say of Abraham, our forefather by human descent? What kind of blessing did he win? 2 If it was by observances that Abraham attained his justification, he, to be sure, has something to be proud of. But it was not so in God’s sight; 3 what does the scripture tell us? Abraham put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him.[1] 4 The reward given to one who works to earn it is not reckoned as a favour, it is reckoned as his due. 5 When a man’s faith is reckoned virtue in him, according to God’s gracious plan, it is not because of anything he does; it is because he has faith, faith in the God who makes a just man of the sinner.[2] 6 So, too, David pronounces his blessing on the man whom God accepts, without any mention of observances: 7 Blessed are those who have all their faults forgiven, all their transgressions buried away;[3] 8 blessed is the man who is not a sinner in the Lord’s reckoning. 9 This blessing, then, does it fall only on those who are circumcised, or on the uncircumcised as well? We saw that Abraham’s faith was reckoned virtue in him. 10 And in what state of things was that reckoning made? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised at the time? Uncircumcised, not circumcised yet.[4] 11 Circumcision was only given to him as a token; as the seal of that justification which came to him through his faith while he was still uncircumcised. And thus he is the father of all those who, still uncircumcised, have the faith that will be reckoned virtue in them too. 12 Meanwhile, he is the father of those who are circumcised, as long as they do not merely take their stand on circumcision, but follow in the steps of that faith which he, our father Abraham, had before circumcision began.

1 Quid ergo dicemus invenisse Abraham patrem nostrum secundum carnem? 2 Si enim Abraham ex operibus justificatus est, habet gloriam, sed non apud Deum. 3 Quid enim dicit Scriptura? Credidit Abraham Deo, et reputatam est illi ad justitiam. 4 Ei autem qui operatur, merces non imputatur secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum. 5 Ei vero qui non operatur, credenti autem in eum, qui justificat impium, reputatur fides ejus ad justitiam secundum propositum gratiæ Dei. 6 Sicut et David dicit beatitudinem hominis, cui Deus accepto fert justitiam sine operibus: 7

Beati, quorum remissæ sunt iniquitates,
et quorum tecta sunt peccata. 8
Beatus vir, cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum. 9 Beatitudo ergo hæc in circumcisione tantum manet, an etiam in præputio? Dicimus enim quia reputata est Abrahæ fides ad justitiam. 10 Quomodo ergo reputata est? in circumcisione, an in præputio? Non in circumcisione, sed in præputio. 11 Et signum accepit circumcisionis, signaculum justitiæ fidei, quæ est in præputio: ut sit pater omnium credentium per præputium, ut reputetur et illis ad justitiam: 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.

13 οὐ γὰρ διὰ νόμου ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἢ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ, τὸ κληρονόμον αὐτὸν εἶναι κόσμου, ἀλλὰ διὰ δικαιοσύνης πίστεως: 14 εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἐκ νόμου κληρονόμοι, κεκένωται ἡ πίστις καὶ κατήργηται ἡ ἐπαγγελία: 15 ὁ γὰρ νόμος ὀργὴν κατεργάζεται: οὗ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος, οὐδὲ παράβασις. 16 διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ πίστεως, ἵνα κατὰ χάριν, εἰς τὸ εἶναι βεβαίαν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν παντὶ τῷ σπέρματι, οὐ τῷ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἐκ πίστεως Ἀβραάμ ὅς ἐστιν πατὴρ πάντων ἡμῶν, 17 καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν τέθεικά σε κατέναντι οὗ ἐπίστευσεν θεοῦ τοῦ ζῳοποιοῦντος τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ καλοῦντος τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα:

13 It was not through obedience to the law, but through faith justifying them, that Abraham and his posterity were promised the inheritance of the world.[5] 14 If it is only those who obey the law that receive the inheritance, then his faith was ill founded, and the promise has been annulled. 15 (The effect of the law is only to bring God’s displeasure upon us; it is only where there is a law that transgression becomes possible.) 16 The inheritance, then, must come through faith (and so by free gift); thus the promise is made good to all Abraham’s posterity, not only that posterity of his which keeps the law, but that which imitates his faith. We are all Abraham’s children; 17 and so it was written of him, I have made thee the father of many nations. We are his children in the sight of God, in whom he put his faith, who can raise the dead to life, and send his call to that which has no being, as if it already were.

