Letters to the Churches

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery lie in their wake,

and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.

And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered?

If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God.

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation.

However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”