13 Non enim per legem promissio Abrahæ, aut semini ejus ut hæres esset mundi: sed per justitiam fidei. 14 Si enim qui ex lege, hæredes sunt: exinanita est fides, abolita est promissio. 15 Lex enim iram operatur. Ubi enim non est lex, nec prævaricatio. 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 17 (sicut scriptum est: Quia patrem multarum gentium posui te) ante Deum, cui credidit, qui vivificat mortuos, et vocat ea quæ non sunt, tamquam ea quæ sunt:

18 ὃς παρ' ἐλπίδα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι ἐπίστευσεν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου: 19 καὶ μὴ ἀσθενήσας τῇ πίστει κατενόησεν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σῶμα ἤδη νενεκρωμένον, ἑκατονταετής που ὑπάρχων, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν τῆς μήτρας Σάρρας: 20 εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ διεκρίθη τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη τῇ πίστει, δοὺς δόξαν τῷ θεῷ 21 καὶ πληροφορηθεὶς ὅτι ὃ ἐπήγγελται δυνατός ἐστιν καὶ ποιῆσαι. 22 διὸ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. 23 οὐκ ἐγράφη δὲ δι' αὐτὸν μόνον ὅτι ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ, 24 ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἡμᾶς οἷς μέλλει λογίζεσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐγείραντα Ἰησοῦν τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἐκ νεκρῶν, 25 ὃς παρεδόθη διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶν καὶ ἠγέρθη διὰ τὴν δικαίωσιν ἡμῶν.

18 Abraham, then, believed, hoping against hope; and thus became the father of many nations; Like these, he was told, thy posterity shall be.[6] 19 There was no wavering in his faith; he gave no thought to the want of life in his own body, though he was nearly a hundred years old at the time, nor to the deadness of Sara’s womb; 20 he shewed no hesitation or doubt at God’s promise, but drew strength from his faith, confessing God’s power, 21 fully convinced that God was able to perform what he had promised. 22 This, then, was reckoned virtue in him; 23 and the words, It was reckoned virtue in him, were not written of him only; 24 they were written of us too. It will be reckoned virtue in us, if we believe in God as having raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead: 25 handed over to death for our sins, and raised to life for our justification.

18 qui contra spem in spem credidit, ut fieret pater multarum gentium secundum quod dictum est ei: Sic erit semen tuum. 19 Et non infirmatus est fide, nec consideravit corpus suum emortuum, cum jam fere centum esset annorum, et emortuam vulvam Saræ. 20 In repromissione etiam Dei non hæsitavit diffidentia, sed confortatus est fide, dans gloriam Deo: 21 plenissime sciens, quia quæcumque promisit, potens est et facere. 22 Ideo et reputatum est illi ad justitiam. 23 Non est autem scriptum tantum propter ipsum quia reputatum est illi ad justitiam: 24 sed et propter nos, quibus reputabitur credentibus in eum, qui suscitavit Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum a mortuis, 25 qui traditus est propter delicta nostra, et resurrexit propter justificationem nostram.

[1] Gen. 15.6.

[2] ‘According to God’s gracious plan’; these words do not appear in the Greek manuscripts.

[3] Ps. 31.1, 2.

[4] Gen. 12.2, and elsewhere; circumcision is first mentioned in Gen. 17.10.

[5] None of the promises recorded in Genesis would appear to justify this assertion literally; but it seems likely that Jewish tradition, from a comparison of Gen. 12.3; 15.5, and so on, interpreted them in the sense of world-wide diffusion. This promise of world-inheritance, St Paul argues, has not been kept, if by Abraham’s posterity we mean only the Jews; it remains to be fulfilled, therefore, in the Church of Christ, which is Abraham’s posterity in a spiritual sense.

[6] Gen. 15.5.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd